Homemade Salsa

So we LOVE salsa over here..... and we like it HOT! We also LOVE to can things. It's actually a hobby of ours and we usually can several times a year making our own applesauce, jams & jellies, apple pie filling and salsa.

We've worked on this recipe over the last few years, adjusting and changing things up until we found the flavor that we love! This recipe is for HOT salsa, however, you can easily omit the hot seasonings and replace with milder seasonings. Easy peezy.

Check out our family recipe below!  We hope you LOVE it!

Tip: You do not need to can this recipe. You can put it in tupperware containers and leave it in your fridge for up to 5 days or you can put it in freezerware containers and freeze it! It freezes up really well (we know this all too well because one year we (and I really mean my husband) :) screwed up our cooking time for canning and we had to freeze it all instead. :)

Tip: We always try to get local ingredients from our farmers market in town. Sometimes it won't be possible depending on what time of year you make it, but, if you can, buy from local farmers and help support local agriculture!

Ingredients:
14 cups tomatoes
2 cups diced onions
2 1/2 cups colored peppers (red, green, yellow - or you can use all green)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons salt
1 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoon dried cilantro
1/4 cup sugar
1 can rotel
1 can green chilies
3 cans tomato paste
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup jalapenos
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 packets HOT taco seasoning (you can change these out for mild packets if you want a more milder salsa

To prepare:

Since we always get tomatoes from local farms, we have to peel our tomatoes by placing them in boiling water and then using a cold water bath. It's a ton of work depending how many toms you have, but it's worth it to us so we can support our farmers. Click here to see how to remove the peels: http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-peel-tomatoes/

If you don't want to go through this process you can always buy canned tomatoes though.

Start chopping & dicing! All ingredients should be chopped & diced into small pieces/cubes.

Tip: If you are using fresh jalapenos, make sure to wear gloves when you remove the vines and seeds from your peppers! If not, your fingers will burn for days (do not ask me how I know this!).

Add all ingredients into large stock pot and cook on your stove until all ingredients are tender.

If you are canning, there is a specific amount of time you need to cook your ingredients depending on if you are water bathing your salsa or pressure canning it. Make sure to look up those cooking times so you are following food safety and canning standards.

If you are just making this salsa to eat immediately or to keep in your fridge, you can cook on your stove top until all ingredients are softened.

Put your salsa in containers, jars or tupperware and eat, refrigerate, freeze or give away to friends!

I hope you enjoy this salsa recipe! It's our favorite after years of trying to perfect it!  I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you end up loving it!

Watch Out Winter! I've Got Beef Stew!

It's snowing outside with about 5" of snow on the ground already and another 4" yet to fall so I am hunkered down inside snuggling up with the dogs while Christmas music is playing in the background. It's the perfect day to bust out my beloved crock pot and make our wonderful family Beef Stew recipe!

Check it out below!

Beef Stew
2lbs beef stew
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic - minced
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 onion - chopped
1 1/2 cup beef broth
4 potatoes - diced
3 large carrots - sliced
1 celery stalk - sliced
4 tablespoons tomato paste (1 small can)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 bag frozen peas
1/4 red wine (optional)
 1 packet of stew seasoning mix (envelope)

To prepare stew:

Start by coating your beef cubes with the 1/4 cup of flour. Sear your meat on your stove top, just to put some color on the beef.  I do this by cranking up my burner so the pan is HOT and toss in the meat. Let it sear on one side and then turn pieces over, searing the other side. This only takes 1 minute probably each side, just until you see some color on the beef cubes. You can always skip this step but I will say, for the little time it takes, it truly adds more flavor to your stew and is totally worth it!

Turn off stove and toss beef into your crock pot.

Add pepper to the beef here.

Add 1/2 of your packet of beef stew seasoning on top of the beef next.

Chop, slice & dice all of your carrots, celery, potatoes, garlic and onion now.

Place ingredients in crock pot.

Add in the remaining ingredients now (tomato paste, peas, cream of celery soup, beef broth, wine (optional), worcestershire sauce, other half of beef stew seasoning packet and bay leaves.

Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-6 hours.

This Beef Stew is AMAZING and so delicious for a cold winter night. I serve it with sweet Hawaiian rolls in a large mug and it makes for a perfect warm winter dinner.

I hope you try this family recipe and that you love it!

Thanks for checking in and see you around the lake!

The BEST Sugar Cookie Frosting EVER!

This is seriously the BEST frosting I have ever had before! My mom gave me her recipe and I can literally eat this stuff by the spoonful, it's that GOOD! This is the frosting recipe I make when I bake sugar cookies for the holidays. It's light and fluffy and you can add drops of food coloring to make any color you'd like. .

Check out the recipe below!

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1 cup crisco (yep - good old crisco)
6 drop of butter extract
6 drops of clear vanilla extract (I use clear so the frosting will be pure white)
2 lbs powdered sugar
water

Below are steps to make the frosting:

Start with beating the egg whites until they are all foamy.

Next, add in your crisco.

Then, add your extracts.
 
The next step is to add your powdered sugar. You are going to start by adding half a 1lb bag at a time and mix mix mix.

 
Slowly, keep adding powdered sugar until you've used all 2lbs of it (add powdered sugar, then mix, then add more, then mix until you've used it all).

The frosting at this point will be pretty thick. This is where the water comes in.

There isn't an exact science to this. You will add 1 Tablespoon of water at a time. Add the water and then mix the frosting. Beat the frosting until fluffy & smooth ( I usually end up adding a few tablespoons of water until I reach my desired consistency).

Then, if you are keeping all your frosting white, you can frost your cookies and add your sprinkles!

If you are adding food coloring, separate frostings into bowls and add drops of your coloring at this time and then decorate away!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!!

xoxo,
Brenda