Salsa

I missed posting yesterday!

It was Grocery Shopping Day for me and it was pretty busy.  I left the house at 8 AM with 2 of my girls and we just meandered through our store.  I forgot my grocery list and wanted to be certain that I was getting everything that was in my mind and not in my mind, so I just wandered.  

It was really nice!

I arrived back home at 10:30 and took my son to a yard working job he has in the adjacent town.  I took Jack with me because he had just woken up from his nap and he had to eat, somewhere along the way! I dropped Russell off at his job and then was 5 minutes late meeting my friend for lunch.

A little rabbit trail here: It sounds strange, but I've yet to master the nursing-in-public-with-a-blanket thing! I know! After nursing 8 children you think I should be a pro, huh? No dice.  At lunch with my friend Jack decided that he was okay to wait for a while (sweetie man) and this gave me time to scarf my little bacon cheeseburger without a bun, and then I grappled and wrangled him under the blanket and fed him!

But then I had to pick my son up and rush home and find something nice for the younger girls to wear because last night was Kellie's end of the season violin recital.

So in between making sure that everyone ages 8 and under looked decent, I made dinner.  We ate dinner very quickly and then took 3 trips to the church where the recital took place.  Yes, 3 trips.  That's what you have to do when your only car is a 5-seater sedan and you have a Large Family!  

I also fed Jack at the Very Last Minute, while everyone was being shuttled to said church…..and he may even have finished his feeding in the backseat while Daddy rocketed fiercely through town….but don't tell anyone!

That's why I didn't blog yesterday.

Today I thought I'd do something easy and share my recipe for salsa. I like to think up original recipes.  I'm kind of weird like that.  I love cookbooks and have several very pretty cookbooks with lots of good ideas in them, but I seldom use cookbooks because recipes confuse me! However, I love to cook so I come up with my own recipes and write them down.

Here's the recipe for my salsa.  This is the easiest, quickest salsa ever and it freezes well!

**Note that this recipe is very mild.  Of course you can adjust the heat level by adding in any chile you want, but I love the mild stuff.  It's also super convenient and cheap because it calls for canned diced tomatoes! And one more thing: in place of the fresh lemon, you can use 1/4 C bottled lemon juice, such as Santa Cruz Organic Lemon Juice**

Mama's Blender Salsa

3 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 of a sweet onion
1 can diced green chiles
1 generous handful cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic, paper removed and smashed with the back of a knife
1 fresh lemon, juiced
Salt, to taste (I use kosher salt)

Add all of the ingredients to the container of your blender.  Process until the ingredients are well blended.  Taste and adjust the salt, if desired. Freeze in cup sized portions in freezer bags or freezer containers. This salsa is great used as a sauce for enchiladas!

**More notes: I've also canned this salsa using the water bath method.  It's wonderful that way too, and the water bath method is safe for salsas due to the acids from the tomatoes and the lemon juice.  If you're using the water bath canning method, I always pour my salsa into a large pan and warm it on the stove until it's steaming and then I pour it into my pint sized jars.  It makes about three pints or so, and you can double or triple the recipe!**