(How to) Can Fabulous Salsa

Last summer my dad grew more tomatoes than I can even describe to you. No lie. Buckets and buckets.

This is my Bitty Baby. She's 19 months old. Hurts my heart. 

I was thrilled. I made tomato sauce and froze it. We ate fresh tomatoes every day. I made fresh pico all the time. And (drumroll please) I canned salsa!

Canning salsa has been on my bucket list for quite some time. (Remember, we're not to judge others' bucket lists.)

You're gonna wanna do this, peeps. Eat it with a spoon, drink it with a straw, just get it in your mouth.

I shared it with my family and my brother said it was the perfect amount of "sweet and heat." Mission accomplished.

Once I became a pro at canning salsa, I went to town canning pears & apples from our orchard. By next summer, I'm going to be a canning machine. Watch out. It's juicy, messy & sloppy but so worth it.

Here's how I did it.

(How to) Can Fabulous Salsa

8-10 cups of peeled, chopped & drained tomatoes (I used Roma tomatoes & plum tomatoes)
2 large sweet onions, chopped
2 green peppers
1/2 cup jalapeno peppers, chopped
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 T cumin
2 tsp pepper
2 T kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
15 oz. can tomato sauce
12 oz. can tomato paste
Juice of 2 limes
Bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

Place all ingredients except for lime juice & cilantro into a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to create the consistency you want. I like it pretty pureed (though not completely). Taste it and see what you think. You can always add more heat, salt, sugar, whatever, to suit your taste. Stir in the cilantro & lime juice. Ladle into canning jars, seal with lids and cook in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

*Just a canning tip: the jars may not feel completely sealed on top when you remove them from the water; if the lids don't pop after the jar has cooled, you know you have a good seal. If it still pops, process in the water for another 10 minutes.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

THIS DRESSING IS SO GOOD!!!

I had to scream it.  It just is so good.

If you really are what you eat, I would be cilantro.

I could eat the stuff raw.  Whole.  Right off the stems.  Whatever.

There are people that say cilantro tastes like soap.  I don't eat a lot of soap, but there's nothing even remotely soapy about cilantro.  It's fresh and bright and clean and tastes like summer.

And this dressing is healthy!  It has Greek yogurt instead of mayo.  I know, you're impressed with my healthy choices these days.  Me too.

Apparently this dressing is similar to the bottled stuff from Trader Joe's.  I've never had TJ's dressing, and while I'm sure it's good, nothing beats fresh, homemade dressing.

I couldn't stop eating this stuff.  I ate it with a chopped salad (I'll show you that recipe soon because you need to make it).  I nearly ate the entire bowl by myself.  So delicious.

And I made some yummy wraps and dipped them in this dressing.  It was a really good decision.  I'll show you those wraps soon, too, because they were so good that I ate them at least three times last week.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing
Adapted from The Garden Grazer

1 bunch cilantro leaves (tear the stems off)
2 green onions, chopped in thirds
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used nonfat)
2 T honey

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until combined and it is the consistency of salad dressing.  Store in the fridge.

Green Goddess Dressing

I absolutely love this sauce.  Or dressing.  Whatever.

It's a salad dressing, it's so good spooned over fresh tomatoes, and it's perfect with seared salmon.

I love it.  Stir it together and eat it on something.  Anything.

Let me know if you love it too.

Green Goddess Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
3 T pesto
1 garlic clove, grated
3 scallions, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Whisk ingredients together.  Serve as a salad dressing, a dip for veggies and chips, or as a sauce spooned over fish.

Walnut-Raisin Cream Cheese

When we were in New York, we ate bagels for breakfast one morning, as does any good tourist visiting the Big Apple.

I guess I wasn't feeling like taking a culinary adventure that morning or something.  Because I got plain cream cheese on my bagel.  I've regretted my decision ever since.

But I tasted Katie's bagel smeared with walnut raisin cream cheese.  And then I was jealous of her bagel.

Does that ever happen to you?

So, ever since, I have been trying to figure out how they made this amazing schmear.  And this recipe is as close as I could come.  And the weird thing is that I don't even love walnuts.  Or raisins.  But the combination with cream cheese and brown sugar is simply divine.

You can spread it on bagels.  But since we can't get "real" bagels (according to New Yorkers) anywhere but New York, I spread it on my pumpkin bread.

Wow.  NYC don't got nothin' on us Kentuckians.

Raisin-Walnut Cream Cheese


8 oz. block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 T butter, softened
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (toast in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes over medium heat, tossing often)
2 T packed brown sugar

Mix ingredients together.  Store in the refrigerator.

Marinara Sauce

Yesterday we made fresh pasta for cannelloni.

Today is the second installment in the preparation of said cannelloni.

This marinara is super quick and easy.  And good, too.  I love it with angel hair pasta and Parmesan cheese on top.

Just start with two onions in some olive oil.

After a few minutes, throw in some garlic and stir it around.

Next we need the tomatoes - I forgot to take a picture but I just used two 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes.  Nothing fancy.  Pour them in.

Add the seasonings - salt, pepper and sugar.  Simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat.

When the sauce has finished cooking, cut some basil leaves into strips.

Stir it up and serve immediately with angel hair.  Or cannelloni.  That's coming up tomorrow.

Marinara Sauce:
Inspired by Kelsey Nixon


3 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 T sugar
20 leaves fresh basil, sliced

Saute the onions in the olive oil in a large skillet for about 8 minutes over medium heat, stirring often.  Add the garlic and cook another 4 minutes, stirring often.  Pour in the tomatoes and stir well.  Add the seasonings, stir, and cover.  Simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the basil leaves.  Serve immediately.  Also stores well in the refrigerator.

Blue Cheese Dressing

This is my dad's blue cheese dressing.

He's been making it for as long as I can remember.

I was the only kid in my elementary school who liked blue cheese dressing.

Sad.  For the other kids, that is.

It's phenomenal on the Wedge Salad.




And it's totally amazing on Bacon, Tomato and Blue Cheese sandwiches.  Come back tomorrow and I'll show you how to assemble that.  Not that you need instruction on that, because it's pretty self-explanatory.

Blue Cheese Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
3 shakes Worcestershire
1 1/2 cups blue cheese crumbles

Mix ingredients and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow the flavors to combine.