It was Thanksgiving Day and all of my homemade pumpkin soup and pumpkin puree I had so tirelessly prepped during the week and froze cracked, broke, and poured into my tiny freezer. I was preparing dinner entirely by myself for the first time since Terry was volunteering at the homeless shelter, so fter a few choice words on my list of horrible experiences involving pretty much all of my recent experiences with Ball quart jars, I was forced to resort to the quick and easy "ingredients on hand" version of a pumpkin pie (or pies actually) that I could accomplish along with all of the other holiday tasks in time for our company. So...I took to the internet to find a version that was lower in sugar than the one printed on the can and, as usual, I ended up combining bits and pieces of recipes from all over to get the perfect pie I needed.

When it comes to canning and preserving, you usually think about fruits like apples and berries, or maybe pickles and tomato sauces. The last thing that comes to mind, at least for me, are bananas. Bananas are super versatile and used in many different baking recipes.

***There is debate as to whether or not bananas are safe to water bath can or they must be pressure canned, however, from experience, I have water bath caned this jam three times in the past two year and have had no bad experiences. Do your research, and, as always, if there are any doubts as to whether or not something canned is safe to eat or not, don't do it. Food borne illness with preserved foods is very serious and not worth risking your health over.***

We usually have tons of bananas lying about the house...and I mean tons. Every trip to a store or market with Eamon ends up with a bunch of bananas. They are his favorite fruit (and honestly the only fruit he will willingly eat) and you cannot walk through any fruit aisle without him wanting to eat a banana, or two. Even though I love putting them in smoothies and adding them as a topping to a snack of peanut butter topped rice cake, three to four pounds of bananas are sometimes hard to go through in a one week period. They start to brown and thanks to a certain Pete the Cat book, Eamon will not touch them at this point.

In comes Monkey Butter.

When my father in law (whom I also work with) comes into the office last week with a bag full of peppers, I knew it was his way of saying: "Can you make me some jelly?"

You see, I am one of those hosts who sets out a plate of crackers, cheeses, homemade sweets and jams every time someone stops by...even if it is for only a short time. I'm like a mini Martha Stewart in my own way, only a lot less pretentious and covered in tattoos. And despite the usual hesitance people have when I offer "jalapeno jelly" on crackers with cream cheese, it quickly turns into them begging for a jar to take home themselves.