Salsa Verde

Salsa is one of our go to sides/appetizers. It’s so quick and easy to grab a jar of salsa and some chips. Plus we have Mexican food all of the time! I don’t eat a lot of spicy foods so my husband and I split usually have separate salsas anyway. I made this salsa verde and we both like it. It is perfect over some enchiladas if you want a little different flavor. And it is also great with chips. You can easily make this spicier if you’d like.

10-15 large green tomatoes, washed and quartered

4-5 tomatillos
1 large jalapenos
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 whole garlic clove
½ cup cilantro
1 lime, zest and juice
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt

• Make sure all vegetables are washed thoroughly. Place quartered tomatoes & tomatillos, onion, jalapeno, bell pepper and garlic in a food processor.  
• Add in cilantro and lime zest and juice. Your food processor should be completely full.
• If necessary add a few extra green 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.

Homemade Veggie Pasta Sauce

Here’s another recipe that came about from our abundance of tomatoes that ripened late. This is also the last week of canning recipes (for now). This pasta sauce is full of chunky vegetables and herbs that make it perfect for any dish. We enjoy it on spaghetti squash, pizza, with turkey meatballs, whatever you’d like! It makes a very versatile sauce!

6 cups ripe tomatoes (I had about 20 medium sized ones)

1 cup eggplant, diced
1 cup green bell peppers, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil

• Cut stems off of the tomatoes and quarter them. In a large stockpot, bring tomato quarters, vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper to boil.
• Once tomatoes are cooked until very soft, blend with an immersion blender until desired consistency. 
• Add in diced eggplant, bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, garlic and fresh herbs. Continue boiling until other vegetables are cooked (about 15 minutes).
•  Ladle pasta sauce into prepared jars and finish canning however you’d like.
• This can actually be eaten immediately, but it does taste a little better if it has set for a couple weeks.
• You can also puree your tomatoes before cooking by using a food processor. This would cut out the need for an immersion blender.
• If you don't like your pasta sauce chunky, you can also blend up your other vegetables to your desired consistency.
• We've done this both ways. My son loves spaghetti but doesn't like to "see" the vegetables in the sauce. So I have blended up the vegetables with the tomatoes so he's still getting the extra nutrients but doesn't know what all is in there.

Mango Jam

I love fresh mangos but they are sometimes hard to find where I live. At our local store, they were selling a lot one day – like more than I have ever seen in that store. I knew they wouldn’t sell them all during the week so on the weekend I went back to see what was left. Just as I had expected, there was plenty of mangos left at a super-low price. So I went a little crazy and bought way too many. I knew they would go bad quickly so I had to do something with them. Since I was on this canning kick, they turned into jam. Perfect solution!

 6 cups mangos, peeled, cored and diced

½ cup water
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend mangos until desired consistency. Pour mangos into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat.
• Add in water and orange juice and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey. Return to boiling and add in pectin.
• Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
•  Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired. This recipe made about 6 half pint jars.

Cranberry Orange Spread

I usually create this spread over Christmas time. I love cranberries during the holidays but I always get too many. They freeze really well but I had some extra leftover that I thought I’d use up. While this spread is great for the holidays (especially to give as gifts), it is also good any time of the year. I love it on a turkey sandwich with lettuce and Dijon mustard. Serve it over cream cheese with crackers or even eat on toast.

1 20oz bag of fresh cranberries

2 whole oranges
¾ cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon

• In a food processor or blender, blend cranberries and oranges until desired consistency. We like ours with a few small chunks so we blended ours quite a bit.
• Pour fruit into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon and honey.
• Bring to boiling and cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle spread into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.

Lemon Mint Jam

Here’s the start of week two of my canning recipes. Again – I have lots of mint. I also have a friend that is pregnant. She is still in her first trimester and is having a lot of morning (all day) sickness. Having two children myself, I know all too well about morning sickness. What my friend has found and what I knew to be helpful was lemon. Not sure exactly why the sour taste of lemon seems to calm the tummy but it does. In hopes to helping her feel better, I decided to try out this lemon jam recipe. It’s really more similar to a marmalade but it is tasty anyway! This is great on crackers or toast. My mother even put it over a cheesecake filling for dessert. You can always add more sugar or sweetener but if you make the recipe as I did, it is still pretty tart and that’s how we like it!

 

1 bag of lemons (about 12 large – you’ll end up with about 4 cups of blended lemon)

1 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
¼ cup of fresh mint, finely chopped

• In a food processor or blender, blend lemons, rind and all with the mint.
• In a large stockpot combine lemon mixture and honey. Bring to boiling and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.  The acidity in the lemons help preserve the jam and the rind helps give the jam some texture but doesn’t add a bitter taste. This recipe makes about 4 half pint jars.

Peach Lavendar Jam

The next couple of weeks I’m trying something different. I’m going to be posting two recipes a week that involve canning-enjoy! Even though it’s quite a bit of work, I love canning. There’s something about creating something that lasts that I enjoy. I really like peach jam and I really like lavender so I thought- why not mix them?! I found some gorgeous peaches at the local farmers market and threw in some of my own lavender. This turned out great. The lavender really accents the peaches well and adds a nice little touch to the flavor. This is perfect over toast in the mornings.

6 cups peaches, peeled and diced

1 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
2 tsp lavender, finely chopped
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend peaches until desired consistency. We like ours with a few small chunks so we blended ours quite a bit.
• Pour peaches into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat. Add in water and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey.
• Return to boiling and add in pectin and lavender. Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.
• I boil my jars, lids and rings. Then I dry jars and ladle jam in at this point. Then I put on the seals and rings and turn jars upside down to seal. Once the lids “pop” and seal, I flip back over and let cool. This recipe made about 6 half pint jars.

Also: Here's a sneak peek of some canning recipes that will be posted soon!

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.