kindergardens - week 15 {salsa week}

This week was salsa week (someone asked for the recipe...you can find it at the end of this post).  It was a bit of a marathon...four days working on one (huge) pot of salsa.  Most of the time it just simmered on the stove, which only required that I stop by every once in a while and give it a stir.  The chopping, however, was much more involved and took me several hours (I'm a slow chopper).  I had several projects up my sleeve to keep Kiddo occupied while I worked at the cutting board.  So while I chopped this...

He was doing this:

(supplies:  watered down paint, coffee filters, salad spinner.  We got the idea from here.)

(happy coincidence - this is the bowl after he was done and we had lifted out the basket)

And while I was chopping these...

He was playing here:

 (supplies:  rainy day packing peanuts, matchbox cars, buildings made from Pop Tart boxes, construction paper and scraps of cardboard)

"Catzilla" wanted to play, too.

I did eventually get the chopping done, threw everything into a large stock pot, and then put it on the oven to simmer.  For three days.  Oy.  It did finally cook down, and I have an aching back and a mess of a kitchen 30 jars of salsa lined up on the shelves in the basement.

A few lessons I've learned this week:

1.  The job would get done a whole lot faster if I wouldn't stop several times to take pictures of spinning paint and packing peanuts.  But it was worth it.

2.  I am never making a quadruple batch of salsa again.  Ever.  Or, at least, not with our current recipe.  It takes a looooong time to cook down over 12 quarts of tomatoes.

3.  Speaking of recipes, I'm seriously considering switching to a new one next year.  I love our recipe, but a friend of mine has a recipe she and her family love just as much, and it only has to cook 15 minutes, as opposed to hours.  Big difference.  Big.  Huge!  (name that movie).

Here is her recipe, in case you'd like to give it a try:

KRISANNE'S SALSA RECIPE
14 cups chopped tomatoes
3 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped jalapeno (or more if you like more spice)
1 cup sweet green pepper
1 cup yellow pepper
3 T salt
1 T chili powder
1T garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
16 oz can of tomato paste

put on stove and cook for 15 minutes at boiling, then add a blended mixutre of 5 T cornstarch and 1/2 cup vinegar (I just whip it together with a fork before I pour it in the salsa). Let it thicken a bit (usually just takes a couple of minutes). Then put in jars with lids and place in canner for 20 minutes at boiling.

4.  You cannot rush salsa.  A couple of times, I tried to speed things up a bit by turning up the heat on the stove from "low" to medium."  Not too long afterward, I noticed the now-familiar smell of scorching tomatoes.  Oops.

5.  Screw the rings on the jars a little more than just "finger tight."  I have over 2 quarts of salsa in the fridge because multiple jars didn't seal right.  The best explanation we can come up with is that I didn't screw the rings on tight enough.  Oops again.

Still, it's done now, and I will really appreciate all the time and effort when I pull a jar off the shelf in February.  Now I just have to drum up the motivation to go out to the garden and pick more tomatoes...and then figure out what to do with them all!

P.S.  We used some of our tomatoes in a new recipe the other day...so good!

Linking up to week 15 of KinderGARDENS.