Wine + Salsa

Tags

Canning, salsa, St. Julians, vegetarian, wine, wine tasting

This is the stuff happiness is made of.

Many thanks to Darcy for the awesome weekend. The wine, the salsa, the conversation,  her mad photography skills, and my new slap chop.

Canning

Tags

Canning, Canning and Freezing, Produce, recipe, salsa, tomato

I have successfully canned! I feel like a more accomplished individual. I now have, in my pantry, 12 jars of crushed tomatoes and 4 jars of salsa.

Let me tell you, canning was an adventure. I’m far from an expert, so I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of canning in this post. But I will say that if you have any inclination to can, you should give it a whirl.

Here are some resources:

• I got a lot of good information from You Grow Girl, including her very simple recipe for canning tomatoes and her well written directions for the canning process.
• pickyourown.org has a lot of great resources, including where to find pick-your-own farms and canning, freezing, and preserving directions, FAQ, and recipes.
• Ball Canning has great recipes and tips on their website.

If you don’t have your own garden produce to can, check out your local farm market or a farm on pickyourown.org. Ask if they have a discount for canning produce. They might have some that’s not as pretty to sell that they would love to sell you for your chopping and preserving purposes. Ask if they have any tips for how to best preserve the produce that you want to buy.

Good luck!

I wanna know: Do you can or freeze produce when it’s in season so that you can enjoy it throughout the winter?

Farmer’s Market Salsa

Tags

Bell pepper, cilantro, Onion, recipes, salsa, tomato

I know that fall is technically here. I really do. The calendar hanging in my office tells me so. I wanna know why in the world it’s so stinkin’ hot out! Honestly, I am not going to complain about summer sticking around. It will never wear out its welcome in my book. But 90 degrees seems a bit excessive. Can’t we settle at a nice and comfy 78? Is that so much to ask?

Today, over my lunch break, I made salsa. It was now or never, as my green pepper was on its last legs. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I wasn’t too careful to chop things super-fine, so it’s more of a pico de gallo consistency. But I’ve always been a fan of chunky salsa, so it’ll be more than OK.

I definitely just winged this process, so I recommend that you do the same. You will need, in general, tomatoes, peppers, an onion, lime juice, cilantro, and spices. Here’s what I used:

Alright. I started with my peppers, and chopped one of the yellow sweet peppers, and half of the green, red, and orange bell peppers. I’m not a huge fan of spicy foods, but if you wanted, you could add some jalapeno pepper as well. Then I diced half the onion.

Now, chop your cilantro. I used about a 1/4 of a cup, give or take. I just love cilantro. So much flavor packed in just a few little leaves. Do yourself a favor, and use the fresh stuff. It’s not that expensive.

Alright, then your tomatoes. The tomato will be, in general, the main base for your salsa. When you’re chopping the tomatoes, they will ooze juice. Try to retain as much of the juice as possible.  I put in 3 red zebra tomatoes and 1 green zebra. Check them out…aren’t they great?

OK. Dump all of the chopped and diced yumminess in a bowl. On top, add:

• 1 Tbs. EVOO
• 1 tsp. adobo
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. pepper

And mix it all up! Taste test to make sure that you didn’t leave out anything vital, and you’re good to go! I love salsa for all of the different purposes that it can serve: salad dressing, condiment, chip dip, sauce, vegetable dip….The possibilities are endless, and all for just a few calories!

I’m recycling an old salsa jar to store this new batch, that way I don’t use up a tupperware for weeks on end.

What else do you like to put in your salsa? What should I do next time around?