NHL Playoffs Popcorn

We wanted a snack to go with the hockey playoff game tonight. I will not bore you with who we are rooting for because it does not make us any less hungry for a good snack! My husband suggested caramel popcorn.  He found this good recipe for CrackerJack, which is just finishing up in my oven. It is already really hard to resist. It will go perfectly along with our shouts of "go team go!!!"

Enjoy!

Garden Salsa

Today I made a batch of my favorite salsa again. We were out of the bottles I had made in the fall, and I still had jalapeños and zucchini in the freezer and cans of tomatoes were on sale so I went for it! It might not be as fresh as straight from the garden, but it is still good. Here is the recipe:

Garden Salsa
6 tomatoes, peeled and diced (or a 796ml can)
4 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp powdered garlic)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped sweet green pepper
1/2 cup chopped sweet yellow pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley (I use less because we do not love parsley)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano (1 Tbsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. pickling salt

1. Place all ingredients in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until thickened.
2. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle salsa into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process 20 minutes for half-pint (250 ml) and pint (500ml) jars.

Makes 5 1/2 to 6 cups. Enjoy!

Thanks to my friend, Carmen for requesting the recipe. It comes from the book Small-Batch Preserving by Topp &  Howard.