Tomatoes out my ears

Does your dining room table and floor look like this? Well, I've never given out my salsa recipe, but I am going to today. There are a lot of variables that will affect the flavor. First, what type of tomatoes do you use to make salsa? My favorite is the "Big Mama" roma tomatoes. Why, you ask? Because they are large, meaty and don't have very many seeds. You can order the seeds from Burpee in the spring. Remember to start them indoors in May, but don't plant them outside until the middle of June. I like to use the walls of water around each plant until the middle of July. I like to plant as many of the ingredients as I can in the garden, which keeps making salsa affordable.

I usually cook this up in my turkey roasting pan with two burners turned on. While I am chopping, I run the dishwasher with the jars in it, to clean them. When you fill the jars, it is most important that the top of the jars are clean, so the seals will seal good and tight

To peel the tomatoes easily, I drop them in a pan of boiling water for 30 seconds and then I put them in a bowl of cold water, the skin just slides right off.

Lisa Welch's salsa recipe

1 cup diced cilantro

2 - 12 oz. cans of tomato paste

2 T crushed red pepper

6 T Mexican oregano

2 cups cider vinegar

2 heaping T minced garlic

4 large onions chopped

4 T chopped jalapeños

16 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes

Variations: I will add four cups of frozen corn, for color, or you can add four cans of black beans, that looks real good too. If my garden makes good chilies, I will dice Anaheim chilies, approximately 3 tablespoons per batch. This will make approximately 7 quarts or 14 pints. When you add the corn or beans, it'll make a little more.

Then you need to water bath the jars for 25 minutes. Yummy! I think I have all my birthday gifts taken care of for this next year.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share, give me a call?

Piñon Hills Elementary School: The Innisbrook fundraiser was a huge success! $9,718.25 went to the Parent-Teacher Organization for projects and another $9,718.25 to be divided among the classes. The principal took a limousine ride to Round Table Pizza for lunch with Amanda Williams in 1C, Ryan Weese in 2H and Jack Newsom in 1BT, Clara Gray in 4PJ, Carly Johnson in 3T and Tyler Wright in 2PK. Thanks to all of you for your efforts. A special thanks to Danielle Nishiguchi and Donna King for all their hard work making this year's program such a huge success.

On Wednesday, Oct. 18, the popular Pumpkins, Pennies and Popcorn event will commence. Students can bring in pennies to vote for their favorite class pumpkin. The pennies donated will be donated to our local food bank.

n Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.