After lots of hard work and love, our garden is starting to resemble that of someone who knows what they are doing. The cucumbers are producing around 4 a day, the watermelon is growing, the peppers are multiplying, and the squash is gourding! The only problem I seem to have is the tomatoes aren't ripening. After a little research, googling, and yahoo answering, the only consensus I could find out of hundreds of pages is picking the larger green tomatoes will help the others to ripen on the vine. So, I just picked about 4 lbs of them. All the pages suggested some recipe or another, using the tomatoes. And one even suggested to put said tomatoes in a paper sack with an over ripe banana. Since Monkey eats all of our bananas in 1.2 seconds, they never get over ripe! Don't get me wrong, I love fried green tomatoes, the movie and the food, as much as the next guy. But seriously, I don't foresee that recipe in the "I need to lose tons of babyfat diet". So I think I will make some sort of salsa out of them. Seeing as my jalapenos are as bountiful as my muffin tops, salsa seems to be the healthiest option for me! Although, I may still make a few slices fried, to go along with the grilled chicken and boiled squash for dinner tonight! I'm sure the hubby would be happy, and it might just score me a few brownie points!
Here is the recipe I am going to use for my salsa. hopefully it will taste as good as it sounds. Though, I will be adding cilantro, and probably substituting lime juice for lemon!
Green Salsa
Yield: 5 pints
5 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapeños
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp ground cumin*
3 Tbsp oregano leaves *
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.
