November 11-12th 2014, First Freeze in North Texas and Making Green Tomato Salsa

Our first freeze of the season in North Texas was the evening of November 11th.  We ran out to the garden and made a last final harvest of beans, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  We also picked most of the persimmons off our Asian persimmon tree.

The first order of business was to make some Tomato Salsa using up the peppers and tomatoes.  I had about 2 gallons of green tomatoes to use up.  This is the link to the recipe I used which started with 5 gallons of tomatoes.  We like it very much and I recommend it to anyone with lots of green tomatoes!
I used the following proportions with a little over 2 gallons of tomatoes.

Green Tomatoes (approximately 2+ gallons before cutting and chopping)

Onions (4 large onions)

Garlic (4 large elephant garlic cloves) Peeled

Green and Red Bell Peppers (6 large bell peppers)

Jalapenos (8 large peppers)

Water (1 cup)

Ground Cumin (About 1 1/2 tablespoons--taste and see what you like)

Canning Salt (2 1/2 tablespoons)

Pepper (1 tsp)

Lime Juice (1 cup)

About 3 tablespoons of dried parsley (I couldn't get any fresh parsley)

The link below is to the original recipe which uses 5 gallons of tomatoes.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/annies-green-tomato-salsa-recipe-for-water-bath-canning-zbcz1411.aspx#axzz3J4qbP2Zd

To the chopped tomatoes I added 6 large bell peppers, 8 large jalapeno peppers, and 4 large onions along with 1 large elephant garlic (with about 4 large cloves).

I also added lime juice, salt, cumin, and parsley flakes (I didn't have any fresh parsley).  We were initially going to can the salsa but later decided to freeze it so I didn't add any vinegar. 

Next I chopped all the ingredients in the blender.

The final mixture was put in a stock pot and brought to a boil.  I cooked the liquid down until the salsa was thick enough to my liking.

I continued to stir to ensure no scorching.

We froze 18 pints of Salsa today!

I took some pictures of the fall flowers around the house before the first freeze.  Here is some Mexican Marigold.  This herb has a nice scent and blooms all fall long.  It is a perennial.  I cut it back to the ground in the winter.  Here is a link to information on this herb which can be used in cooking.
http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-texas-tarragon/

Butterfly weed has interesting seed pods this time of year.  The seeds are very wispy.

The blue salvia in the backyard is blooming now.  I don't see many hummingbirds around in November though.

And finally, I wanted to show a picture of the persimmon tree before we picked all the fruit.

To bring this garden post to a close I want to chronicle that during this week we are also have extremely cold temperatures with no relief.  The link discusses the cold snap gripping the country.  
 http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/harsh-cold-to-freeze-northeast/37451243 

That's all for now!