Heather's Homemade Canning Salsa Recipe

I never know if my friend Heather is more of a friend or a surrogate mother (she has kids about my age so it could go either way). I feel like she looked out for me and helped me so much while we lived in Virginia. She held my hand and coached me through my first endeavors of canning without the help of my own mother and she taught me how to make the world's best pie crust (blessing my family's future with Thanksgiving pies and chicken pot pie for years to come!). She has so many other skills and attributes I hope to obtain! Love her.

 With no further ado, here is

Heather's Homemade Canning Salsa Recipe
20 C tomatoes, blanched/peeled and chopped
8 C onions, diced
4 1/2 C total peppers, mix and match to alter spiciness (I used 4 C green bell and 1/2 Anaheim ...this was a mild or mild-medium salsa and the spiciness could be increased next time)
2 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
2 C apple cider vinegar
*(1/2 C corn starch and 3/4 C water)

Bring mixture (excluding the corn starch and water) to boil and simmer for at least 15 minutes (longer if you want to cook off more of the liquid for a thicker salsa).

*The original recipe called for thickening with corn starch, but this source doesn't recommended it for canning. I did it and we haven't gotten sick so use at your own risk and research conclusion. You may also thicken with tomato paste.

Thicken by mixing the corn starch in to the water and adding to the cooking salsa, simmer at least 10 min.


Put in canning jars and continue as usual following instructions for your particular canning equipment.

Please check with your local extension office for any changes on times/temperatures/altitude.

I don't know the original source of this recipe. If you do, please feel free to share and I'll note it. I guess I should ask Heather! :-) 

Dairy-free Egg-free Real Food Waffles

Mmmm.....waffles. These aren't going to taste like the eggo-waffles in the freezer section (they'll probably be much better!). And the fact is I feel good about feeding them to my family and they didn't take long at all to whip up! And if you're looking to be efficient you'll make a double triple quadruple batch and put the leftovers in the freezer. And for the record I'm not vegan anymore, we're sadly avoiding the nourishing benefits of egg and dairy because of my son's allergies. So enjoy some allergy-friendly waffles (depending on your allergies of course) that are a little more dense and a lot more filling!

Makes 4 Large Round Waffles

Ingredients 
2 cups wheat, freshly-ground*
1 Tbsp sucanat (or preferred sweetener)
1 Tbsp baking powder, aluminum-free
1/4 tsp unrefined salt
2 cups "milk"*
1 "egg" (1 Tbsp freshly-ground flaxseed + 3 Tbsp water)
2 Tbsp coconut oil*, melted

Instructions
Let's keep it simple here!

Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients and don't forget the flaxseed is a wet ingredient once you prepare it as an "egg." Easy-peasy.

For those that need an in-depth break down, here ya go!

• Grind the flaxseed, set aside
• Grind the wheat, add to large mixing bowl
• If solid, liquefy coconut oil in saucepan over low heat, remove from heat when melted
• Add sucanat, baking powder, and salt to mixing bowl, whisk together with forks
• Slowly add "milk" and stir (if the batter seems too thick add a few tablespoons of "milk" once all the ingredients are added)
• Prepare "egg" in separate bowl, by mixing 3Tbsp water to the flaxseed, add to recipe
• Add coconut oil

*****

*Notes*

Milk: Just use your milk substitute of choice. Goat's milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk. Know your product, read the ingredients, and make sure you're using a food you feel good about that isn't highly processed and full of added sugar. I do not recommend soy because of the estrogen, it's highly processed, and from what I understand traditionally consumed as a fermented food.

Oil: Please never-ever use vegetable oil! If you don't like the mild coconut flavor and don't have a dairy allergy, go ahead and melt down some butter instead. Good butter is good for you!  

Wheat: In a perfect world my wheat would have been sprouted first, but let's be honest people, I haven't started planning that far ahead yet! So you'll have to decide where you stand on using freshly-ground and not properly prepared wheat products. You can buy sprouted wheat flour, but I'm not sure about that either because whole-wheat goes rancid within hours of being ground. So even though the whole wheat has phytic acid that our tummies can't break down all on it's own, I felt better using whole wheat than all-purpose white flour. Maybe my reasoning if flawed and I just need to get over the learning curve and start properly preparing my grains!

*****

Time to eat!

Already has a mouth full! And is sporting some grape skin on his finger.

And you may or may not want to sit your waffle over a hot burner on the stove. If I were you I wouldn't, but I'll let you decide! I totally salvaged it by cutting off the burnt side. The Little Guy didn't mind one bite one bit! 

And just in case you need a reminder why you're spending time cooking your family real food!