Salsa...

Fleta asked me how I made salsa. She actually asked for a recipe but I know that is not what she really wanted because even if I could give her exact amounts she would not measure it..

1 onion med to large
4 cloves garlic, smashed before you chop
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers leave the seeds in and it is hotter. I always scrape them out
some salt, some onion power, some garlic powder
a handful of cilantro the leaves - not to many stems

I take the first 3 ingredients and chop them. Then I throw them into my little hand spinner chopper and give it a good spin. But you do not want it to look like baby food but it needs to be finer than I am willing to spend the time chopping. A food processor will work also. I add a handful of cilantro that I have chopped and I give it a good spin but I do not want it chopped as fine as the other. Just mix it good. I add the seasonings maybe 1/2 teaspoon of each and mix it up....

This is the flavoring mixture.

Now I take several tomatoes, maybe 7-8 med. I chop them up in a bowl. Chopped to small size but I do NOT put them into a food processor.

Then I start adding the flavoring mixture to the chopped tomatoes. I would start with about 3/4 of the onion mixture and taste it. I know it will need more salt. If it is not spicy enough I dump in the rest. It tastes better after the onion powder and garlic powder have sat awhile in the mixture.

Fleta, I make this just like I do everything else just try and adjust. The cilantro makes the difference to me. It is also important not to put the tomatoes in the food processor because it makes it look milky. It is important to smash the garlic cloves before you chop them that keeps you from getting a chunk of garlic in your mouth.

I usually just make this and put it in the frig and we eat it in about 3 days....But I have canned it also. I just put it in jars and do a water bath.