Canning salsa is something I thought I'd never be able to do. But, after keeping my mom on the phone for a couple hours, I mustered up the courage to try! 

Two trips to a local grocery store for tomatoes, jalapenos, onions and garlic only cost me $10. I was able to get 9 jars of salsa and 3 jars of tomato juice from what I picked. 

There were way more tomatoes than what's pictured. I used both roma tomatoes and these hearty kind pictured above. 

I brought water to a boil in a big, red pot and let them sit for a couple minutes (probably too long). An ice bath was waiting for them in the sink. Another batch of fresh tomatoes went into the rolling boil while the skins lifted off those sitting in the sink. 

The skins fell right off, and I quartered the tomatoes for processing. Washing and chopping the jalapenos and onions, garlic and tomatoes. Transferring them from one bowl to another, juice dropping down my pinky to the bump on the back right side of my wrist around my forearm all the way to the point of my elbow. 

What a messy kitchen. But it was so much fun! Tomato juice was in excess, garlic was here and there, the little white seeds of peppers escaping every which way. 

Lasting thoughts from canning: thank God for food processors.