All Dried Out......

17 Days To Go!

Happy Wednesday folks! I thought I would fill you all in on this weeks progress and a little project that I've started :-)

My hands are sore and callused! Not a good look for me.... 

So Monday morning's workout was hard as you know (boo for cardio), Tuesday morning's workout was even harder. Imagine that, lol. We did a crazy chest and back routine that our trainer put together for us. He said he wanted us to be sore this week and he meant it! My arms are killing me today. This morning's workout wasn't any easier. We had legs (insert doom and gloom music here)..... We got through it and well, lets just say I'm a little nervous about what tomorrow is going to look like. We've been getting our workouts the day before so it kind of keeps us in suspense about what's coming up. Definitely not the usual way we workout. Everything is so controlled and predictable but this week has been different and I kind of like it just for the simple reason that everyday is different including our diet.

The diet change before this I kind of had a hard time with in the evenings. I had white fish on the menu for my last meal and for some reason I just couldn't find a good fish I really liked but I think I figured out the problem this go around. It was the fish it's self. We had been buying Swai from Walmart because it was really good and a fair price. Well of course they stopped carrying it and so I tried the flounder. That was ok. Ive never been a big fan of Talapia even though I know that's what I should be eating. So the previous diet change I bought Talapia again and hated it once again. Something about the taste was so awful. I can't really describe it but it wasn't good. This time when we went shopping we decided to give it ANOTHER try and low and behold.... I love it, lol. I have learned that you need to get the individually wrapped and sealed to get a better quality and that makes all the difference. Problem solved ;-)

So on to what I really want to blog about. On Monday I told ya'll that my mother in law gave me a dehydrator. Well on Tuesday I had to drop by the store again and get a few things. I needed some lemons for the fish and happened to see that BiLo had their clearance fruits and veggies out. I love that about our BiLo's here. Everyday they go through all the fruit and veggies and whatever looks like it needs to sell that day they put in these huge $1.50 bags. I bought probably 5lbs of apples for $1.50 and snap green beans to! Love that deal. We took full advantage of it last summer.

Yesterday I did tons of research on dehydrating and preserving fruits and veggies. Remember Monday I said I was going to go all "natural" or more "earth friendly" this summer well I've begun. I dehydrated my first set of apples Monday night and they turned out awesome! So I did it again last night and this morning I took some pictures for ya'll. Let me just say now that I'm going to get tons of use of that thing. I put it on the top of my list of the things she has given me over the years (she gives me things all the time and I love that to).

My New Nesco Dehydrator

Apple Chips as they were drying out

Final product. Sooo good and full of flavor
(Sorry about blurry pics. Had to take them with my phone at 4:30am, lol)

These Apple chips turned out so good! They are full of flavor and held their color very well. The directions said to pre-treat them so I used lemon juice and honey. It gives them a glaze kind of. Joshua and Taylor were like YUM. So this summer I plan on doing a lot more dehydrating of fruits and veggies and have a few ideas of what I'm going to do with them all. 

I also did some research on canning. I bought 25 canning jars from a thrift store yesterday. I got a good deal on them. But first I need to buy the water bath canner and all the tools to do it with. I'm going to wait till after the show to do all that though because it's a long process and I want to visit the farmers market for some stock. I also need my mother in law to show me what the heck I'm doing. I'm super excited about this new little project!!! Maybe I'll start a blog about that to! Let's see how the first canning session goes and we'll go from there, lol. I have a tendency to start to many things at one time. Joshua is always having to bring me back down to Earth. The rule is one project at a time.... but who follows the rules any way? 

What kind of projects do you guys plan on this summer? Other than getting and staying in shape... that's a given people.

Here's to finding you NorthStar......