Ok, so I’m a huge fan of soup. I love eating it. I’d eat it every day. However, I’ve always felt like there are not enough soup options out in the public for people like me. Sure there are plenty of delicious vegetarian soups out there especially if you live in a big city, but I’ll bet that the majority of — let’s just single out a common one — potato soup for example served in restaurants across the States include bacon or ham, and most likely a chicken stock. And what about the “veggie” minestrone soups with little beef shreds floating around in a beef stock? None of this matters though to a girl like me because every one of those soups are prepared with onions! Yes, you’ll have an extremely difficult time finding a soup prepared by someone else that excludes onions completely. Even if they didn’t put onions directly in the soup pot, the stock they used was surely prepared with them. So, if you’re sensitive to onions you’ll know they’re in there and you’ll regret having it — even if it tasted wonderful. Luckily for me I know to avoid soups outside of home and I happen to love preparing it myself anyway. So, my life will never lack soup… and today I’d like to share a bit of cauliflower magic with you…

Just the other day I was craving a cauliflower soup, we haven’t had one all year. I wanted it to be creamy, a little cheesy, and subtly curried. I came up with a recipe that was exactly that. I usually think my soups turn out to be pretty tasty, but this one… I’m still thinking about how delicious it was. It was a perfect comfort soup on a cold February night. We dipped peasant bread in it too, even better ;)

Ingredients used:

1 average head of cauliflower, when chopped about 5 heaping cups
6 cups vegetable broth
1 celery stalk
2 big carrots divided
1 heaping cup chopped mushrooms
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Begin by preparing all of your ingredients.  Measure out your spices and salt. Chop the cauliflower into small pieces, 1 carrot, and celery. You can wait to cut the other carrot and the mushrooms if you want, they will be added after the soup is blended.

In a large soup pot splash about a tablespoon of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add turmeric and cumin seeds, and salt. Once the cumin seeds begin to brown toss in the asafoetida, stir the spice blend together and add the 6 cups of vegetable stock to the pot. Add carrots and celery, bring to a boil. Add cauliflower and simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until all ingredients are soft and ready to be blended. During the simmer prepare the carrot and mushroom pieces, chop them to a comfortable size to spoon up in the soup.

Blend with an immersion blender or a regular blender if that’s what you have. Create a smooth blended consistency and taste for spice adjustments.  Add vegetables and cook until they are how you like them. I prefer them to be a little firm, but not quite crunchy. Slowly stir in a heaping cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, mix until well combined.  Ladle into soup bowls and enjoy with your favorite bread.

I think it’s safe to say that making your own pizza will change your life. At least it changed ours in the way we feel about eating it…

Let’s face it, pizza is delicious — dough, sauce, cheese — although it’s not one of those foods that I just have to have. We just about never go out for pizza and when it’s delivered it’s usually mediocre at best. Pools of grease that then sit heavy in your stomach. Ugh. I generally don’t feel so great after a pizza delivery experience, a quick crap fix of a meal that cost a pretty penny. Not to mention the standard pizza sauce surely involves onions. Delicious at the time but not always a feel good situation in the end.

Last winter Joe and I got into making our own pizza and haven’t gone out or ordered pizza delivery since.  It’s just so simple and so much cheaper to make our own; it’s actually quicker too. While you can’t deny that it is pizza you are eating, it feels better for you because you control everything that goes into it. For example the cheese — you can use as much or as little, you can buy a cheese that is light or of higher quality.  You can load it with vegetables so it’s not just dough sauce and cheese, you can roll it out as thin or as thick as you like…. basically it’s fully customizable, so how could you lose?  Make it just how you like it and feel good about eating it. Have it for lunch the next day too…

This recipe makes 2 big delicious pizzas:

roasted red pepper sauce:
6 medium peppers
1 jalapeño
1 head of garlic
4 tomatoes
kosher salt to taste

dough:
1 1/3 cup warm-to-hot water (about 100 degrees F)
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 packet)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 cups flour

topping:
2 potatoes
1 tablespoon rosemary
3 cups chopped mushrooms
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

First prepare your sauce; this can be done the day before if you plan ahead but we often just do it the same day. Doesn’t matter.  Preheat oven to 425°. Wash ingredients to be roasted. For this sauce we used 6 medium peppers (2 red, 2 orange, 2 yellow), 4 small tomatoes, 1 jalapeño, and a head of garlic. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush with oil. Wrap the head of garlic in foil and drizzle with oil, place on baking sheet as well.  Roast for about 40 minutes turning once or twice during that time. The peppers will be slightly blackened and soft when the are done.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool before handling.

