* Salsa and Tomatoes (for canning) *

Day #2 of canning week is about tomatoes! I love a good home canned salsa. There are so many amazing recipes out there but I picked this one because it made a smaller batch (good for us because we didn't have a major major amount of tomatoes) and you don't have the peel the tomatoes with this recipe (let's face it...I'm a lazy canner). This blog has step-by-step pictures directions...it was awesome!

* Zesty Canning Salsa *10 cups (6 lbs) chopped tomatoes
5 cups (2 lbs) chopped and seeded green bell peppers
5 cups (1.5 lbs) chopped onions
2.5 cups (1 lb) chopped and seeded hot peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp hot pepper sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Using a hand immersion blender, blend all ingredients to desired consistency (thus making it so you don't have to take the peels off). Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 20-25 minutes in a boiling water canner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also canned 7 pints of tomatoes (not a whole lot but like I said, we didn't have an insane amount of tomatoes). I used the instructions found here and it was also great because she had great step-by-step pictures of how to do it! I also liked this recipe because the tomatoes are raw packed (although I do love good stewed tomatoes in recipes...) so I was able to complete the entire canning of tomatoes while my kids were napping. The instructions she gives are for a large amount of tomatoes and she packs them in quarts. I only packed them in pints so I adjusted the recipe accordingly.

* Canned Tomatoes *
tomatoes
lemon juice (1 T. per pint-2 T. per quart)
salt (1/2 tsp. per pint-1 tsp. per quart)

Wash and core all of the tomatoes. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute (easier to do it in "batches"). I submerged mine in ice water after blanching although her recipe didn't call for it. After blanching, peel skin off all tomatoes. Dice the tomatoes. Put lemon juice and salt in the bottom of each jar. (I did it as I was filling the jars because I wasn't sure how many jars I was going to get). Fill jars with diced tomatoes up to the neck of the jar. Top off with a few tablespoons of boiling water. Run knife or spatula around the edges of jar to get air bubbles out. Clean rims and top with new lid (heated in boiling water). Add rings and twist them so they are snug (not overly tight though). Process in hot water canner for 30 minutes for pints and 35 minutes for quarts.