Tomato Candy

I love my garden, small as it may be.  There is nothing like being a busy mom who at 5:00 realizes she has absolutely no idea  what her family will eat for supper (know anyone like that?) and then glances out the window to be pleasantly reminded that everything she needs for a delicious salad , or just BLTs  (if you have bacon in the fridge), is right outside her door.  Now that three of my children are older, I can even send them "grocery shopping" just down our front porch steps, with nothing but a basket in hand - no shirt, shoes, money, or car keys required. 

We've had delicious ocra, cucumbers, squash, peppers of all colors, musk melons, and large tomatos all summer but the best surprise from this year's garden was without a doubt "Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatos".  These plants mature in 65 days and produce large clusters of sweet cherry-sized fruits.  Even my four-year old would pop them in his mouth one after the other, barely giving me time to rinse them, when I would carry a small bucket full into the kitchen.  One day, as he was munching away, I said to him, "Better than candy, aren't they?" to which he quickly replied, with tomato juice dripping down his chin, "You must not have had the kind of candy I have had."

I always start planning next year's garden when the end of August rolls around and my small plot begins to resemble a cemetary - more dead than living.  One of my plans for next year includes using the plethora of cherry tomatos I have high hopes of again producing to hold a salsa-making party for friends in the "neighborhood".  If I provide the tomatos and jars, and each one of them brings another ingredient, we can all end the night of chopping, mixing, gabbing, and laughing, with a couple of jars of the most delicious salsa you've ever eaten.  A co-worker , who used to live in Texas and brought this recipe with her when she moved to NC, shared it with me.

I call it "Shelly's Salsa."

Ingredients:
1 can whole peeled tomatos (or fresh ones from next year's garden)
3/4 of a medium size onion, chopped
4 sprigs fresh cilantro (or a palm full of dried)
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp.salt
2 Tabl. lemon juice
2 fresh jalapenos

Put all the ingredients minus the tomatos in a mincer or chopper until they are at an agreeable consistency.  Add the tomatos and mince or chop  a bit more. Stir in just  under a tablespoon of cumin.  (Shelly says the cumin is the magic ingredient - "If there's no cumin, it's not Mexican.")

After the salsa is made, grab a bag of tortilla chips and enjoy the company of friends around a table in your garden.   Simple pleasures are best!  (Warning - all tomato-eatin' 4-year olds may want to join you around the table....be prepared to share!)