Before blending, remove the stems and seeds from the peppers, you can leave the jalapeño seeds in and cut out the stem from the tomatoes. I also like to peal away the skin from the bell peppers and tomatoes to create a smoother textured sauce. Include the garlic and blend until desired consistency.  Salt to taste. We ended up with about 4 cups of sauce which is a little more than we would use for the two pizzas. 3 cups should be enough. But we wouldn’t want to run out so we planned to have a little extra instead. Set aside while you prepare the rest the dough and toppings.

Next prepare the dough. In a large bowl or in a stand mixer combine 1 1/3 cup warm water with 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry active yeast (or 1 packet). Allow to sit for a couple of minutes to give the yeast a chance to work. Add a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix in 3 1/2 cups flour and let the dough sit for about 15 minutes while your prepare your ingredients.

Preheat oven 425°
(check that your rack is at the lower setting before the oven gets hot)

Peal and chop the potatoes in smaller pieces, we usually cut them to about 1/2 inch cubes or similar sized rectangles. Slice mushrooms. Remove rosemary leaves from stems and coarsely chop if you’d like. Shred your cheese. We always buy the block of cheese to grate ourselves for a couple of reasons; it’s generally less expensive and there are unnecessary preservatives added to prepackaged shredded cheeses — same stuff with a bit of extra questionable ingredients added to the mix. No thank you, we’ll grate our own.

Time to roll out the dough! Get out two large baking sheets and grease them up. Sometimes we use butter and other times we’ll use a spray oil. You can also use a sprinkle of cornmeal if you’d like. we’ve never had a problem with the pizza sticking.

Cut the dough in half making 2 balls. Roll out one at a time on a lightly floured surface. The dough might be a little tough if you’ve never rolled dough before, but you can stretch it out a bit by pulling at the edges and letting it hang off your hands. If you want to be really daring, practice spinning it in the air; this might seem like an unnecessary flourish but it actually helps stretch the dough.

Now it’s time to top the pizzas…

First layer is the sauce, spread an even layer across each pizza.  It takes about 1 1/2-2 cups of sauce per pizza. We usually roll out each pizza to be about 12 x 15 inches or so.  You’ll probably have more sauce than you need so put as much as you like.

Second layer is the potatoes.  Divide your cut potatoes in two and scatter them on top of the sauce.

Third layer is the rosemary. I usually chop up about a heaping tablespoon or so of rosemary to share between the 2 pizzas. You can add more if you want a more intense rosemary taste, but it’s a pretty strong flavor so you don’t want to overdue it especially if your cooking it for other people.

The forth layer is the mushrooms. Find some open spaces between the potatoes and fill them in with mushrooms. There’s room for everyone here.

Last but not least is the cheese! We use about 12 oz of mozzarella between the 2 pizzas, but you could cut it down a bit for a lighter pizza or bulk it up some for a cheesier pizza, of course.  Sprinkle an even layer on each. We also usually add Parmesan to the top as well but this time we were out, it’s delicious either way.

Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until it’s golden. Baking time may vary depending on your oven. We like to bake ours at the bottom for a slightly crispier crust.

Two large custom pizzas for well under $10 — in under an hour!

There are definitely many right ways to make stuffed mushrooms.  It’s an extremely easy dish to make and to improvise with whatever you have.  With the simple guideline of “top mushrooms with filling,” the possibilities are endless.

This dish makes a great appetizer, side, snack, or even a small meal. We made a similar version of these mushrooms for a dinner party a few weeks ago with the only real difference being the cheese we used.  They’re great for parties whether you are the host or you are bringing them with you.  Make ahead and pop them in to the oven 25 minutes before you’re ready to enjoy.

recipe:

about 2 8oz packages of baby bella mushrooms

2 cups frozen spinach
1 roasted pepper
4 cloves roasted garlic
1+ cups cheese (sharp cheddar, havarti, swiss all work well)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper powder or cayenne
handful of toasted pine nuts (optional)

1/4 cup bread crumbs toasted with butter

Prepare your roasted pepper and roasted garlic ahead of time.  Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly brush pepper with oil, wrap a head (or half) of garlic drizzled with a little olive oil in tinfoil and place both on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, flip pepper half way through. Allow to cool before handling.

