Hubby's Hot Garden Salsa

How about a guest post from my better half? I must brag – my husband is awesome. Great father, great husband, great cook (when he wants to be). He’s hates waste and what better way to use up TONS of garden tomatoes than making salsa. We always make our own batches. He prefers his salsa to make him sweat, nose run, burn his tongue, etc. I like mine to be as spicy as tomato paste. I will say even though his is spicier than I like – it has much better flavor! The “secret” to this is the chili paste. Be warned: it is HOT. And the longer it sits, the hotter it gets. You may need to adjust the ingredients depending on how much you want to make. This particular batch makes about 10 half-pint jars.

10-15 large tomatoes, washed and quartered

3 large jalapenos
1 large onion
1 whole garlic clove
½ cup cilantro
½ cup tomato paste
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
½ chili pepper paste (you can find this in the ethnic food section)

• Make sure all vegetables are washed thoroughly. Place quartered tomatoes, onion and garlic in a food processor. Cut the stems off of the jalapenos and throw in with tomatoes. Yes you read that correctly – leave the seeds and everything.
• Add in cilantro, tomato paste and chili paste. Your food processor should be completely full. If necessary add a few extra tomatoes to fill it up.
• Blend until you get your desired consistency. We like ours smooth so we blended for a while.
• Pour salsa into a large cooking pot and bring to boil.
• Add in vinegar and salt. Cook salsa at boiling for about 10 minutes.
• Pour into clean, prepared canning jars. Seal according to jar instructions.