Salsa...A Recipe that People will want to PAY you for!!!!

No kidding!  In the past two months, my family has had more than one person, offer us money for a jar of our "famous" salsa!  Is it really famous?  I think it is!  It is fantastic!!!  So fantastic, that the entire reason my husband and I have a garden (other than asparagus and raspberries) is for the ingredients for salsa.  Last year we canned 96 jars and we ran out two weeks ago...sad day!  We give it as gifts, I cook with it and we eat it...A LOT!!!!

My mouth is watering as I type, because I have our first batch on the stove, and now I am going to share my family recipe with you...and you don't even have to pay me!  You.Are.Welcome.

Lets break it down.  It's Salsa time!  Feel free to dance a little while you make the salsa, it makes canning SO much more fun!

Start with:

8 cups chopped tomatoes (skinned first)...Need directions on skinning tomatoes?  No problem, let me know!  I have directions for that too!!

2 cups chopped white onion

2 whole green peppers, chopped

Some of the Necessary Veggies

Chopped Green Peppers

Eight Cups of Tomatoes

My Cry Baby...Cutting Onions

Tomatoes, Green Peppers, and Onions

Take these three ingredients and add them to your stock pot.  I typically peel and skin my tomatoes a day or two before I make the salsa, so some of the water comes off.  I prefer a thicker salsa.  This is your preference!

Next take:

8-16 jalapeño peppers, depending on "hotness" level

-we typically do 12 peppers and we mix them with yellow peppers, red cherry bombs, and jalapeños.  I cut them in half and take out most of the seeds.  Wear rubber gloves!!!

8 cloves garlic

2 small cans tomato paste

1 cup sugar

2 cups white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon alum

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons salt

Ready to Mix it Up

Process all of the above ingredients together until smooth.  We use a Ninja blender, but you can use a hand blender or a food processor too!

Add the blended mixture to your tomatoes/green peppers/onions. 

Stir.  Bring to a boil.  Stir.  Cover.  Simmer on low for 45 minutes.

While on simmer, be sure to have your jars in a hot water bath.  This step calls for a canner (not a pressure cooker) and we typically get seven pint jars out of each batch.  I also use wide mouth jars.

Add salsa mixture to jars and return to water bath.  

 

Set timer for 10 minutes and boil jars.  Remove from bath and wait for the pops!!!!

Hopefully there is some extra to snack on!

If you enjoy the sugar label you see or the salsa labels above, they can be found at my Etsy shop!  Check them out, we have many styles available!  

I would love to hear what you think of the salsa!  Seems like a lot of steps, but it is super easy!!!

I hope you love it as much as everyone else I know!!!!

Marianne

DIY Monday: Roasted Corn

What?  You boil your corn?  How boring!

People keep telling us to bake the corn in the oven.  "It is so good!"   "The best corn you will ever have," they say!  Well....we got some corn from my mom and dad and decided to try roasting it.  All I knew was 350 degrees, so we did what we do best...we winged it!

Here are the directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Corn...Before

Clean off any extra hairs, strings, dangly things...whatever you want to call them!  I just used a scissor.  You don't want to start a fire!  In case you do, call 911 :) or just keep the oven door closed!

Corn...Cleaned

Scraps

Place corn directly on oven rack (don't remove from husks)

Starting to Roast

Cook for 30-35 minutes

The kitchen will start to smell of corn!

Almost Done!

Finished Product!

Yum!

Remove from husks...they peel right off like a banana and ta-da!!!

Best.Corn.Ever!!!!  So simple!

Enjoy!

How do you like to eat your corn on the cob?

Marianne

Assisting the Elderly

I, just like the chubby boy from "Up," have been in pursuit of my assisting the elderly badge!

Yesterday....I  earned my badge and will be having a pinning ceremony at
6 p.m. sharp, tonight.  No such pinning ceremony exists for adults, unfortunately, because how cool would that be?!

In the last two weeks I taught my 80 year old grandma how to use her Apple laptop...from the very beginning.  She didn't even know how to type!  With the help of ABCYa, the computer game my kids play, she was able to start typing and have fun doing it!!!

