Homemade Salsa Recipe

We are up to our ears in tomatoes from the garden, so we decided to try our hand at homemade salsa last night. It turned out to be pretty easy, and we ended up canning 16 pints.

The recipe we used can be consumed fresh with no cooking, or you can heat it in a saucepan to bring out the flavor a bit more. We tried both ways and found that we preferred the roasted flavor of the cooked version. Below is the recipe we used to make a large batch for canning.

Tomato Salsa Recipe for Canning
*Makes about ten 8-oz jars or five pint jars

Ingredients:
7 cups peeled, chopped tomato
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped bell pepper
8 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (use more or less depending on how spicy you like your salsa)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped chilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
Peel tomatoes by placing them in boiling hot water for about 30-60 seconds, or until the skin wrinkles and starts to pull away from the fruit. Remove from boiling water and immediately dip in cold water. The skins will slip off easily.

Set peeled tomatoes aside and let cool while you chop other ingredients. Return to your tomatoes once cool, dicing and coring them.

In a large saucepan, combine tomatoes, onions, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, cilantro, and cumin. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently until thickened, about 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars, and lids. See this video for canning instructions. Leave 1/2 inch of space at the top of your jars when canning.

Voila! A little chopping, stirring, and canning, and we've got salsa for a year. The two hours of prep and cooking time was well worth it, and made a fun project for a rainy night. Let me know how it goes if any of you give this a shot.

More from the Garden

At least once a day we head to the garden to see what's ready to pick and gawk at how big the plants are getting, and every time we discover something new. Today we spotted a number of hornworms feasting on our tomatoes. Apparently these are common tomato plant pests, but I'd never seen one before and they are HUGE.

Look at this guy just chomping away on our tomatoes!

Hornworms aside, we had a nice haul from the garden this evening.

The tomatoes and beans became our dinner.

We also made a wood frame to help hold up our tomato plants. The standard metal tomato cages just did not cut it with the size of these plants. Some of them had completely fallen over.

Riley and Fern love it when we work in the yard. That's a Riley smile :)

Josh's parents arrive tomorrow afternoon to help us with the house, and we'll be putting the finishing touches (fingers crossed) on the covered porch remodel. We are getting so close to the end and it is looking really good. After this weekend we should have just the floor tiling left to do, which unfortunately will not happen before the wedding because of the delivery date for the tile. It's a bummer, but I'm practicing just letting it go. It's good practice for me :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Crab Apple Crisp

The crab apples on the tree in our yard are now ripe, and surprisingly they taste pretty decent. The taste is similar to a Granny Smith, but slightly more bitter. Because tart apples are good for cooking, I decided to give a crab apple crisp a shot, and it turned out delicious. The apples had a nice bite and weren't too sour at all once cooked. If you have a crab apple tree in your yard with not-too-sour apples, consider giving a crab apple crisp a whirl! If not, this recipe works just as well with regular apples or peaches. I haven't tried it with berries or plums, but I imagine it would work for those as well.

Crab Apple Crisp Recipe

Ingredients:
6-7 ripe crab apples
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar (white or brown)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 sticks butter
3 tbsp. cinnamon

Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and slice apples, then add to a mixing bowl with 1 tbsp. cinnamon and a few shakes of sugar. I generally use about 1/8 cup, but you can use more or less depending on how sour your apples are and how sweet you like your apple crisp. Mix apples with cinnamon and sugar until the apples are evenly coated, then transfer to a 8 x 10 inch or similar size casserole dish.

In a separate mixing bowl, start your crust by combining 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar (can easily be reduced to 1/2 cup), 2 tbsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. baking soda. Melt 2 sticks of butter and add slowly to the mixture until the crust sticks together but has a slightly crumbly consistency. Make a ball of dough that fits easily in the palm of your hand, then press into a small patty. Lay the patty on top of your apple mixture in the casserole dish, then continue making and placing patties until the apples are covered. I like to overlap my patties just slightly. Sprinkle cinnamon on the top, then bake for 35-45 minutes. Let cool for half an hour before serving with ice cream and/or berries.

Garden Pizza

Our tomatoes are finally ripening in the garden, and I was able to cook with them for the first time last night. Using a few small Sungold tomatoes, one large Brandywine tomato, and a bunch of basil from the garden, I made a simple "garden" pizza for dinner.

