nourishment.

I signed up for an e-course yesterday on consuming nourishing foods, frugally.

Here it is:  The Peasant's Feast:  Nourishing Food on a Budget

Yeah, it cost me moolah, but I'm excited.  Most people don't know that for years I've been reading up on nutrition, foods, vitamins, minerals, raw foods, etc...  It's a bit of a secret hobby of mine.  I even considered getting a degree in nutrition.  You wouldn't probably know it by looking at me, honestly.  I'm not in the best shape (just round).  But I never really devoted the time to change anything in my routine for the better.  I'm going to try and change that this summer.  I have the time!  I also ordered a few new books, and I'm looking into the possibility of ordering some grass-fed, pastured meat and free-range eggs from a local Missouri farm in the future.

Does anyone already do this stuff?  Tips, ideas, thoughts, recipes?  I'd love to hear.

food preservation.

This summer, I'm teaching myself to can. 

No, not dancing the can-can, but learning to create my own canned goods in jars.  I've been looking, for a while, ways to preserve and store my own food - meaning, knowing every last ingredient in things (and ingredients that I can pronounce!). 

My first project wasn't canning at all, however.  My friend and work colleague owns a farm and brought me 10 huge heads of broccoli this week.  I wanted to freeze it all in small servings to use throughout the year.  I learned how to blanch, and I really enjoyed it!  Usually, cooking is such a difficult task for me because of my time restraints due to my schedule.  But when I have the time, I'm learning I love the processes of cooking.  It was actually kind of fun. :)

I bought two books on canning as well:

I've already read then and tagged recipes I want to try...including watermelon rind pickles.  Just sounds interesting!  I borrowed my Mom's boiling water bath canner that has been collecting dust since about 1975, and I ordered a new tools set that should be arriving via Amazon.com tomorrow.  My Mom has jars that I can use that have also just been collecting dust since who knows when - probably since before I was born!  So, I'm about good to go! 

Along with the preserving and such, I've ordered a small deep freezer that will be delivered in Tuesday.  This is a purchase that I've been wanting for a long time. 

My small little freezer on my apartment sized fridge just doesn't cut it.  With my busy schedule, I like to cook big batches of things when I have time, then freeze in serving size containers for quick, homemade deliciousness on busy weeknights (or basically every night).  I just hope it fits in the space I have for it the way I want it to...I guess I'll find out on Tuesday!