Criminal Minds

So far this season, the premieres of my returning shows are living up to all my expectations and more.

( Spoilers )

Canning, and lunch

I did not take a photo, and it wouldn't have looked significantly pretty, anyway, since all the containers had lids. But I haven't posted about lunch in awhile, and today's was particularly good:

~ Leftover homemade bean soup, vegetarian version
~ baby carrots + ranch dressing for dip
~ applesauce
~ home canned pears

Yummy!

Also, I had oatmeal for breakfast. That all sounds very healthy to me. :)

And while we're talking about canning, I've home canned several things in my canning adventures so far this year:

Peach Jam
Raspberry Jam
Peaches
Pears
Concord grape jelly (for my dad-in-law, for his birthday, with grapes he planted last year)

A friend canned fresh tuna for me, and that is also teh awesome!

On my list still to do:

A last batch of pears (the husband loves them), green beans, salsa (if I can find a really good recipe), applesauce (I am VERY excited about this!), and perhaps tomato/spaghetti sauce. I am a little nervous about using the pressure cooker, I must admit. So far, it's all been water bath canning, but the beans and salsa and so on need to be canned at a much higher temp, hence the pressure cooking.

Also, I believe we're going to research dehydrators. Apparently they make the best elk jerky, much more moist than smoking, so the husband wants to try it. Also, he loves dried fruit, and so do I, and we both grew up with it - he from his grandmother, me from my Mom. I would love to make my own dried apples and bananas! Mmmmm.

What's not to love?

So, there are two clips floating around out there for tonight's episode of The Vampire Diaries - in one of them, Caroline reminds me of Cordelia from her Buffy days, and ( cut for very mild spoilers )