Wednesday, August 15, 2012

[make] roasted salsa amarillo?

So it's not really salsa verde.  I figure amarillo will work, right?

Salsa Asado Amarillo

10-12 yellow tomatoes
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 yellow bell pepper
1 sweet onion
1 large bunch of cilantro

Start with yellow tomatoes.  A whole baking tray full.  Layer on garlic, yellow bell peppers, and sweet onions.  Bake at 375 degrees until everything is bubbly, tender and little bit browned.  Then comes the fun part.  Scoop the roasted tomatoes out of their skins and throw the whole bunch in a food processor.  Watch out - it will be hot.  Pulse to your desired consistency and add a bit of interest.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

These are all so dependent upon how sweet your tomatoes are and how sweet you want your salsa.  Start with a 1/2 cup of vinegar and work from there.  We like lots of cilantro (which will give you more of a salsa verde feel) but add what you like.  You won't mind the taste tests.  Throw all your roasted salsa in a jar or serve it right then.


A couple of warnings - the garlic get stronger as it sits, considerably stronger.  But most importantly, this is a sweet salsa and those sugars just will not keep as long in the fridge.  If you are looking for something to keep more than a week, you might want to think about canning it.

Monday, August 13, 2012

[celebrate] ladies and lemonade

In celebration of our new Etsy shop, CandyLand, the girls and I had a Ladies and Lemonade evening.  A little learning took place with the Lemonade Day learning pack but we were really all about the party.

The little ladies decided that we needed teddy bear guests.  Our menu was simple but perfect - party sandwiches, chips, fruit bowls and two varieties of pretty little cupcakes.




Maddie perfected sipping.

Kate perfected the pinky.

Despite the fact that Teddy got the first cupcake, we had a wonderful Ladies and Lemonade evening.

Friday, August 10, 2012

[make] confetti salsa

You know how you get so excited in the spring when there are all these gorgeous little plants of all different varieties?  Well, I may have over planted tomatoes this year in my garden.  I ended up with 22 plants.  That's a lot come July and August, especially considering that only Jack and I eat them. It's a 3 gallon bucket of tomatoes every two days a lot.  Enter Confetti Salsa:

First step:  Chop!
8-10 seeded yellow tomatoes
8-10 seeded red tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 green ancho chilis
1 sweet yellow onion
1/2 yellow sweet bell pepper
1/2 red sweet bell pepper
1 large bunch of cilantro

Next: Season.
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Then: Mellow.
Stir it all together and tweak the salt, sugar and vinegar to your liking.  Then into the jars it goes.

At this point I just put mine in the fridge.  You could certainly go through the canning process at this point if you are up for that.

Finally: ENJOY!