Portrait in Red

I've eaten tomato sandwiches, bacon and tomato sandwiches, had buttered toast with sliced tomato for breakfast, and took Frank Stitt's Cornbread Panzanella to movie night. I think I prefer Ina Garten's Panzanella recipe, but this was pretty tasty, too.

I also made salsa and tomato basil jam which I canned. I have a tomato for lunch today and one for tomorrow and I'll be done with Dad's tomatoes. I'll have to buy more.

In the photos, the salsa is the lighter red...9 pints. The tomato and basil jam is the darker red...4 pints. And then I made a cherry jam using Splenda. It's the darkest red...4 1/2 pints.

This is Mom's recipe for salsa, which was a bit complicated to interperet.



11 large tomatoes
2 bell peppers (I used one green and one orange)
6 jalapeno peppers
2 large onions
1 TBS pickling salt
8 cloves garlic
1/3 c cider vinegar

Peel and seed tomatoes. Medium dice the tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers and place in a soup pot with finely diced jalapenos and minced garlic. Add vinegar and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for an hour to 75 minutes. Place in sterilized jars. Apply lids and rings and place in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

You can adjust the heat by adding and deleting the jalapenos. Being a wimp, I only used 5 and it was more than enough heat for me.