Then and Now

If you will please indulge me for a little garden post. When we left for Canada our garden looked like this. The tomatoes were just getting ready to turn red, we had eaten some carrots, the peppers were just coming on and same with the green beans. It was hard to leave but my husbands parents took care of it and got to eat some of the first crops.

And after 3 weeks this is what we came home too. I can't believe how much it grew in 3 weeks. The sunflowers are probably 9 feet tall (if you could straighten them up). And my beautiful tomato plants are just loaded with red tomatoes. The corn, though it looks scrawny has gorgeous ears of corn and I was able to pick all the carrots and the onions. Some things didn't fair so well while we were gone but over all I am so happy.

So yesterday and today I picked a bunch of ripe tomatoes, some peppers and the onions. And what can you make with those 3 ingredients? Salsa of course. I love homemade salsa. So that is what I did today. I have previously had people ask me for my recipe. Unfortunately I don't really have one (not one with measurements and exact amounts) but I thought I would share my basic ingredients and how I make it and store it. If you are adventurous enough to try it then you won't be disappointed (okay well you might be depending how much of everything you use).

A prized tomato if I do say so myself. This is a first for me; growing a tomato this big that has ripened on the vine. In Canada we never pick our tomatoes red. They don't have enough time to ripen on the vine so we always pick them green and then ripen them in the house. Did you know you can do that? Lots of people don't. And last year our tomatoes didn't get this big so I am kind of proud. Okay now for the salsa. Here is what I use

tomatoes (lots)

green peppers (1/4-1/2 as many as the amount of tomatoes depending on how much you like peppers)

1 small Jalapeno (or 2 if you like it with some kick)

1 large onion (I use yellow onions)

2-3 cloves of garlic

Cilantro (a good sized bunch)

Lime juice (2 tbsps or so)

Salt and pepper (to taste- I like a good amount of salt)

Sometimes I add garlic salt too if I don't taste enough garlic flavor

I don't can this salsa. I make it in large batches and freeze it. It comes out just as good as fresh from the freezer and you don't have to alter it at all like you would for canning. I don't peel the tomatoes. I just cut of the bottoms and squeeze out the seeds. Then I cut off the stem end, cut the tomatoes into large chunks and put the in my food processor. I wait until it have as many as it will hold and then pulse them until the are chopped into smaller pieces. These go into my bowl. If I still need more I do this again. I like to have my salsa mainly tomatoes. I seed and chop my peppers and the jalapeno too and add them to the food processor, as well as the onion, garlic (which I mince with my handy little tool first) and the cilantro. I pulse this until I have small chunks. I add this to my bowl. Then add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper. The best way to know how much to use is to taste it in between. That is it. If it wasn't 10:00 pm and I didn't get heartburn something fierce these days I would have some right now. Maybe for breakfast. You might think I am kidding but I have done it before.

Here is the bowl I made this afternoon and couldn't stop eating. I am so glad there are more tomatoes ripening outside. I can't wait to make more.