Salsa Season!!

Usually I have my own garden, but many circumstances led to a lack of one this year.  Last year I planted 40 tomato plants and canned diced tomatoes, salsa, and froze a lot of tomato sauce.  This year, I have been buying boxes of "canning tomatoes" at the market to fill our pantry.

I found this recipe several years ago.  It's delicious!!  However, I will warn you - two years ago, I planted what were labelled jalepeno peppers.  They turned out to be habanero.  For those of you that don't know, they're MUCH hotter.  Beautiful, but HOT!  I used ONE pepper in a batch that called for a CUP of jalepeno.  It was so hot, my lips burned for a while!!  So, you can choose whatever hot pepper you want, but beware of the Scoville scale.  :-)

 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
2½  cups onions, chopped
1½ cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
1/3 cup sugar (optional - I NEVER use it when I have fresh tomatoes - so taste first!)
1/3 cup vinegar
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

Mix all together and bring to a slow boil for 10 minutes.  Seal in jars and cook in a hot water bath for 10 minute.  This is a medium salsa. This is also a chunky salsa, so if you want a smoother salsa cut your veggies into smaller pieces.