Meanwhile prepare the filling. Thaw spinach and drain excess water- if you are using fresh spinach saute it for a moment to wilt.  Grate the cheese; we used cheddar for this recipe, but last time it was havarti. It’s ok to switch things up. Both were delicious. Toast a handful of pine nuts — dry toast them in a small pan with no oil, shake them around over the heat until they’re nice and toasty.  Dice the roasted pepper and peel the garlic.  Combine all of these ingredients along with spice and salt to taste. Set aside.

Clean mushrooms and pop off stems. Place mushrooms caps cup side up in a glass baking dish. We use a shallow 8 x 12 glass baking dish.  Use whatever you have — a couple of pie dishes or a lasagna dish would work well too. The filling should be enough to top 2 8 oz packs of mushrooms.  The size of the mushrooms and the amount of room on your baking dish may vary the proportions. Disperse filling into the caps.

Finish the stuffed mushrooms off with bread crumbs.  For this recipe we used panko bread crumbs and fried them up with a little butter, probably about a tablespoon or so.  You can add some parmesan to the mix if you want.  If you are interested in making your own bread crumbs from scratch, check here for some inspiration.

Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes.

Try out our recipe or make up your own! If you don’t have all of the ingredients we used consider what else might taste nice here…. artichoke hearts, olives, goat cheese, tomatoes, Parmesan, carrots, edamame, kale, walnuts… no onions… this list could go on for days- you get the point.

Over the past year or so crunchy chickpeas have been flooding the food blog world.  There’s a good reason for it too! They’re inexpensive, simple to make, delicious, and healthy.  You don’t really need a recipe to make them. I first made these crunchy chickpeas several months ago and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’m always on the lookout for tasty snacks especially ones that can be readily available at any given surge of hunger. A grab on the go or snag a few here and there snack. I keep these around the house and at work nearly always.

The crunchy chickpea snack concept is great because you can modify it to fit your taste and you can make as much or as little as you require.  The batch I make is plenty for the week with enough to share — spicy, and salty. The cooking process takes about an hour depending on your oven and the amount you are baking at once.  The entire process is simple and straight forward but it does require you to stand by in order to mix them up throughout baking.  A good timer is helpful.

Ingredients :

3 cups dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1½ – 2 teaspoons hot chili powder or cayenne

I use dried chickpeas to start but you can use canned as well. When using dry chickpeas pre-soak over night or all day.  I’ll usually just set them out to soak in the morning if I want to bake them in the evening. Once soaked for several hours, drain the chickpeas and put them in a pot with new water to boil.  Simmer until cooked.

Strain the chickpeas and pour them onto a clean towel to completely dry and cool off. I believe this step is extremely important, allowing them to air off and cool off helps eliminate a lot of steam which is moisture.  I have noticed a huge difference when I have not allowed them to cool down — the chickpeas have a harder crunch to them which to me is less pleasant to eat.  By eliminating as much moisture before you bake them I believe you get nicer light and crispy texture.

Preheat oven to about 400°

Once the chickpeas are cooked and cooled, place them into a baking dish. I use a 9 x 13 Pyrex lasagna dish.  I would recommend using something with sides because throughout baking the chickpeas will need to be stirred around.  I’ve used a regular baking sheet before and found it pretty difficult to stir them up adequately (while in a hot oven — wear a mitt!) without knocking them off the sides. I also felt that the chickpeas were quicker to burn on a thinner baking sheet — the glass dish just makes more sense to me especially when you are preparing several cups worth of snacks ;)

Season the chickpea directly in the baking dish. Pour oil, sprinkle spices & kosher salt to taste, stir up to evenly coat the batch. Give it a taste before popping it in the oven.

The baking time may vary slightly but will end up to be just over an hour to an hour and a half. Set the timer for 15 minutes and then stir the chickpeas well, repeat an additional 3 times.  This will take about 45 minutes ;) taste test a few for crispiness and keep a closer watch as they finish baking.  I just keep lessening the interval between mixings until they are done to avoid burning them at the end! You’ll know when they’re done because they will be super crispy and delicious; because there are so many chickpeas baking at once, the textures will vary slightly, some may be a little darker (burnt), others a bit lighter (chewy), and the rest of them will be perfectly crispy.

