Canning Salsa

We love salsa around here.  A lot!  I think that growing up in Texas with so much Mexican influence on the local foods it's just natural for us.   I love salsa on eggs, in beans, breakfast taco's, burrito's, chips and salsa,  the list goes on and on.  And so with all the tomato's and peppers we have right now the time is right to make some salsa.  I didn't really have a go to recipe to start with but now I think I just might have found one. I love that this recipe is so flexible.  And of course you can change up the amount of onions or peppers, or even use canned tomato's if you don't have fresh.    I'm working on my 3rd batch now which makes 18 quarts put up!  That just might be enough to last till next year but I just might put up at least one more batch.... just in case, ya know?

                      Salsa 
Directions
 6 pounds Roma (plum) tomatoes
1/4 pound Roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/4 cup lemon juice ( I used 3/4 cup just because I thought it needed it for canning)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 red onion, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 pound jalapeno peppers, chopped
1/3 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Briefly place 6 pounds tomatoes into water to loosen skins and set color. Drain, peel and crush.
Mix chopped tomatoes, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin into the saucepan with crushed tomatoes. Whip to desired thickness. Bring to a boil. Mix in red onion, white onion, yellow onion, jalapeno peppers and cilantro. Continue boiling until vegetables are soft and mixture has reached desired consistency. Remove from heat. Refrigerate until serving.

You can click the link up there to find the original recipe and read all the wonderful reviews.  Of course I've tweaked it a bit.  I added bell peppers (because I've got so many this year) and uppped the amount of onions and lemon juice.I was kind of leary about using a pound of peppers just chopped. So the first batch I did I removed the seeds and membranes.   It ended up like a very mild salsa. So much so that it would probably be really good as a base for something like spaghetti or chili.  Not exactly what I was wanting but it won't go to waste.  The next batch I just chopped the whole jalapeno's.  Much better!  Of course Mar's loves all things HOT and so the last batch I added a couple of cored and seeded habanaro's.  It's still not to hot for me and he likes this last batch the best.   Chunky veggies that still maintain some firmness is one of the reasons I like this.This recipe is going to go on my list of have to do canning. for next year.

Tweaks I did to this..... 
 1 Tablespoon sugar, 
3/4 cup of lemon juice
extra onions
Bell Peppers
I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used dried because thats what I had on hand.  (which reminds me... I need to start some more seeds)
I drained all the juice I could from the tomato's and then just added back what I needed for the consistency I wanted.

And there you have it.  Great Salsa!!