9.13.2008

salsa making, the PC way

that's Ponytail Challenge way, not politically correct (because I'm not) and not personal computer (because I don't have one)

Yes, the Ponytail Challenge way- full of pain, sweat and tears....but not necessarily in that order.

1- Gather your peppers and tomatoes. All that your garden or market has to offer. When you think that you have enough tomatoes for salsa making, go back and get twice as many. When referring to the web to find out an accurate way to measure 20 lbs. of tomatoes, you will receive answers that vary from 2 cups = 1 pound, all the way to 8 cups = 3 pounds, 16 cups = 20 pounds. Hmmm.....might be time to just buy a scale.


Notice the gloves.

2- Start chopping. Chop and chop. Then, chop some more.
2.5- Stop, change baby's dirty diaper, hand children box of dry cereal to eat for lunch. Wash hands.



3- The tears part...... it is always good to have a good cry. Lots and lots of tears.



4- Get really annoyed at chopping and pull out the food processor to do it for you. It might be wise to skip right past #2 to this step. I suggest leaving your gloves on. Chop up your peppers.



5- Decide that maybe you should check the "hotness" level of the unknown variety of peppers you picked from your garden. Touch the tip of your tongue to pepper- ever so quickly.


Notice the lack of gloves.

6- Run to sink- ever so quickly. Drink a lot of cold water.
6.5- Pretend that you don't hear your baby crying to be picked up.

7- Make the wise, educated decision that maybe you have enough peppers in your salsa.
7.5- Try to yell- I mean calmly tell- your children to stop jumping on your bed- while your tongue and lips are swollen, burning, tingling and slightly numb.

8- Place everything in to your biggest pot.



9- Your pot is not big enough. Now, place everything in to your 2 biggest pots.
9.5- Give your children the bag of jumbo marshmallows for the great nutritional content.

10- The sweat. Feel as if you haven't showered in weeks because you have are been standing in a hot steamy kitchen for 6 hours.

11- Forget to take anymore pictures and the rest of the day, because at this point you are so tired and sick of salsa that your brain has switched to auto mode.
11.5- Auto mode brain allows you to pretend that you didn't know that your children ate the whole bag of marshmallows and that you *gasp* can't believe they did that......when really, you are glad it held them off for an hour so that you could finish up your project.

12- Curse for not having any tortilla chips to eat the salsa that should have only taken a few hours to make, but took all day.

13- Realize that maybe your children could use their mother when your 4-year-old asks at the end of the day, "Mom, can you watch the baby for a minute while I go to the bathroom?" Roll reversal maybe?

14- Look at the sink of dirty dishes, turn around and walk away......... just walk away.



15- The pain...... Hold a bag of frozen vegetables all night long because you weren't smart enough to wear gloves while handling hot peppers.



Pain, sweat, and tears. I have had a few requests for the recipe- I'll see how it turns out and then decide if I should "share the wealth."
Must. Buy. Chips. Now.

13 comments:

  1. For future reference, drinking water to try to assuage the heat of a pepper will only make it worse. Drink milk to neutralize the heat, or eat a piece of bread or tortilla.

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  2. Yum! I love homemade salsa! You go girl! Keep up the great work. I'm sure it turned out wonderful.

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  3. Fantastic, simply fantastic...this post had me LOL!! THe salsa looks YUMMY!

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  4. thanks! can't wait to try it!

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  5. I am laughing so hard at step 13!

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  6. I love that your kid asked you to watch the baby for a minute! How hilarious! But I'm sure that you'll be so glad you made that salsa, when you can eat it for the next few months and remember that you did it all on your own. It looks really yummy.

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  7. You should have a giveaway of your salsa! Or you could just give it to me!!

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  8. Awesome! I love your blog and it makes me very happy that I am not the only mom to ever feed my children a box of dry cereal (I haven't had to resort to marshmallows yet, but I am sure that will come)!

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  9. Haha! Thank you for the laugh I needed it tonight! :) Your salsa sounds yummy so I'm hoping you decide to share your recipe!

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  10. So true!! It looks yummy, good for you!

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  11. I always forget the chips too! But it looks like it turned out really good. Sorry about the hands. It was fun visiting the other week. Maybe next time we can do it over salsa and chips!

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  12. wow you have been busy!! i love your child saying "mom will you watch the baby while i go to the bathroom" How cute!!

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  13. So funny. Thanks for sharing. I've been storing up the tomatoes from my garden for weeks (how long will they keep?) and I'm hoping to set aside a day this week that I can attempt to make salsa. Would love to hear how you liked your recipe!

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