From there we worked on email...checking and responding and sending...and I uploaded a TON of pictures to her computer so she can see my lovely face every day (and everyone else in the family of course)!  My Grandma is PROOF that you are never too old to learn something new!

Now for my second endeavor!  Yes, I said SECOND...in two weeks!!!!  Ross and I made a trip down to beautiful Redwing, Minnesota to visit his Grandpa and Grandma Eppard.  Grandpa Eppard..almost 83 years old...recently published a book, A Heritage Not Forgotten, and the publishing company thought it would be a good idea for him to socialize a bit and promote his book.

That's where I come in!  I helped Grandpa set up a Facebook account and from there we created a business page promoting his book...check it out here!!

Great Grandpa teaching Natalie to ride her bike!

Since setting up the account, Grandpa and I have had quite a few phone conversations...after Grandma and the kids go to bed...and we have worked as a team promoting his book and getting him to understand Facebook a little bit better and connect with his followers.

This post is not a complaint.  This post is about joy!  I love it!  I love that I have the skills to put to use and help those who need it.  It is a wonderful feeling to be wanted and needed and appreciated and I am just glad that I am able to offer my social prowess to the ones I love!

How do you like to achieve your "badges?"

Have a good one...no...have a GREAT one!

Marianne

Parenting 101...There is NO Such Thing as TOO Much Cuddle Time

I am a firm believer in this topic.  Cuddle time is essential!  I am also a firm believer in good parenting, that is why I am going to toss in a couple Parenting 101 posts every once in awhile because it reminds me that I DO KNOW (kinda) what I am doing (somedays)!

Last weekend in the checkout line at Target, an elderly woman tapped me on the shoulder and told me how great of a mother I was.  I was FLABBERGASTED!  I looked at her like she was nuts!  "I'm sorry?  I said.  You have NO idea, how much that means to me!"  Truly...coming from an older generation and to be complimented on my parenting.  Wowzers!  Her response..."You really, truly are!"  Made my day!!!!  I'M DOING SOMETHING RIGHT TODAY!!!!

Ok, back to the cuddling.  Natalie had colic and we held her and rocked her A LOT!!!  I mean a lot, a lot.  We even pulled her around in a cardboard Cub Foods box with a scarf for hours at a time...back and forth, back and forth...because it kept her calm.  We were very devoted parents and it burned a TON of calories :).  Yes, she was our first child, but I did what I had to do.   Excessive?  Maybe, to a point, but she needed me.  I rocked her to bed every night up until she was one.  At one year old I decided I'm done.  She transitioned smoothly to putting herself to sleep and taught me the lesson that I am not as needed as I thought.  It is always good to learn something from the kids.

To this day, she still likes to crawl in bed with me in the middle of night for a little cuddle and I'm ok with that.  Even if she is 6, I will still be ok with it when she is 10 and when she is 20.  I'm a mom and she will always be my baby.

The Cub Foods box getting a workout

When our son was born, he wasn't as fortunate.



 I knew I didn't have the energy that I did with Miss Natalie.  She drained it out of me.  I took full advantage of holding him and letting him sleep on my chest.  There is no better feeling than having your child snuggled up on you in a ball.  They smell soooo good!  Fast forward to today and at three years old he loves to sit on laps for story time and snuggle during movies.  At the end of the day, there is no better feeling.

What is your favorite part of parenting that you cannot live without?

Marianne

DIY Monday: Bathtub Cleaner

I am the type of housewife who has a tidy house, but if you look a little bit closer, there are areas that do not get as much attention.  Number one...the bathroom.  I HATE to clean the bathroom.  I clean the toilet the most, for obvious reasons, but the bathtub is....forget it...I just don't clean it.  Once a month?  Maybe?

There are times when my in-laws are coming over to watch the kids and I think "Good Lord! I hope they don't give the kids a bath!"  Disgusting?  Yes!  Am I ashamed?  Heck no.  I have better things to do than clean my tub.  Until....my cousin Sara was over this weekend and told me that before her kids take a bath EVERY time, she sprays the tub with Tilex and wipes it out.  Cue the eye rolling.  Are you serious?  Every time?  I need to step up my game!  Between my thick hair, leg hair, Natalie's hair and whatever my husband has, plus the daily dirt of a three year old, I need to do better!

