Harvest Harvest Harvest Can Can Can

The harvest at the garden continues.  I sent SE away last Saturday so he could have an adventure, and I spent my time making salsa.  Woot, woot! I know--so lame to have time to myself and then use it doing household stuff, but sometimes you just gotta do it. 
I had already canned stewed tomatoes and green beans earlier in the week, but I saved salsa for Saturday because it takes so much time to cook down, and if I do it after work, it ends up being really late at night before I am done.  Not only do I have to function the next day, but I have fallen asleep and awoken to the smell of burning food before. One of our main family rules is to avoid calling Search and Rescue, and I suppose that it applies to canning as well.  Sigh.  That makes Saturday "Salsaday."   I thought I was making one batch of salsa, but I had enough stuff for two, and I ended up with 10 pints.  ("Salsaday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for...well, whatever needs salsa, I suppose. :))  I tweaked the recipe by adding 1/3 cup of lime juice, and when SE tried it, his comment was, "Wow, that has great flavor, and a little kick!"  It's a joke with us every year--we put in jalapenos, seeds and all, every batch but the salsa never even rises to the level of mild. My brother jokes that it's more like tomato sauce.  You can rest assured that I don't waste my yummy salsa on him.  Anyway, this year's salsa might be "mild."

I STILL had extra tomatoes after that, so I made tomato soup and froze it.  I got a really yummy recipe from my neighbor, and I believe it goes something like this:

4 lbs tomatoes, peeled and seeded (I blanch the tomatoes to peel them and then just leave the seeds in since I don't have a food processor that takes them out.)
6 cups chicken broth
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 TBSP butter
salt and pepper

Fry the garlic and onions in the butter until the onions are clear and you aren't crying any more because of the smell.  :)  Add everything else to your soup pot, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Blend in a food processor or blender, and return to heat and simmer for 45 minutes, or until it has thickened slightly.  I use a hand blender and just blend it right in the pot.  It can be served either hot or cold.  You can sprinkle it with basil or add a dollop of sour cream. 

Due to the cold spring, I had pretty much figured that we wouldn't be getting many peaches this year--probably enough to eat, but not enough to can.  However, I came home last night with a big bucket of peaches and pears.  I am sure we will eat a lot of them, but somehow I'm going to have to find time to can what we can't eat.  That should be interesting, seeing as how we are going fishing all day on Saturday!  Somehow I have to learn to reconcile Betty Crocker with REI Girl.  Wish me luck!