Green Tomato Salsa (Canning Is NOT For The Faint of Heart Nor For Those Prone to Carpal Tunnel)

Let's say you're at home and decide to take on a couple of "projects" you thought you HAD to finish before husband returns from his business trip. Let's say hubby left you with twenty pounds of green tomatoes he'd strongly suggested might make a wonderful salsa. Godforbid should you disappoint. Godforbid even more that you should NOT take on such a seemingly easy-peesy project. But let's say because you are suffering daily bouts of hormonal upheaval so daunting, you decide to cram as much as you can into the course of your fourteen hour wake cycle to keep the wolves "at bay", you end up conquering not only THE WORLD, but everything in your home with lightening speed--amazing yourself at the surrealness of the female body heading into it's second stage of life: this amped-up hot flashing engine you drive is nothing short of a miracle. (Why aren't more Almost Fifty women willing to speak of this?!) To top it off, you have enough energy at the end of the night to begin yet another knitting project.

So yesterday I decided I needed to turn over the mattress (king size) and flip it around . . .  because Martha said so--to vacuum up all that "detritus" we humans and canines leave behind as we go on about life. But then that lead to me moving every other single piece of furniture in the entire house for a massive vacuum campaign. But before I finished the flipping/vacuuming, I thought I'd go for my three mile walk. On the way home, saw my neighbors outside and thought I'd stop and chit-chat. They brought out the lawn chair. I thought that was too sweet. So I sat a bit. An hour later, I was back home, facing the bedroom that looked like a tornado had hit. (I think the whole reason I had to leave the house for a walk was because I couldn't believe I had just flipped that mattress. Sometimes I overwhelm myself.) But I had another unfinished project awaiting me: dicing the last eight or so pounds of green tomatoes for a second batch of green tomato salsa left over from the previous evening's canning-palooza. My hands hurt so much, I could barely grip my toothbrush. Lugging my mug of coffee around felt like I was dragging a boulder. I kid you not. The thought of cutting those damn tomatoes first thing in the morning put me in such a state, I was tempted to toss every last one of them I had left into the compost heap. But the Catholic in me wore me down, and I decided I best wait for my hands to heal to finish the "Waste Not, Want Not" project my husband had left me.

The Green Tomato Salsa project was a success. I had no idea what I'd be left with as I added this and that to my huge canner pot. I had diced ten pounds of green tomatoes, plus five onions, three red peppers, eight cloves of garlic, and six jalapeno peppers. The mixture boiled down to a thicker consistency because I prefer my salsa that way: thicker. I had a baked potato for dinner and topped it with the salsa. It was super delish. I was pleasantly surprised. The salsa was amazing! So yummy I think I may only can green tomatoes from here on out. Just enough heat, yummy cumin flavor, a bit of cilantro and lime juice in the mix--I couldn't have been more pleased.

So, I combined two recipes for this salsa. First, I found an excellent link here. And used my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving as another reference. I highly recommend to anyone interested in canning to get a copy of this book. I was confident enough in my canning experience to know the other recipe I had found would work well, too. And it did.

This weekend is apple butter time. More canning for me. However, I WILL enlist some assistance! Dr. Thyme and I hope to get a hike in, but I also hope to go to an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch. (Again with the "menopause" talking. But these are not unrealistic goals and hubby did say he'd love to get out for a hike this weekend.) I'll pack some salsa and chips to take along with us. Well, now I'm off for my morning walk. No mattress turning for today. Thank god.