Make these your new savory snack!

I love crackers but have not made them myself until recently. I noticed that we haven’t purchased many, if any, crackers in the past year and when I came across JoyTheBaker’s post called Sea Salt and Poppy Seed Crackers, I knew what I had to do. So, I made crackers and they were delicious. In fact they were so nice that I have made four batches in the past 2 weeks and I’m already thinking about making another! This marks the start of my cracker hunt — must find more recipes.
Cracker recipes, where are you?

This recipe is surprisingly simple to make, it requires very few ingredients and about 10 minutes of your active time with 30 minutes or so to bake. It also lends itself to be modified with other spices and flavors. I’ve only just begun to experiment with these.

The recipe below was found on JoyTheBaker.Com
Joy found it in The Complete Book of Cookies

Sea Salt and Poppy Seed Crackers

makes 20 crackers
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4  teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, cold and cut into 6 small chunks
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
6 Tablespoons half and half
sea salt & additional half and half for the topping (I used kosher salt instead)

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and, using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is in tiny bits and dispersed throughout the flour mixture.

Stir in the poppy seeds.

Add the half and half and mix to make a stiff dough.  Place on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 8×10-inches.  Cut into 20 squares.

Place the dough squares on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment or foil.  Brush sparingly with half and half and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp but still pale.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

So far the original recipe stands to be the best (of course) but I have started experimenting with adding other flavors which promise to make a nice cracker as well. I will post about them in the future. The additional ingredients in question are crushed red pepper, cumin, and sesame seeds… stay tuned for more cracker fun and dip ideas!

Over the holidays we were gifted some pretty amazing things. There are two new special tools I am specifically referring to right now, a KitchenAid! and a Calphalon Dutch Oven!!! Oh my! Could it get any better?! The year has already started off much much better than last, I couldn’t be happier. Both Joe and I are employed with jobs we like and we’re in good health (crowd cheers) plus, we’re set up to bake anything and everything we want. I’m ready to make 2010 a great year full of fresh bread & happiness. Cheers to all and thanks for taking a moment to look at my little site, a project that I desire to keep growing into something beautiful.  And thank You (M&D and B&R) for gifting tools that will help us grow (up & out;) as well.

Of course we had to break into our new toys immediately to take them for a spin. First stop — rosemary bread. We combed the internet for the recipe we would bake first. We landed on a recipe from ThePioneerWoman.com.

This recipe was adapted from
ThePioneerWoman.com

Rosemary Bread

20 oz. of bread flour (all purpose is okay, too) – about 4 cups.
8 oz. of water (or 1 cup).
4 oz. melted butter with chopped herbs of choice (we used rosemary).
2 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast (if active, it would be best to sprinkle yeast over the water to let it start to work before mixing it in).

In your KitchenAid stand mixer (with dough hook) sprinkle yeast over the water before mixing in the rest of the ingredients.  Mix together on low speed for about 10 minutes or so until you can achieve a windowpane with the dough- this is something I never knew about until I followed their instructions. Achieving a windowpane is when you can pull off a small chunk of the dough you’re kneading and stretch it gently to see if it is somewhat translucent. If you can do this without it tearing, it’s ready.

Once this elasticity has been achieved, allow the dough sit out with plastic wrap over it for 1-4 hours to double in size. After it’s gotten bigger, it should be kneaded for a minute or two so that the yeast can redistribute – Once we kneaded the bread, the dough seemed to return to its original size and become more dense.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut a large ‘X’ into the surface of the bread dough so it can bloom!

Bake inside a covered cast iron pan after coating the rounded dough with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid to finish it off for another 15 to 30 minutes.

The bread can get brown on the bottom if it’s too close to the heating element; if that happens, just slice it off with a sharp knife.

We baked ours for the 30 minutes covered and an additional 20 without the lid- next time we’ll do the additional 30 minutes because our dough was a little too moist although it was still very delicious.  Our outer crust was beautifully perfect, this was an excellent first experience with both our KitchenAid and cooking with the dutch oven. We can’t stop thinking about mixing up our next batch of bread!

