Last Monday my parents came up and we went to a pick-your-own farm. The three of us picked tomatoes and the mosquitoes picked us! I thought we needed three boxes but Dad said let's get four. He wasn't the one doing the canning so why did we listen to him? So four boxes of regular tomatoes, one box of Roma tomatoes, and a bag of peppers later we headed home. We made chili sauce, bottled Roma tomatoes, and some regular diced tomatoes. And we made a bunch of raspberry freezer jam with some berries my parents brought up.
So now what to do with the other tomatoes? I called my friend Becky thinking she might have a good salsa recipe but no answer (I did end up getting her recipe and making a cooked salsa but that's another story). Then I thought long (OK not so long) but hard about which friend would have a really great recipe and then it came to me...MEGAN! She did not disappoint. She sent me over to her blog (wasatchmountainchef.blogspot.com) for her fresh salsa recipe. And let me tell you, it was FANTASTIC!! I have never made homemade salsa and it was GREAT! I was pretty impressed with myself. So I made another big batch. We ended up bottling some of it and I put the rest in the fridge since I wasn't sure if it would taste as good bottled. I had to share the love so I took some around to friends and it was a hit! This will definitely be one I make next year when home grown tomatoes are abundant. Who knows, next year I may even grow some tomatoes of my own...
Basic Fresh Salsa
1 small onion
1 red bell pepper
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper (for mild to medium, add more for hot)
1 clove garlic
2 large or 4 small tomatoes
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or lime)
10 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Peel and quarter onion. Seed and quarter bell pepper. Seed and quarter
jalapeno pepper. Smash and peel garlic. Place these in a food processor
bowl and pulse until uniformly chopped, scraping sides of bowl as
needed. Add tomatoes, juice, cilantro and salt. Pulse 4 or 5 times just
until the tomato and cilantro are chopped.
Paige was baptized last weekend. I can not believe how fast this day came! It was a wonderful day and I am so proud of her decision to be baptized. The program was great and Paige sang a song all by herself and it was beautiful. She wanted her big brother Craig to baptize her and Robert confirmed her. She had so many family and friends there that we filled the whole primary room. Paige is easy to love and is a good friend. I love you Paige!
Robert and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary on Friday. WOW!! It seems like only yesterday but at the same time like forever...but not in a bad way. :) I am so grateful to be married to Robert. He truly is a wonderful person. I am a better person in many ways because of what he has taught me. I know that he loves me and appreciate all that he does for me and our family. I love you Robert!
What better way could I start this blog then by writing about Andrew's first date? Let me first say that I can not believe that Andrew is already 16! He has grown so much but is still, in so many ways, the same Andrew that we all know and love. So Andrew's first date was on Saturday for the Woods Cross High School Homecoming Dance. He asked McKenzie YcMat. We have known her family since we moved to North Salt Lake in 2000 and they were in our ward. What a great girl for a first date!
Really, I don't know what I am doing! While reading my friend's blog I thought, "I should try this." Not as much for others to read, but for me to write down things that happen in our family so that I remember them and the kids can see how wonderful they are. I have a small storage room in the basement with scrapbook stuff that I never seem to get to so maybe I'll do this for now until Landon gets a little older and I have more uninterrupted time (I don't know if this will ever happen). I have decided that if I can't scrapbook or quilt for a few years that really is OK. Before I know it my little ones will be grown and I'll be wishing for those times back. I already feel that way sometimes with my oldest kids...wishing I could turn the clock back and give it another try. So here I go...wish me luck!
It's been three years (and fourteen days) since I decided I would try my hand at blogging...and how many posts have I made? None. Yes, that's right ZERO! I actually did write four but never posted them. I guess I can still post them even though some are just over three years old and some almost that old. I would really like to give this another go. Maybe it's like dieting and you just have to try, try again. Dieting...well that's another story that we won't get into today (you'll thank me for that one).
My daughter Hannah had her first date last night...homecoming. Kinda funny that the first day I wrote a post...well I didn't actually post it...was my son Andrew's first date and it was also homecoming. Anywho, she looked beautiful and had a great time! Can't believe she is a senior already.
