Green Tomatoes?!?!

That's right, green tomatoes three weeks ago = yummy salsa three weeks later :)



I picked all of the tomatoes off our plants a few weeks ago right before that first freeze and I brought them inside to ripen. Here is a picture of them about a week ago:



On Monday night I decided it was time to make it into salsa (I needed a project that night because Brad went to the Metallica concert in Salt Lake which he got free tickets to because he is in the military). Anyway, I reviewed several recipes and consulted with my canning partner, Lara, and we came up with our own version.

Fresh Tasting Canned Salsa!

12 cups diced tomatoes (I didn't peel them)
2 cups of chopped green peppers (about 2 medium peppers)
2 cups of chopped onion (1 large onions or 2 medium ones)
6 cloves garlic (or 3 tsp of minced garlic)
1/2 - 2/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (not packed)
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste
jalapeno peppers (optional - used for adding spiciness)

Dice it all up (there's a lot of chopping in this recipe) and mix it together. You can cook it together for awhile and I think that would help thicken it up, but I didn't cook it at all and mine tasted great. Pour into canning jars and process in a water bath for 20 minutes.

Speaking of chopping, I hate cutting up onions because my eyes burn and I cry uncontrollably. So, once I saw an anti-crying onion trick on a TV show (Veronica Mars, awesome show!) and I tried it and it works! All you have to do is hold a spoon in your mouth (upside down so that the pit of the spoon is on your tongue) and there will be no tears. It seems to good to be true, but it worked for me. Thank goodness!