 

I added tomato sauce (hopefully we will be canning our own soon), thin mozzarella slices, garlic, and kalamata olives to the mix.

It turned out to be a very tasty combination, one I would recommend to anyone. By using a gluten free crust and thin slices of mozzarella instead of layers and layers of shredded cheese, we keept the pizza on the healthier side while still getting great flavor.

It feels really good to be cooking from the garden, and I can't wait to do more of it as our other veggies ripen. We have at least a dozen squash growing, a pumpkin, lots of cucs, pole beans, cauliflower, tons of greens, and will have more tomatoes than we can eat in a few weeks. We are planning to make lots of tomato sauce and butternut squash soup to can. We are also planning to pickle a few of the green tomatoes with a recipe Josh found. The way the cucumbers are growing we'll need to pickle a batch of those soon as well. Already we can't keep up with them. I'm excited to try pickling and canning for the first time this year. Lots of good things to come :)

Wild Blackberry Season + Garden Update

The garden has been going nuts. The wild blackberries in our yard are starting to ripen, we're picking cucumbers, lettuces, basil, and small sungold tomatoes from the garden, and in a few weeks we'll have squash, black krim tomatoes, melons, and pole beans.

We picked a bowl full of blackberries today and made plans for a jam or berry crisp, then promptly ate the entire bowl.

Four large cucumbers have been harvested from the garden.

The morning glory planted by the arbor has taken off.

Orange lilies and mystery pink roses popped up all over the yard a few weeks ago.

The sungold tomatoes have been turning ripe, but never make it back to the kitchen. It's too tempting to eat them right on the spot while weeding.

This photo is from a few weeks ago, and the garden is even more lush now.



Hard to believe we started with this only two months ago...

We really haven't had much trouble getting our plants to grow and thrive this year with the sunny/hot/rainy summer we've had. No deer, rabbit, or other critters have made it past the fence that we can tell. Japanese Beetles have been the only issue so far. We hung a trap on the arbor and have caught hundreds, but hundreds more are still in the garden eating the leaves and leaving little holes in everything. Anyone have tips for keeping them out? Something that doesn't involve chemicals or pesticides? Any info would be very much appreciated!

Garden Update + New Raised Bed

The garden is roaring along. We've been getting tons of rain, and the plants are loving it. Below are a few photos of the garden along with the new raised bed we put in today. We filled it with a yard of topsoil picked up at the nursery, and next we'll add a layer of well rotted manure before mixing in one more yard of topsoil.

The lettuce, brussel sprouts, and kale are going gangbusters:

We planted pole beans, corn, and squash together, and the pole beans appear to be climbing inches per day:

The brussel sprouts are getting HUGE:

And the tomatoes are popping:

The only plants we haven't had luck with so far are the cantaloupe and pickling cucumbers. The cucs we put in too early and something ate a few of the cantaloupe. Possibly slugs. The fourth bed will be planted with salad greens, including arugula and mustard greens.

After the fourth raised bed has been planted, we'll turn our attention to the garden space planned for the area on top of the rock retaining wall. I finished the wall yesterday (yahoo!!!!) so it is now ready for a fencing/raised bed plan. More on that coming soon!

Salted Maple Popcorn Recipe

We tapped a few maple trees in the back woods during March, and since then have been using maple syrup in everything. Salad dressings, homemade cookie batter, marinara sauce, coffee, pie crust, meat marinades, veggie stir fry, you get the picture.

Our recent favorite is adding maple syrup to the pot when we make popcorn. Josh has perfected the recipe and it is the best popcorn I've ever tasted. His super easy recipe is below. Enjoy!

Salted Maple Popcorn
Ingredients:
Popcorn kernels (enough to cover the bottom of your pot without overlapping kernels)
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt to taste


Directions:
Turn your burner on to just under the highest setting (we use 7 or 8 on our electric stove). Pour syrup, olive oil, and kernels into a large lidded pot and place on the burner. Keep the lid on, and move the pot back and forth over the burner continually. Once your kernels begin popping turn the burner off but continue moving the pot. Remove your popcorn from the pot immediately once kernels have popped to prevent burning. Drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste.