That is where this post is originating from.  I spent my weekend in search of the BEST DIY bathtub cleaner!  I found it!  I love it!  I will never go back!  It is so stinkin' simple and so stinkin' effective.  Are you ready for the ingredients?

Amazing Bathtub Cleaner

1.White Vinegar
2.Blue Dawn Dish Soap (I used the Target brand)

That's it!!!!  Totally Wicked!!  (We love The Incredibles in our house :)

Take 1/2 cup white vinegar and heat for 30 seconds in microwave.
Pour in spray bottle.
Add 1/2 cup Blue Dawn Dishsoap.
Gently mix together.
Spray, scrub, rinse clean!

My tub has not looked so clean in.....FOREVER!  Since we installed the tub and it was brand new!!

I don't have a "before" picture but just imagine soap scum and grime!

What do you love about DIY cleaners?  I think they are fantastic!  Enjoy your Monday!

Marianne

True Love or True Lust?

Sorry to disappoint all you perverts who were hoping it was true lust!  This is not going to be the next 50 Shades trilogy....although I do love a man in uniform, but that has nothing to do with 50 Shades...tangent? :)

Ross and I have been through a lot in the last couple of months and I felt the need to proclaim my undying love for my husband.  Not really, I just LOVE our LOVE story!  It is truly one of a kind and it is a story that I don't get to tell enough!

The story of my husband and I, I would like to say is "true love," if there is such a definition of love.  Love that is not based loosely off of a Disney movie.  I honestly believe and know deep down in my heart, that Ross is my soulmate.  We are meant to be together only for the reason that God brought us together.  We value our love, our friendship, our relationship in God and in each other, and who we are as parents.  We respect each other as individuals and who we are as a couple.  Plain and simple...we are a TEAM.

So how did we get here?  It started back in 8th grade for me and 7th grade for him!!!!  Let's go back together, I love this story!

Ross and I first met at Stanchfield Baptist Church.  They were putting on the Easter play the Victor and I was helping out with make-up.  Forward on to FLA (future leaders of America, for those of you who don't speak NERD!).  We served on the same team and went to State together!




Our love story wasn't much at this point.  He was a boy.  We "went out" during his 7th and my 8th grade year and then I hated him for a year (he was SOOOO self centered) and we "went out" again in high school...his 9th and my 10th grade year.  We didn't become serious until my senior year.  I graduated high school in 2000 and we have been together ever since...13 years!  I couldn't imagine my life without him.


I went to community college for a year and after Ross graduated, we headed off to Bethel University in St. Paul to get a good ol' Christian education!  I was majoring in business and Ross was majoring in I don't remember!  He lasted two years before leaving Bethel and getting his EMT.   We were engaged in 2004 and married on June 25, 2005.  Literally, other than the birth of my children, the happiest day of my life.  We were joined as one.

Fast forward to today....8 years of marriage later, 2 kids (6 and 3), home ownership, misisons to Jamaica, self-employment, new job paths, SWAT team, and everything else, and we are still together.  Stronger than ever.  Why?  Divorce is too easy.  We want to be together.  Sure days can be tough, but I don't want to live this life with anybody else. Trust me, we are not perfect.  We have barely anything in common, but we still make it work, because...I don't want to lie next to anyone else.  I don't want to raise my children with anybody else.  God has blessed us in so many ways and He started blessing ME by bringing this nerdy boy with red hair and thick glasses into my life so many years ago.  Our marriage works because we make it work.  It is a mutual priority.

I love him.

Marianne

Enjoy some of the other pics throughout our relationship and marriage!

My Birthday, Sometime in High School

Bethel University Days

Visiting at the Nortons'

Bowling with Friends

Colorado

Nate and Heathers' Wedding

My Bethel Graduation 2005

Family Christmas

Gooseberry Falls, Our First Anniversary

Potato Boobs

Welcome Eli Ross

Wedding of Sara Jane

My Love

Our Life=Complete