Once a year I claim the title of “Suzy Homemaker” and I can salsa. (Recipe can be found here) I only do it once a year because I can enough to last us a year. Most areas of the country this would be done in late summer when tomatoes are ripe for the pickin’ but in the desert it comes much earlier. And we get tomatoes cheap enough I don’t even grow them myself!

Last week during spring break Hallie and Hunter assisted me in the kitchen in canning 24 pints of salsa. Often times the kids want to help and they really end up being in the way more than anything but I can honestly say this year, the kids were actually helpful. Hallie stood at the boiling pot of water and blanched all the tomatoes while I cut out the stem.


Once she saw that the skins were starting to peel back, she scooped them out and put them in a bowl. Hunter took the bowl to the sink and dumped them in a cold water bath.


We had quite the production line – a task that takes me a good amount of time was significantly decreased with the help of my minions.

Making salsa is a process and I lost the kids to their second dose of Frozen after the blanching. They came in to check on me when they heard my endless sniffles from cutting four pounds of onions. Tears rolled down my cheeks and Mr. B stood staring at me in complete confusion. “No mommy happy. Mommy sad, a lot. Are you happy mommy?” I was smiling and joking with him but I was sending him mixed signals with the tears.

I took a little vinegar, onion, jalapeño and tomato and blended before dumping it into the large stock pot. I did this many times – 20 lbs of tomatoes and 4 lbs of onions to be exact! It cooked to perfection and I poured it into pint jars and sealed with a water bath. My house reeked of onion, there were smashed chips and tomatoes on the floor and my stove and counters were filthy. It’s a messy project – but the reward is worth it.

I love this salsa – its the salsa of my childhood.