First Market

Today was the first farmer's market of the season in Woodstock, and although there aren't many local fruits and veggies available this early in the season, we still made out great, picking up local greens, radishes, meat, eggs, cheese, bok choy, and bread. Everyone was super friendly and happy to be outside (it's been raining a lot recently), and it is really nice to break up the routine of house projects a few times a week and just get out. By the way, is it just me or do farmer's market vendors seem to be some of the most relaxed, happy looking people around? I imagine it's tough to be a small farmer these days, but all the market vendors had ear to ear genuine smiles.

In other news, we assembled the second picnic table today and started on the murphy bed for the downstairs bedroom. Earlier this week we locked down a supplier for the hemlock wood we'll be using to build a pergola in the yard as well, so we now have most of the projects on our To Do Before The Wedding list underway. Still to do:

Bedroom:
1) Finish the murphy bed
2) Paint the windows
3) Install an insulated door to the patio
4) Install remaining baseboards
5) Figure out additional lighting

Bathroom:
1) Clean & seal the slate tile in the bathroom (the 10 day wait for the grout to "set" is about over, so we'll be cleaning the tile this week!)
2) Install the glass shower door and wall
3) Install the toilet
4) Install the vanity/sink
5) Install the light fixture & mirror over the vanity
6) Build a small partition wall
7) Paint and hang wall cabinet
8) Build a storage shelf

Covered Porch
1) Frame out and install 6 windows
2) Install wood siding
3) Figure out something for the floor (slate tile again? do we really want to do that to ourselves?)

Yard/House Exterior
1) Build a pergola
2) Finish painting lattice under the deck
3) Finish rock retaining wall and plant kitchen garden
4) Fencing for kitchen garden
5) Arbor for garden near barn
6) Build 1 more picnic table
7) Some landscaping in the front of the house

... plus a ton of other small projects here and there, and of course we have a list twice as long for projects after the wedding. You know what? I love it though! It feels so good to be productive. I only wish we weren't such novices at every single thing. We could move a lot faster and avoid the learning curve that results in less than professional finishes sometimes. Oh well, that's all part of the process. Think we can get all of this done before the end of September? Four months left!

State of the Garden, Early June

Things are plugging away in the garden. We had a frost followed by some 90 degree days, but everything seems to be fine and a few very tiny bell peppers and tomatoes are starting to pop on the vine. The fruit trees we planted in a small orchard last year are growing like crazy and full of healthy leaves, so I think we've done well there too.

When we first got the trees, we wrapped the bases with protective plastic and wire, mulched with hay, then watered them like crazy all summer. We hung Irish Spring soap from the branches to discourage deer from eating them, then left them alone all winter. Once spring rolled around they came to life quickly, and we may just get a few apples from the Honey Crisp trees this year. The peach and plum will take a few more years.

Over the past month Josh has been planting additional fruit trees in the orchard and various places around the garden, including:

1 Kieffer pear tree
1 Bartlett pear tree
1 Morepark apricot tree
1 Early Golden apricot tree
4 Autumn Olive bushes (these put nitrogen back into the soil and have a super healthy edible berry that is supposedly similar in taste to a pomegranate seed and extremely high in lycopene, keratin, vitamins A, C, E, and a number of other minerals)
1 Damson plum tree
2 hazelnut bushes
2 Chinese chestnut trees
2 Downy service berry trees for birds to eat
2 Hawthorne trees
1 Black Walnut tree

They are all very tiny and don't look like much at this point, but in about five years our yard will look completely different. I'm looking forward to watching it all mature. For now, here are a few photos of how things are looking:

↓ Bell pepper

↓ Brussel sprouts

 

↓ Sun Gold tomato

↓ Basil from our neighbor up the road

↓ Red cabbage

↓ Fruit trees in the orchard

↓ And our new trees look like this right now:

We also planted a few magnolia and dogwood trees along our driveway, and though they were dormant and looked like scraggly sicks when they arrived from Arbor Day (bare root trees), after being in the ground for a few weeks the leaves are starting to pop. Arbor Day tells us this tree will grow 1-2' a year and will eventually reach 20-30' tall. Lots of patience involved in growing young bare root trees :)