Hot Hesed!

It was one of the first things I learned about Steven's mom.

She makes the best salsa.

And so, you can imagine my excitement when she asked me to make it with her this year. Like my grandma's tamales, this salsa is a deep act of hesed. Not only is most of it grown from her own garden (something so foreign to us city-folk), but the entire process takes alllllllll day. No joke. We started at 2 and I left "early", before everything was done, at seven.

Steven excitedly asked me when I came home what I'd learned and when I'd be making my next batch. And while I wasn't exactly sure when my next salsa extravaganza would be, I did learn a few things. I learned that my mother-in-law is not just the best at making salsa, she's pretty great at a lot of other things too.

She's a great communicator. She's a great listener. She's a great worker, always running around doing big and little things for anyone and everyone. She's a great teacher, always directing others back to Jesus and His Word. She's a generous woman with a big heart for people. And basically, she's the best mother-in-law I could have ever asked for.

I knew all these things before we made salsa together, but it's always nice to be reminded of God's goodness in your life.

All in all, by the end of the day I not only learned a whole lot about country cooking, but I was also blessed to spend a wonderful afternoon with my beautiful mom-in-law. Good food, good company. It doesn't get much better.

Margie's Homemade Salsa :)

Fresh tomatoes from the garden. Washed and ready to go.


Put the tomatoes in boiling water to steam.


You boil them until the skin "pops" like this...


Once the skin "pops", it'll come right off. No tomato skin in salsa is allowed!


Rough chop the tomatoes--til you reach 16 cups!


Put the huge pot of tomatoes over the stove on medium heat. And start adding the flavor! A whole bundle of cilantro (Even though lots of people hate this flavor, you cook it enough that it's not too strong. It just adds a little kick.)


Onions.


The rest of the characters. Corn, beans (lots of em!), tomato paste.


Oh! Can't forget the jalapeno and cayenne peppers! (The Sauder boys always complain that the salsa isn't hot enough, so we left in all the seeds this time)


YUM. Gotta let is boil for a bit so the salsa thins out.


Add some canning salt and some sugar...


Then it's on to canning!


Put the jars in a big pressure cooker--with a little bit of water.


Then you just gotta wait. Wait for it to go all the way up to 15 lbs. Once it does, then you adjust the temp so it stays at 15...and then slowly goes back down to 0. (Margie says you have to wait til it hits 0 or else the lids will NOT seal and you'll want to punch yourself for wasting so much time.)


Finally time to take em out!


Leave them on a cooling rack and viola! THE BEST SALSA IN THE WORLD :)