Shaun-ta's Bottled Salsa

One thing that we really love at our house is salsa. We eat a lot of it, especially when we bottle our own, because it is good! Last year we didn't get enough tomatoes to can salsa, but this year with our garden expanded and our tomatoes rocking, I went on a mission to replenish our supply of salsa.  This is my own recipe that I came up with as I played around with and experimented with a few recipes. Several years ago, as I was learning more about canning, I wondered why I couldn't just can the fresh salsa that I always made and loved. You might have the same question and here is a good resource for you to go to learn more about safe canning methods and the reason why you can't just can some of your favorite family recipes. When you are canning it is important that you follow recipes that have been properly researched and tested for safety.

The only changes you can safely make in these salsa recipes are to substitute bottled lemon or lime juice for 
vinegar and to change the amount of spices and herbs. You should never alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe. With that being said, it was using this method that I developed my salsa recipe and I would encourage you to do the same. Choose an approved recipe and make it your own by adding the spices and herbs that your family enjoys. There are lots of approved recipes out there, here are a few places you can get them:
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/pnw0395/pnw0395.pdf
http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/b3570.pdf
http://nchfp.uga.edu/

I haven't been able to find the approved recipe that I developed my recipe from, it has been such a long time, and I have been using my recipe for years. So I will share with you the recipe that I use and the method I use for canning my salsa. It might give you some ideas of how to develop your own recipe.

Shaun-ta's Bottled Salsa

8 Cups Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 & 1/2 Cups Chopped Onion
1 & 1/2 Cups Green Pepper, chopped
1 Cup Jalapeno, chopped
6 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Cilantro, fresh or dried to taste
2 tsp. Cumin
2 tsp.  Black Pepper
1/8 Cup Salt
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Vinegar

The first step is to prep your tomatoes. I do a three bowl set up. You start by placed your tomatoes in boiling water to loosen the skins.

You will know when your tomatoes are ready because the skins will begin to split.

The skins on your tomatoes will peel right off at this point. Some people dip their hot tomatoes into ice water immediately after the boiling water, but I skip this step because I feel it is unnecessary. I just place them into my second bowl and let them cool for a second before coring and peeling them.

Next I dice my tomatoes and when I am making salsa I do this into a colander with a bowl underneath to catch the extra juice. Straining off the excess juice helps you to get a nice thick salsa that you don't have to cook forever.

I bottle the extra juice separately to use for chili or soups ( it wouldn't be good for drinking.) To bottle your juice follow my recipe for bottling diced tomatoes for the correct amounts of salt and lemon juice to add. Process the juice the same as you would your diced tomatoes.

Next chop up all of your veggies. You may or may not want to pull the seeds out of your jalapenos, it just depends on how spicy you want your salsa. I usually remove mine. I use the end of a spoon to remove them. You can wear gloves if you want, they can burn your skin and make sure not to touch your eyes.

Dump everything into a large pot. The larger the pot the faster your salsa will cook up and get nice and thick. I inherited this pan from my Grandmother. It is one of my cherished possessions and I use it for many things. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce your heat and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until you reach your desired thickness.

Here is the finished product. Nice and thick, just how we like it.

Pour your hot salsa into clean jars.  I did both pints and quarts, a few of each.

Clean jar rims and put on lids. Process your salsa in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and you have your own homemade bottled salsa, yum.

Canning 101: Diced or Whole Tomatoes

We have been very blessed to have a bountiful harvest of tomatoes this year. It has been wonderful to eat so many fresh tomatoes. We have also been canning a lot of them for future use. Here is the method I use to can whole or diced tomatoes.

The first step is to dip your tomatoes in water that has come to a boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

You will know when the tomatoes are ready to pull out because you will see the skin on the tomatoes split.

When this happens the skin will come right off the tomato. I remove them from the hot water and place them into a bowl to cool for a few minutes. Then peel and core each tomato.

Once the skin is removed and your tomato is cored you can cut them into whatever size you like. I usually do some that are diced for sauce and some that are cut into larger chunks for chili.

The easiest way to get your tomatoes into the bottle without making a huge mess is to use a canning funnel like the one pictured. It just makes the process a lot easier.

Fill your clean canning jars up with your peeled, diced tomatoes. Leave about 1/2 inch head space. There is no need to add any liquid to the jars. The juice from the tomatoes is sufficient.

Because Tomatoes are lower in acid than other fruits you do need to add some acid to make sure there is a safe level of acid in each jar. So for each quart add 1 tsp. lemon juice and for each pint add 1/2 tsp. lemon juice.

I also add some salt to each jar. For each quart add 1/2 tsp. salt and for each pint add 1/4 tsp. salt.

Clean the rims on your jars and place lids on each jar. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts.


That is all there is to it, now you have home canned tomatoes ready to use for spaghetti sauce, soups, and other dishes.

In a PIckle. . .

We are a pickle loving family. Even our 15 month old loves them. This year we planted pickling cucumbers so I could restock our supply of canned dill pickles. We grew some really beautiful cucumbers that were perfect to make dill pickle spears with. Today I am going to share with you my method and recipe for making dill pickles.

