Salsa

I have modified this recipe from a friend of mine for my taste. It's mild but has a kick. The original didn't have the extra can of regular diced tomatoes and used cumin instead of chili powder. You can also add more cilantro if you like a lot of it. I brought this to a family get together at the Cape. I brought six 8oz jars. (Let's face facts here it probably made a full 7 cans but I cleaned one 1/2 out myself before it hit the jar....) I came back with zero of the six. Whatever wasn't eaten there people took home to enjoy. I'd say they liked it!

SALSA

*1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes diced up

* 2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

*1 can diced tomatoes no chilies

*1/4C chopped purple onion

*1 clove garlic minced, or through a garlic press (easier!)

*1 whole jalapeno mined very very fine, no seeds or membranes (if you like hot, add them)

*1/4 tsp sugar

*1/4 tsp chili powder

*1/2C fresh cilantro

*1/2 of a limes juice.

First, I will admit I've always been a little OCD with the cutting up my veggies really super small so they will all be evenly distributed throughout whatever it was I was cooking. I hate having one bite tasting really, say, onion-y then the next hot etc. Consistency people. You could run it through a food processor to achieve this if you're not quite as neurotic with the chopping as myself :) Yes, I even diced the pre-diced tomatoes smaller... and then smashed them up further with a potato smasher as I mixed the ingredients. Do they have a 12 step program for people like me? Seriously though, this recipe isn't supposed to be chunky or thick it's a little thin without being soupy which is how I like it.

The original recipe says to basically cut and combine all ingredients let sit a few hours to meld and enjoy. I did that the first time and it was good but I really had to wait until the next day for it to meld enough for my liking. This time I made it differently simply because I wanted these so that if anyone wanted to take some home it wouldn't get funky on the long drive back home from the Cape i.e. for people going home out of state. So I needed to can it which involved me cooking the salsa for about 10 minutes at a boil. I think this really helped it meld together quickly yet not overcooking it so it gets mushy and weird. I will cook it from now on canning or not.

And they're off...

We also enjoyed lots more good food on this trip. Yum Yum :p

And enjoyed the beautiful scenery in Wellfleet MA on Cape Cod.

All with my wonderful family. Who could ask for more <3