Comments on: a pickin’ we will go

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:29:12 +0000

Thanks, Helen! Mike loves salsa and insists I purchase a jar almost every time I go grocery shopping. He will love to have his own on hand. Now if only those tomatoes would start sprouting.

Denise-
I need to get caught up with you. Thanks for checking in. I know you are uber busy with those boys. I’ll be in the same boat in less than 2 months:/

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:58:37 +0000

I love strawberry picking. Yum.

By: Helen Knowles

Helen Knowles — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:34:39 +0000

Jen, here’s the recipe – Helen

Salsa Recipe

1.5 cans Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chiles (drain juice)
2 good size tomatoes (cut up)
½ onion, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
½ lime – squeeze juice in blender

Place all ingredients in blender/food processor. Puree about 1.5 minutes (until everything is pureed).

Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. (This is a good way to try it before you make the commitment to can a whole batch).

If you are going to can this, you need to make the calculations for the number of jars you want to prepare. The secret to the spicy recipe is the Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chiles. I’ve tried it with other brands but this is the best. I think I canned 20 pints last year – and it didn’t last very long in my house !

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:09:58 +0000

SP-
I think it would be a wonderful experience for Annie to work at a farm when she gets older. It’d put hair on her chest. Er, something like that.

Helen-
Mike is worried that ours may be too runny, too. But the instruction sheet inside of the pectin box said it could take up to 2 weeks set up. So maybe we all are just products of our society of instant gratification. We’d love to have a good salsa recipe since we’re going to have more tomatoes than we know what to do with in a few weeks. Mike has big goals for canning dozens of jars of spaghetti sauce.

Julie-
I don’t think I could get sick of strawberry jam, but then again I’ve never had 60 jars on hand to go through. Mmmm, warm fresh-baked bread and homemade strawberry jam sounds delightful. Annie is totally serious about her future strawberry farm job. She’s been talking about it non-stop.

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:42:58 +0000

We are already finishing off our first 16 oz. jar of jam. I am sure we will be sick of jam soon but right now we are loving it! I even made some fresh warm bread…too yummy! I am still laughing at Annie going up and asking for a job with a totally serious face.

By: Helen Knowles

Helen Knowles — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:13:58 +0000

I canned 17 pints last weekend, following exact directions, and the jam is runny. Waiting for a response on the Fresh Preserving blog. I’m going to try to do some blueberry jam this weekend. I have a great recipe for some spicy salsa if you want it -just let me know.

By: Shoebox Princess

Shoebox Princess — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:33:03 +0000

Very cool! Keep encouraging Annie to get a job at a strawberry farm because it sounds like an awesome job!

That is a lot of strawberries. Good luck making jam.