Loosely pack clean cucumbers into clean quart jars, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. I did pickle spears, but you can also do whole baby cucumbers or slice them into chips.

Into each quart add:
1 tsp. Dill Seed
1 tsp. Mustard Seed
1 to 2 Cloves Fresh Garlic 
This year I also added some Ball Pickle Crisp that Jacob got a great deal on awhile back. I have never used it before, so I will update you on how it works.

Next make a brine by combining:
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1 Tb. Pickling Salt


You may need to increase or decrease the amount of brine you make according to how many quarts you have, but do not change the ratio of ingredients. Bring the brine to a boil.  Slowly pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Clean jar rims and put lids on jars.

Process your pickles in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (or adjust the time according to your altitude).  Remove from heat and allow them to cool for awhile before removing the jars from the canner.

I also made beet pickles this year, which I love. To make beet pickles follow my directions for preparing your beets, found here. Once your beets are in the jars replace the hot water and salt with the same brine you used for your dill pickles. You can then process them in a hot water bath just like your dill pickles. I did mine together in the same batch.

I did 11 quarts of dill pickles and 4 quarts of beet pickles, yum!

Canning 101: Beets

We harvested about 20 lbs. of beets from our garden near the end of May. I really wanted to can some beets this year, so we planted a bunch. I was able to can both regular beets and beet pickles. Below is the method for canning regular vegetable beets. I will share the beet pickle recipe in a future post.

 I started by cleaning and trimming off all my greens. I did this outside so I had less mess in my kitchen. I had two little helpers munching away on beet greens the whole time. Not only did we get a lot of beets but we also came away with several bags of greens. Jacob and I have really grown to love beet greens. Once you have all your beets cleaned stick them in a stock pot and pre-cook them for about 15 to 25 minutes. You want to be able to poke a fork in them, and the skins will slip off easily. They will undergo further cooking when you pressure cook them.

You also want to make sure to leave about an inch of stem on the top and about an inch of the root. This makes it so your beet doesn't bleed out. :)

Once your beets are pre-cooked dump them into a colander and allow them to cool until you can handle them. As you can see from the photo the skins slip right off. Peel and trim your beets.

 Then dice or slice your beets however you like them, into clean jars. I did some diced and some sliced into circles. I will usually peel, trim, and then dice each beet into a jar, so I am only handling them once.

Once your jars are full of hot beets add 1 tsp. of salt per quart (if desired) and then fill the jars with fresh hot water, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Wipe bottle rims and put on lids and rings. Beets must be pressure canned because of their low acidity. Click here for appropriate pressure canning times and weights for your altitude. Be sure to follow the instructions for your pressure canner. To the right are my newly canned beets. From our 20 lbs of beets we got 5 pints of regular beets and 4 quarts of beet pickles, plus we had beets for dinner that night. Yum! In the next couple of weeks I will be posting how to make the beet pickles and also sharing one of my favorite beet recipes so be sure to check back.

Canning 101: Green Beans

 We eat a lot of green beans at our house and we have been eating loads of fresh ones for several weeks now, I have been picking them every other day. I thought I had better can a few pickings. In addition to our large pressure canner,  I have a small pressure cooker that only fits three pints. I actually really like it, because that is about what I can harvest in one picking from our garden.

Canning green beans is actually very simple and it only took me a few minutes to prepare these 3 pints for processing. Here is the method I use:

1. Clean and Sterilize your jars.
2. Wash and trim your beans, removing strings. I snap larger ones in half.
3. Fill your jars with cleaned beans. Add salt if you like ( 1 tsp. per quart, 1/2 tsp. per pint). Cover beans with boiling water, leaving 1 inch of head space.
4. Wipe jar rims and put on your lids.
5. Process in pressure canner.
Processing time is 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts. If you are using a weighted gauge pressure canner use 10 lbs. pressure for altitudes 0-1,000 ft. and 15 lbs. pressure for altitudes over 1,000 ft.  If you are using a dial gauge canner please refer to this table for pressure weights. Be sure to follow the instructions for your pressure canner. 

It is that simple and you now have your own home canned garden beans.

Preserving the Harvest

Tomatoes and Cucumbers from our Garden.

For the past few weeks we have really been enjoying the harvest.  My kids love the fact that they can eat a whole cucumber by themselves for a snack. We have had tomato sandwiches almost everyday for lunch, tomato slices every night for dinner, and last night we had spaghetti with sauce made from all the yummy things from our garden. It has been amazing to eat all of these fresh things from our garden. I just love it!

Newly preserved Pickles and Beets.

My daughter and I were reading the story of Joseph of Egypt last night. I paid particular attention to a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis:

"Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him: “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:

“And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:

“And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed. …

“And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: …

“And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:

“And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

“And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: …

“And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, … God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

“The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. …

“… What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.

“Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:

“And there shall arise after them seven years of famine;

“… And God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).

I was reminded of the importance of saving some of what you are given in times of plenty for the leaner times. This has always been an important principle of  Self Reliance and Provident Living taught to us by prophets of God.

