This year we planted double the tomato plants that we did last year. We have 28 plants total. If it was my husbands choice we would only grow tomatoes!

 

This week my son Bennett and I picked 12 lbs of tomatoes in a day! I was pretty excited. Needless to say there’s going to be lots of tomato recipes being posted in the near future. I’m going to start with salsa because I had a dear friend of mine ask for a salsa post and I had tons of peppers, jalapeños and tomatoes coming out of the garden right now. A perfect time to make salsa!

Ingredients: 

15-20 roma tomatoes

2 small green bell peppers or 1 large green bell pepper

1 onion

4  jalapenos

4 cloves of garlic

fresh cilantro

1 lime

1 tsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of apple cider vinegar

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of salt

1/2 cup of roasted pickled red peppers (optional)

 Start by chopping your peppers, jalapenos and onions and set aside. You don’t have to take the skin off your tomatoes but I  DO RECOMMEND IT! You take the skin off your tomatoes when making anything that you are canning because the skin is where the tomato holds bacteria. This batch of salsa I just stored in the fridge but I still took the skin off the tomatoes because I don’t like the texture of the skin in the salsa.

Bring large pot of water to a boil. While you are waiting for your water to come to a boil, in a large bowl, create an ice bath filling it with ice and water and set aside.  Now with a knife make small X’s in the bottom of your tomatoes, this makes getting the skin off of them easier. Once your water has come to a boil place tomatoes in water and boil for 1 min or until you see the skin of the tomato start to peel back around the X.

Strain then place tomatoes into your ice bath. This is called shocking. This stops the cooking process immediately. Then strain tomatoes again and pull skin off tomatoes and discard skin.  In a blender add juice of one whole lime, garlic, apple cider vinegar, cumin, jalapenos, onions, and half of your tomatoes. Blend until smooth or to your desired consistency. This recipe is intended to be more like restaurant salsa not a chunky salsa. Then add  the other half or your tomatoes, bell peppers and a couple handfuls of fresh cilantro and continue blending until smooth. You can serve right away but I recommend chilling for a half hour. This allows the salsa to thicken up before serving. This recipe yields one quart size jar of salsa.

 

   I made salsa last year that I wasn’t in love with but this year I really stepped up my salsa game! This salsa is so tasty and packed with LOTS of fresh flavor. You can modify this recipe to your liking by removing the seeds and membrane of the jalapeno if you don’t like spice or by only adding one handful of fresh cilantro instead of two. You can custom make this salsa to your taste buds! A perfect way to use those tomatoes in the garden! 

Grow it. Pick it. Cook it. Eat it.

Chantelle