Labor Day Recap

I had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. A few of the events included making pasta sauce and salsa with my Aunt Lorraine and cousin Rachael. I was able to take some photos for some of our friends; hopefully there will be a post on that later on this week. We went to the Labor Day parade and spent some good, quality time with family at a cook out hosted by my parents.

{Grandma insists on having her picture taken with various parade characters}

{some parade favorites}

{Grandma loves Josh, so much that she did not want to get off of his lap}

{tomatoes from my dad's garden}

After a 10+ hr marathon session of canning pasta sauce and salsa, we came to the conclusion that making pasta sauce was not very time/cost efficient. For that reason, this year's batch of Basil Lover's Pasta Sauce will be a very limited edition. The salsa making was a bit more reasonable. The recipe we used came from the Ball cook book.

Cutting an X on the bottom of the tomatoes and then briefly boiling made the skin much easier to peel

Ingredients:

10 cups chopped cored peeled tomatoes (about 25 medium)

5 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers (about 4 large)
5 cups chopped onions (about 6 to 8 medium)
2-1/2 cups chopped seeded chili peppers, such as jalapeño (about 13 medium)
1-1/4 cups cider vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp hot pepper sauce, optional
6 (16 oz) pint  glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1.) Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) Combine tomatoes, green peppers, onions, chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, cilantro, salt and hot pepper sauce, if using, in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
3.) Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot salsa. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
4.) Process both pint and half pint jars in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

{I needed a stool to stir our giant vat of salsa}

Although Ball calls this recipe 'Zesty Salsa,' I affectionately named our rendition 'Burn Your Hands Off Salsa' because Rachael's hands burned for days after chopping all of the jalapenos. She recommends wearing gloves in the future.

The frames on the labels are courtesy of graphicsfairy (note: our kitchen walls are no longer red kilt plaid!!!)

linked: blackberryvine. skiptomylou, blessedwithgrace, somedaycrafts, southernlovely, nightowlcrafting, diybydesign, theshabbycreekcottage, shabbynest