Jacob and I both grew up in canning families. We learned to can and other methods of preservation from a young age. I remember helping my mom in the kitchen as she canned bottle upon bottle of peaches, beets, beans, tomatoes, etc. In this way we were able to enjoy the harvest throughout the unfruitful days of winter.  My growing family has relied heavily on my mother's abundance of canned fruits and veggies throughout the years and I have always enjoyed the ability that I have to do this as well. This harvest has been no exception, as much as we are enjoying eating all of the fresh veggies, I have also been canning to preserve these wonderful things for a time when they are not as abundant.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing my recipes and methods for canning some of the things I have been preserving.  It is important especially if you have never canned before to have some background knowledge of basic canning rules and methods.  Not all vegetables and fruits can be preserved in the same way and so to ensure the safety and health of your family it is important to follow properly researched methods for canning each item.  If you are just starting out as a  home canner here is a link to an excellent resource for good canning practices. I have used this resource from the Utah State University Extension often. Another excellent resource is the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Good luck with your canning! And if you have any questions, comments, or ideas please send them my way.

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Our Focus on Gardening

  If you have been reading our blog for aw while you might be wondering why so many of our posts have to do with gardening.  One factor we consider is where to put our efforts into many of self sufficient options. One of our focuses has been with gardening, we do eat every day after all.  Over the last few years an especially this last year we have been moving away from as much of the processed food as possible.  We have always ate pretty healthy we cook meals nearly every night and rarely ever use those "box" meals.  We now almost never use them and make most meals from scratch.  We are even trying to avoid a lot of the canned goods from the store.  This takes either a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables or home canned (bottled) foods to accomplish this.  However it is hard to do this when, we don't always had the money to buy the good fresh fruits and vegetables.

  A garden is a way we can provide ourselves with more fruits and vegetables than we can otherwise afford.  Gardens can be extremely productive and very very cost effective.  Additionally these foods will be of higher quality and more nutritious than can ever be found in the stores.  We can even surpass the "organic" foods, with foods we produce that are far better than any "organic" food you can find.  We can plant varieties that can't be found in the stores because they don't ship well.  There are an untold number of gems out there to find grown and enjoy.  There are some wonder foods full of antioxidants we can grow in our own yards, at fractions of the cost of the new "super foods" marketed in the stores. 

  There have been proven benefits found from working in the soil including increase serotonin levels, anti depressive affect as well as causing addiction.  Yes I said addiction, just check if you are listening, but gardening is addicting.  Especially when you start to harvest and taste what these vegetables really taste like.  When you taste a home grown tomato you pick ripe off the vine you will wonder what that thing is they call tomatoes in the grocery store.

  It is inspiring to plant these little seeds only to watch them grown and bear fruit.  It is fun to learn what makes a certain variety excel and what pests are causing issues with it.  What happens if we plant it over here or next to this other plant.  After your season growing jump online and order some free seed catalogs. Spend the winter reading them and learning, planning and dreaming.  Plan to try out some new things next season.  I love to do this, I pour over the catalogs all winter.    

 When we garden, even if it is in some pots on a balcony of an apartment we are gaining a little bit of independence and a level of self reliance.  Any effort we make in this effort helps us along this path.  I have a friend that was explaining to me that he had a seed bank in a #10 can among his food storage.  He indicated that it could plant a 1 acre survival garden if he ever needed it.  The issue is he does not garden now, he has no green thumb he says.  Well if you have gardened a little bit you know that you will have troubles, you will kill plants, you'll over water, overlook pests, plant things in the wrong area, plant too soon or too late etc.  All of these happen in good garden beds even excellent garden beds.  Expecting to just plant seeds when you most need them and gain a harvest is a little bit naive.  You may well be able to harvest some but with even some basic experience gardening he would be better able to pull a harvest out.

 You know one thing that keeps people from gardening is the fear of failure.  When you garden you will have failures, count on it, but you will also have successes.  Start out simple, pick up some vegetable plants from  from the nursery or even home depot and plant them.  You will find it enjoyable and you'll love the results.  Get out there kill some plants, plant some seeds to deep, water too much, learn by doing.  Most people will only have 40-60 growing seasons in their adult life, that is not many opportunities to learn and try to master this art.  Every season, you will have even more success and increased harvests.  But, you must start sometime.  Please make it this year.  Or if you are already a gardener try to incorporate some new things to your garden, explore other methods of growing, help someone new get a small garden started or even share a corner of yours with a friend.

A Great Deal

Check out this great deal that Jacob found at the store!  I was so proud! We always swing by the clearance section to see what they have.  Of course, these canning supplies were bought in the winter after the peak of canning season so they were very cheap. The best time to buy anything for drastically reduced prices is when the season for that item is over.  We do this often , but only buy those things we know we will use. I will definitely use this pectin up because I love strawberry freezer jam and so do the kids.  At regular price the pectin runs about $4.50 each and the pickle crisp is about the same. The small batch pectin would be about $1.00 at regular price so if we would have bought all of this at regular prices it would have cost approximately $75.00 and he got it for the swinging deal price of  $12.74. That is a 97% savings!  That is a great Deal!