Good For Something… Homemade Salsa

My husband, Butch is…

handsome, intelligent, easy going, and all together just plain wonderful. I clearly married up.

But there are a lot of things he does not do, such as:

1. bake

2. grocery shop: this one he would do if I were not such a control freak, but he would come home with boxes upon boxes of Oreo cookies “Look honey! They were on sale” (nope, $3.50 is not a sale- contrary to what the sign would like you to believe. And I just can not have something so tempting as Oreos in my house- have you ever eaten less than one row of those things in a single setting? I know I haven’t.)

3. laundry: again, another control issue. I like the way I do laundry

and the list could go on but I digress…

However, there are quite a few things my hubby does exceptionally well:

1. grill: I leave all the grilling up to him and love summer time because that frees up nights when I don’t have to cook

2. lift heavy objects: I know, I know, I lift weights and I’m all “I am woman hear me roar!” but when it comes down the day to day I don’t like to sweat. I only like to be drenched in sweat when I’m working out and I know I am about to hit the shower. But if my hair has just been straightened, and my makeup put on, I am another woman entirely “Hon, can you carry this extremely large and over packed suitcase for me? Thanks! You’re the best!”

3. makes salsa: this brings me to what this post is really about… my husband’s ability to make some awesome salsa!

He really can do a lot of things quite well, so I will stop listing them, and talk about his amazing salsa.

He got the recipe from a friend from church who got it from his neighbor. He has since made the recipe a bajilion times and it’s a little different each time since he doesn’t ever make it exactly the same. But I will get you as close to his recipe as possible.

The salsa making started when our friend Joe brought some salsa for him to try because my husband likes things hot. He was hooked immediately and Joe got the recipe from his neighbor who didn’t mind sharing because then Butch could make it himself instead of waiting ever so patiently for Joe to bring more salsa to church for him. And now we bring salsa to church for Joe.

So, Saturday morning while, coincidently my husband was helping others lift heavy objects (ie. he was helping some friends move), the kiddos and I headed down to our local farmers market to buy and surprise Butch with all the fixings for salsa. Also, we were out of grass fed beef so we went to stock up. yum!

My 5 year old daughter took a photo of me before heading into the market. My fault for having her take a photo into the sun… oops. Not a bad pick for a 5 year old. She asked me to kneel so she could get me in the photo. FYI: I haven’t showered yet.

Here is our stroller stocked up with our farmers market bounty (fresh tomatoes, peppers, and grass fed beef and buffalo). Hey! I remembered to grab at least one reusable bag as I ran out the door with the kiddos this morning. My daughter really wanted a sunflower so guess who gave in and bought her one.

Here is what my husband’s friend’s neighbor’s recipe calls for:

• 15-20 Organic Tomatoes 
• 2 big Green Peppers
• 2 big onions
• 6-8 Habanero Peppers
• 10-12 Jalapeno Peppers
• about 2 TBS of sea salt We buy out Redmonds Real Sea Salt at Thrive Market.
• 1 12 ounce can of Organic Tomato Paste
• Cilantro to taste (optional)

And here is how the hubby does it:

1. Peel your tomatoes (we used 17 for this batch): Here is a link to a blog that shows a method to help peeling go quicker. My husband didn’t think it was worth the extra effort so he just peeled them without this step. Our tomatoes were super ripe and soft from the farmer’s market so it didn’t take him long.

2. Chop your fixin’s (tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro) into super small pieces.  You may want to wear gloves when chopping the peppers. They can be quite hot (especially the habenaros). And don’t rub your eyes after touching the peppers. You can decide if you want lots or few peppers depending on how hot you like your salsa. We like it super hot so we used 16 jalapenos and (that’s how many came in the box at the farmer’s market), and 7 habaneros (I bought 8 but Butch put one in his eggs this morning). We also used 4 onions since 3 of them were super small (we grabbed them from my garden out back).

Butch: posing while chopping onions.

Real men cry (at least when chopping onions).

3. Put all your chopped ingredients (plus salt) in a big pot, mix, then simmer for 30 min (DON’T add the tomato paste yet)

4. After your salsa has simmered 30 min add your tomato paste and mix it in thoroughly so there are no clumps of paste.

5. Put in mason jars and store in the refrigerator. Or, you can pressure cook the jars for 7-10 hours (according to our friend’s neighbor). We have always eaten all the salsa before it spoiled, or froze some of it in freezer bags when there is too much. I am not familiar with how to can (although it’s on my list of things to master). So make sure to follow safe canning practices if you choose to can this recipe.

6. Enjoy!

This recipe makes about 4 quarts. We usually give away a jar or 2 and eat the rest before it goes bad in the fridge. An unopened jar might last a few weeks, but once you open the jar you probably have just a couple weeks to eat it since it has no preservatives. We usually have no trouble finishing our salsa. I eat it with (too many) grain free chips, home made tortillas, or on top of my eggs (so good!) How do you like your salsa?

*Some of the above links are affiliate links.  Click here to learn more about affiliate links.