Canning Salsa and Tomato Sauce

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Last weekend my Mom and I canned salsa and tomato sauce.  It was a long, tiring day but definitely worth it!
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First up was a stop at the farmer's market for supplies.  Look at all those beautiful peppers.
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The tomatoes were beautiful too.
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We decided to use Roma tomatoes for both our salsa and tomato sauce.  I bought one 1/2 bushel and one peck which was somewhere around 43 pounds!
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I don't know why, but I like this picture of all the canning jars in the dishwasher...
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* We followed the ingredients list (with just a few small changes) provided by Jenny of Anything Pretty.  Thanks Jenny!  And then we used my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook for the actual step by step directions.
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Salsa Ingredients:
- 10 cups peeled, chopped, and cored, tomatoes
- 5 cups chopped seeded bell peppers
- 5 cups chopped onions
- 2 1/2 cups chopped seeded chili peppers (we used a combo of jalapeño and Anaheim)
- 1 1/4 cups cider vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
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* Makes 10 pints
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The first step is to peel the tomatoes.  Boil a large pot of water.  Remove the core and use a knife to make an "x" at the bottom of each tomato.  Boil tomatoes in small batches for one minute or until skin starts to peel off.  As you remove tomatoes from boiling water place in ice bath.  After the tomatoes have cooled, you will be able to easily remove the peel.
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Here's what 43 pounds of peeled tomatoes looks like:
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We only used 10 cups for the salsa but decided to get the peeling out of the way for our tomato sauce at the same time.
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Directions for Salsa:
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1. Prepare ingredients.
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2.  Place tomatoes in a large stainless steel, enameled, or nonstick heavy kettle.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer for 1-1/4 hours, or until thickened, stirring frequently.  Add bell peppers, Anaheim & jalapeño peppers, onions, vinegar, garlic, salt.  Return mixture to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.
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3.  Ladle hot salsa into hot, clean pint canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space.  Wipe jar rims, place lids and rings on.  Processes in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes (Start timing when water returns to boiling).  Remove jars and cool on racks or towels.  Jars should rest, undisturbed, for 24 hours. 
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* If you are new to canning, you might want to check out this helpful overview at pickyourown.org. 
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The finished product:
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The recipe was supposed to make 10 pints, but somehow, we only ended up with 9 pints.
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After finishing the salsa we moved on to our tomato sauce.  We followed a recipe I learned from Mamma Agata.  I canned this last year too and I was so happy that I did.  I know I've mentioned it before, but if you ever find yourself on the Amalfi Coast of Italy, I highly recommend a day spent at Mamma Agata's enjoying her cooking class.  It's a day you will never forget!
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The only ingredients for this delicious sauce are:  tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Heaven.
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We ended up with 12 quarts of sauce.
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See the white in the jars?  Those are whole cloves of garlic.  Yum.
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