Salsa Recipe

Nancy's Scrumptious Salsa

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 onions diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 sweet bell peppers, diced
• 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced (Wear gloves. Hot peppers burn hands and other body parts
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Cayenne pepper, a dash or two
• 2 quarts tomato puree
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 8 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup water or tomato juice

Brown the onions in the olive oil in a big pot with a thick bottom. Add the garlic, plus the bell and jalapeño peppers. Stir for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over a low heat for a few hours, stirring occasionally. Check the seasoning, but resist the temptation to make the salsa as hot as you would normally eat it. (Remember, I warned ya' ... and you can always add hot sauce later.)
If the salsa is getting so thick that you're worried it's going to burn, add a little more water. Bring it slowly to a boil, and keep it boiling for 5 or 10 minutes. Ladle the salsa into either pint or half pint jars. You should end up with 4 or 5 pints, 8 to 10 half pints. Can and process using the boiling-water-bath method. Boil for 20 minutes.

Fresh Apricot Salsa

Yield: 16 Servings

• 2/3 c Chopped fresh apricots -=OR=- 1 pt Apricots; drained and
  .. chopped
• 1/2 c Chopped onion
• 1/4 c Apricot preserves
• 1 md Tomato; chopped
• 1 tb Chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 ts Finely chopped gingerroot
• 1/8 ts Cinnamon