It’s exciting to think about how much easier the bread making process will be, the possibilities just opened up. Looking forward to finding more recipes to try.

I’m continuously on a quest to find ways to prepare squash and pumpkin in a satisfying way. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t care much for squash mostly because they are most often prepared in a sweet way. However, it is possible to successfully prepare the squash family in a savory way as well. This year we picked our pumpkins mostly for the seeds with no intention to carve.  Unfortunately when we opened our pumpkins we found the most pathetic dilapidated flat seeds I have ever seen ;( — they were completely unusable and severely disappointing to me.  In a moment of panic upon this discovery I feared that we bought and lugged these pumpkins home for no reason… I was peeved. Deep breath, we had to give them purpose — this meant making pumpkin puree!

And with that puree we made bread, muffins, cookies, lasagna, and even gave some away! I would have never had the desire to make my own pumpkin puree if those seeds were any good. I would have happily moved on to roast and devour the seeds without thinking twice about completely wasting the rest of the pumpkin! We made our puree from two pumpkins, which left us with about 16 cups! So of course we had to search for different ways to use it, what the heck could you do with so much puree!? I will forever look at a pumpkin as more than a carve-able surface filled with delicious seeds.

One of the most interesting dishes I discovered was pumpkin lasagna; I have never heard of or thought of it but I was sure ready to try it out.  I got the idea from Food Mayhem, they made it last year as well.  Of course I didn’t follow their exact recipe, I had to cut out anything sweet and add a little more savory to the mix.  It turned out nicely. Lasagna is one of those meals that really doesn’t need many rules. Noodles, sauce, cheese, and anything else baked in layers — that’s basically how it’s done. This is how we made our first pumpkin lasagna! If you’re a sweeter pumpkin eater you should have a look at Food Mayhem’s recipe as well and adjust to your preference.

Ingredients used: pumpkin puree, cayenne powder, cumin powder, ginger, kosher salt, lasagna noodles, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella, spinach, tofu, mushrooms.

3 cups plain fresh plain pumpkin puree-
spiced with :
1 tsp pepper powder or cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½+ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh finely minced ginger.

lasagna noodles of choice
15 oz fresh ricotta cheese
8+ oz fresh mozzarella
3 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach
½ block of tofu

Begin by spicing up the pumpkin puree; simmer puree in a sauce pot and add ginger, cumin, cayenne powder/pepper powder, and salt to taste.  Cook over lowest heat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (cut mushrooms, tofu, and spinach).

Preheat oven to 350°

In a 9 x 13 glass baking dish spread a thin layer of pumpkin puree at the very bottom, place the first layer of lasagna noodles and cover with a thin layer of pumpkin puree. Having a bit of puree on the very bottom will help the noodles cook and avoid it from sticking to the bottom of the pan once cooked.

Add tofu; we sliced ours but crumbling it would also be nice. Add a layer of spinach — we used frozen spinach because that’s what we had, we always have frozen spinach on hand because it’s super cheap and a perfect ingredient to add to any sauce, beans, rice, casseroles, lasagna, etc…

Time for another layer of lasagna noodles & of course a layer of pumpkin puree.

Clump fresh ricotta onto the mix and spread it out into an even layer.

Place the sliced mushrooms in an nice even layer and place your last layer of lasagna noodles.

One last layer of pumpkin puree and top with mozzarella! We accidentally bought a fresh mozzarella filled with cream: Burrata — fresh mozzarella filled with cream. When we first chopped into the surprisingly soft and gooey cheese we worried that we made a mistake.  Of course we used it anyway and it didn’t seem to make a difference at all. Once Baked all of the cheese melted together and was delicious as expected.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350° for 50 min.  Allow time to cool — cut and serve. Now tell me that doesn’t look delicious! Ha — ok, I know, it’s not exactly a beautiful looking dish. But it’s definitely a nice way to remake a traditional lasagna into a seasonal treat…

Throughout spring and summer we prepared fresh salsa about once a week- sometimes even more.  As fall set in I noticed that we had not been making fresh salsa nearly as much, although we have been making many meals that are naturally complimented by salsa.  We started to miss it. With busy lives and produce seasons changing the desire and convenience of making fresh salsa has slowed down.

