Although many gardeners are amazing at preserving their harvests, not all of us have the experience, skills or equipment to do more advanced preserving such as canning. Count me in the "less experienced" category. I love to grow a delicious and good-looking garden each year, but I have so much to learn when it comes to preserving the goodies I grow. As I try to learn new preserving skills, I also love to enjoy my harvest fresh and have been making an effort to include fresh home-grown ingredients in every meal. Here is one of my favourite home-grown recipe ideas. 

Just about every veggie gardener will have all of the classic ingredients required to make fresh salsa: Roma tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, cilantro and garlic. If you want to add some extra flavour, yellow Amarillo tomatillos add a mango-like flavour and texture, and authentic southern herbs like Mexican oregano spice things up nicely. And of course, you can manage heat by adding any of your favourite hot peppers (Sugar Rush Peach = amazing!). 

If you want to add non-homegrown ingredients, fresh lime juice and cumin seeds are popular additions (or maybe you are growing these too!). I rarely add salt to recipes, but you can add salt to taste if desired.This is definitely one of those recipes that you can adjust to your needs, but a basic ingredients list includes: six good-sized Roma tomatoes, two peppers, one medium-sized onion, two cloves of garlic and a handful of cilantro.Prep is easy. Start by washing then chopping your tomatoes, peppers and onions into evenly-sized cubes and then placing them together in a bowl.

Once your main ingredients are mixed, you can add herbs, garlic and hot peppers to taste and then gently toss all ingredients. And that's it! The whole prep takes just a few minutes, and fresh salsa is always a crowd pleaser. Although salsa on chips is a no-brainer, you can also use your salsa fresca as a side for omelets, pasta, with flat-breads bruschetta style, on chili, as a salad topper, with chicken, fish, on baked potatoes... this truly is a versatile add-on.

 Fresh salsa keeps for a few days refrigerated and can even be frozen in freezer-friendly containers and enjoyed later in fall or early winter. 

 If you have any easy garden-fresh recipe ideas to share, feel free to email them our way!