Summer’s End Salsa

Howdy hey everybody! Is everyone soaking up these last few days of summer? I know we are! This Spring my handsome, hardworking Husband gave me a Mother's Day gift that will forever be one of my favorites!  A large fenced in garden! For years now we have wanted a large garden but with a fixer upper house it just didn't fit into the budget.  We tried to make due with smaller gardens in the past but the yield and locations of them always turned out poor.
Not this year baby! Our 20x20 ft. garden has brought me so much joy that even pulling weeds have become a type of quiet tranquility for me; an escape from the busyness, semi-chaotic,  hustle and bustle of our day to day lives.
We planted 30 tomato plants this year and for the first time I canned my own salsa. I cannot say how rewarding it is to harvest and create from the hands God blessed me with.  There is nothing quite like seeing (and eating 😉) the fruits of your hard work and labor.

Okay, onto salsa! I browsed several different recipes and the one I found and loved was from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Here is the link to her wonderful recipe homemade salsa.
One of my favorite things about cooking, baking, and the like are finding staple recipes and then modifying them to our family and tastebuds.  This recipe was a GEM
alone with learning about  the way she peels her tomatoes!
I do want to say that I did not really measure anything... I took her ingredients and then added in some of my own and just tasted along the way.  I made some jars with a bit more kick than others, some with more garlic, some with more peppers (I have pepper overflow from the garden as well), and I also did not add any sugar.  I always try my best to not use any sugar or at least cut it in half if I am making desserts. Once you train your tastebuds to not need it the less and less you'll really want anyway! SO- verdict is be creative, have fun, and ALWAYS taste as you go. 😊
Lastly, once I was happy with the taste I scooped this goodness into sanitized mason jars and water bathed them for 15 minutes, any extra I had I put into a little jar and stuck it in the fridge.  It was gone within half a day though.

Another last little tidbit I wanted to add is that she calls for a "bunch" of fresh cilantro, I massively neglected my cilantro this year and did not have enough for this recipe. DōTerra essential oils to the rescue! I used 1-2 drops and put that in with the salsa. I started with one drop tasted it and then I believe 😳 I added another drop of so.. I'm kind of a "wing it" type of person. (Lime oil may be another good one to play with and add.  I may just do this next time.)

Ok! So go click on her link and follow her recipe (I don't want to post it on here because that feels like stealing to me and I want to give her the credit, because she darn well deserves it for that yummy salsa goodness!)

That's it for me,
xoxo  😏😉
-Lauren