We never buy store bought salsa for a few reasons, the first being the fact that I don’t tolerate onions and I have never seen a store bought jar of salsa excluding them (let me know if you know of one!) We consciously try to avoid purchasing pre-packaged food that contain unnecessary ingredients and preservatives, and also because it can get kind of pricey — once you figure out how inexpensive and delicious it is to make your own fresh salsa it just doesn’t seem worth it to buy mass produced versions anymore. Of course there are decent market fresh salsas — but all of which will contain onions, suitable for the majority. A jarred salsa is so convenient and a perfect snack, and since we don’t purchase it from the store and haven’t been making it fresh, we have been deprived. This is why we decided to can our own. We have thought about doing this for a while and now we’re living the dream! We have a full stock of custom salsa in the cabinet! Like fresh salsa there are many “right” ways to do this.  Here is how our first attempt went.

Ingredients : plum tomatoes, bell peppers (green, red, orange, yellow), jalapeños, habeñeros, lime, salt, cilantro.

Supplies needed : canning tools, 5-6 pint jars, large pot for boiling.

Recipe:
8 cups plum tomatoes seeded and diced
2 green peppers
2 yellow peppers
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
4 fat mild jalapeños
2 habeñeros
5 pieces of garlic
7 table spoons lime
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 bundles cilantro- 1 heaping cup chopped

Before you start this process make sure you have all of your canning equipment ready (jars with fresh lids, a pot large enough to boil the jars with 2 inches of water over top, and canning tools for lifting the hot jars/lids from the water). Wash your jars with hot water and soap, set aside while you prepare your ingredients. If you have an extremely large pot to boil your jars it may take quite a while to heat up the water — you can set it to warm up at anytime so you’re not in a situation where you are waiting for long.  Fill the pot with enough water to cover the tops of the jars with 2 inches of water.

Prepare all of the ingredients before cooking.  Seed and dice the tomatoes and peppers, pluck the cilantro leaves from the stem and chop finely, crush and mince the garlic.  Once you have chopped everything it is time to cook!

We used a 4 quart pot which would hold up to 8 pints worth of salsa — this batch made 5 1/2 pints for us. Heat up the pot with a splash of olive oil and add your garlic, jalapeños, & habeñeros. Saute for a moment and include the rest of your peppers.

Add tomatoes and simmer for a couple of minutes, it will become more soupy.

Throw in cilantro, lime, & salt to taste. Bring salsa to a full boil for at least 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and cover while you sterilize your jars before canning. Place washed jars in the pot of water to simmer for 5 minutes, do not boil.  Place lids (not the rings) in a separate pot of water to simmer, do not boil. Remove the jars from the water bath with the jar lifters and place on a heat safe surface, we use a wooden cutting board.

Fill your jars with the salsa leaving about a ½ inch of space from the top. Use a funnel to avoid spilling on the jar.  Poke the mixture with a clean utensil to push out any extra air bubbles — we use a chop stick. Wipe around the rim of the jar with a clean towel before closing.

With the magnetic lid lifter place your jar lid and screw the band on with enough force but not too tight. Use the jar lifters to place jars back into the water bath and bring to a rolling boil for at least 5 minutes. Remove jars right side up and place back on to the heat safe surface, allow to rest undisturbed for 24 hours.  Over the next hour you will hear pops from the lids which indicates a successful canning. The following day your jars should be complete. Test that they were canned successfully by lifting the jar by just the sealed lid (remove the screw top), it should be securely attached.

For more instructions and information on canning please refer to Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving or other sources with more experience; we are amateurs.

The salsa turned out to be delicious, though fresh is still better, but now we have enough salsa to last us several weeks, maybe even months! It took a little time to do, but if you’re like me it was a fun activity and we saved a lot of money by doing it. We listed out the cost of this particular salsa below, to make 5+ pints of salsa it cost us just under $9.00! I’d say that’s pretty good, an average pint of salsa at the grocery store would cost around $5.00 which means we saved over $15.00 and we are glad to know exactly how it was made and processed.

Cost :
tomatoes- $3.30
bell peppers- $2.94
cilantro- $1.10
jalapeño- $0.38
lime- $0.25
habeñero- $0.18
garlic- $0.07
salt- $0.01

total cost $8.95 for 5 pints of fresh custom salsa.