Salsa!

Just like a lot of other Americans I like salsa. The tomato-onion-peppers sauce. The music is all right, but I'm more of a classic rock guy. Like a lot of Americans I also have a garden, in which I grow tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Whoa! I bet you can see where I'm going with this. I found recipes on the web through the extension offices of several different states. I have made salsa before when we had a garden and we liked it very much, so since we have a bunch of tomatoes and the onions are in the basement, I thought I would try another batch of salsa.

This is a canning recipe, so if you are new to it, here are a couple of good places to start looking for information.  

One thing that the recipes tell you to do is peel the peppers by roasting them and then peeling them. I don't do this for a couple of reasons. 1) I'm lazy. 2)It seems like a lot of work for primarily an aesthetic thing. I know, you'll get these little transparent pieces of skin in your teeth occasionally, but I really don't care about that. If you do, then fire-roast your peppers.

Salsa

• 7 quarts of paste tomatoes (about 11 pounds); peeled, cored, and chopped
• 4 cups of peppers seeded and chopped (Use the heat that you desire)
• 5 cups of onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup jalapeno peppers, cored and diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups lemon or lime juice
• 2 tablespoons of salt (I use pickling salt)
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely minced

Wash and peel the tomatoes. Like peaches, you can drop them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then dip in cold water and their skins should come off. Wash and prepare onions, peppers, and garlic.  Put all ingredients except cumin, oregano, and cilantro in a large kettle and bring to a boil.

If you used paste tomatoes (like Roma) you probably can get by simmering for about 20 minutes to a half hour. I didn't have enough of those, so my tomatoes were juicier than paste tomatoes. I let it cook down about an hour or so because I hate watery salsa. Add the cumin, oregano, and cilantro for the last 20 minutes or so.

Then, prepare your jars and lids, fire up your water-bath canner (which you should have had warming up for awhile), and put the salsa in jars. Process in boiling water for a time appropriate to your altitude. It's usually 20 minutes where I'm at in Wyoming. Enjoy!

Butter Crackers

With Samantha and Dona's diets being limited in the types of grains and other things that they can have sometimes they begin to miss some of the foods that many people take for granted. I was casting around for some different kinds of recipes and came across a recipe for homemade crackers. I'm sure many folks would say, "Why would you make your own crackers? The store has boxes and boxes of them!" Well, you're right, but there aren't really many gluten-free options when it comes to crackers like these. Try finding crackers without any flours from grains, and you've either created a huge headache for yourself, or you've found some expensive crackers!

Butter Crackers

• 1/2 cup (65 grams) tapioca starch (the original recipe does much of this by weight. I'm using volume measures in case you don't have a scale.)
• 1/2 cup (80 grams)brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or other coarse salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar
• 1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon mimiccreme
• 1 egg yolk beaten with one tablespoon mimicreme

Line a baking sheet/cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the flours and salt together. Add the butter and cut it in using a fork. The mixture should look like coarse flour or corn meal. Add the agave to the mimicreme and stir.

You might need some help for this next step. Start stirring and slowly pour in the cream mixture, pausing to stir and allow the flour to absorb the liquid. Keep stirring and add all of the cream, SLOWLY. The mixture should just come together. It should hold together if you squeeze it into a ball in your hand. Think pie crust. At least that's what it seemed like to me.

Now you can get out your rolling pin and some wax paper or parchment paper. The wax/parchment needs to be about 1 foot square. Take about 1/3 or 1/2 of the dough and flatten it out on one piece of the wax paper. Place another piece of wax/parchment paper on top of the dough and start rolling it out. Roll it to 1/8 inch thickness. If the wax paper wrinkles a bit, you can peel it off and put it back down. Then, flip it over and unwrinkle the other side. 

Once you are done, carefully peel back the top layer of wax paper. Using a glass or cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place them on a cookie sheet. Regather your dough, roll it out, and keep cutting until you've used all your dough.

Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. After 15 minutes, take the cookies out, brush with the egg mixture, and sprinkle each cracker with some salt. Bake 20-25 minutes. If you have more than one baking sheet, make sure you switch the baking sheets and rotate them. Even if you have one baking sheet, you probably should rotate it to avoid any hot spots your oven might have.

Allow your crackers to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.