Everybody but me is proudly showing off their bushels and bushels of tomatoes, peppers and other nummy garden bounty and all I have to show for it is a hand full of the toughest string beans known to humankind and a few patty pan squash that I have no idea how to cook.
Well, I have been picking a few green and hot peppers from the garden and a friend has been gifting me with some of her prolific peppers. So I'm pretty good in the pepper department.
So, what does one do with green peppers when there are no tomatoes to make salsa with? Well, I do the Almost-Home-Made thing. I went and bought a jar of plain "Thick and Chunky" salsa at the grocery store and doctored it up a bit:
First of all, the store bought jar was neither thick nor chunky. False advertising if you asked me. But what does one really expect from a store-brand jar of salsa anyhow?
I dumped the jar of "salsa" into a large bowl. Then added half a can of corn (left over from dinner the previous evening), an entire can of black beans (rinsed first), chopped up some onions and the homegrown green peppers, added some fresh ground pepper and a teaspoon of cilantro.
Yup. Doing what I can with what I got, simple - and yummy - as that.
Maybe next year I'll be able to really make my own homemade salsa. Corn, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, black beans, cilantro. I think I can handle that. You know. Next year. When the word "drought" is just a bad memory.
Oh, and the salsa pictured above is already gone. There are a few crumbs left in the chip bag.
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I love a gal that can "make do!" If anyone deserve a really, really good garden next year, it's you. (And Jane, too!)
ReplyDeleteMmm, that looks really tasty. It's been a tough year for gardening. Next year should be better!
ReplyDeleteI have my first 3 tomatoes ripe today, still waiting too, late planting. I do have some hot peppers coming in, so now I know what to do with them, thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks good! I'll have to buy squash this year. Mine all died.
ReplyDeleteLooks good! Next year has to be better... right?? At least that's what I always say... it keeps me going from year to year.
ReplyDeleteTry thin slicing those pattypans and sauteeing them with a little onion, salt and pepper. YUM! You can really use them just like zucchini- or the chickens LOVE them when they get too big.
Not EVERYONE is harvesting bushels and bushels, my tomatoes are just now starting to ripen. Your almost homemade salsa looks fabulous, I love salsa with corn and black beans, YUM!!
ReplyDeleteI made my Calabacitas Casserole the other day using all pattypan squash and it was even better than when using zucchini! I posted the recipe last year on September 5th if you want to look it up. The pattypan squash are also good sliced about 1/2-inch thick and thrown on the grill with a little EVOO and salt and pepper.
CR, And your salsa looks amazing, lol.....
ReplyDeleteI bet since you added the peppers, corn, beans and onions it tastes fabulous too.
Don't be jealous, there's so much you can do with green peppers. Stuffed peppers, pepper jelly, roasted peppers for sandwiches, green peppered steak....ect.....
Darn and I was going to bring the sangria but I can't now. Ya'll ate all the salsa and chips :P
Hey don't be too hard on yourself, part of being a great homesteader is knowing how to compromise and make things work come hell or high water (or drought?)! Can o'salsa, who cares? LOl the finished product looked great and the good farmer will fold and look forward to next season, right? :)
ReplyDeleteI am hoping my tomatoes produce long enough that I can do salsa. I opened my last jar yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHave you checked around your area for some farmers' markets? It seems we have them on every street corner now.