Manberry Jam

I also made Manberry Jam today, aka mango-strawberry jam.  It was delicious!  And surprisingly, it was not as hard to make jam as I have always thought it was.  It made a ton of jam, so if you want one, just let me know!

For my first ever attempt at making and canning homemade jam, I would call it a success!

This is What $15 Can Get You...

I picked up my first ever Bountiful Baskets order earlier this morning.  I definitely think it was a $15 well spent.

So for my $15, I received:
4 oranges
8 small cucumbers
5 onions
3 heads of broccoli
1 celery
1 carton of strawberries
2 bags of radishes
3 mangos
8 apples
7 bananas
1 bag of regular carrots
1 cantaloupe
1 head of cauliflower

I am pretty sure that you cannot beat that at the grocery store.  Plus, I know exactly what I am getting and where it is coming from.  And it encourages me to eat even healthier than I already do.

Mulan

A few weeks ago, two of my nephews were in their school's production of Mulan and I drove up to Bountiful to see them in all their glory.  It was entertaining and if nothing else, I know that they had a blast doing it.  Sean was a warrior and Brandon was the Chinese Emperor and a warrior.

Brandon and Sean.

Sean

Alauna and Natalia being silly.

An Epic Fail

Never try to dehydrate cantaloupe.  It does not work... and it does not taste good at all.  I love cantaloupe and I had picked one for volunteering.  I had recently purchased a circular dehydrator, so I decided to give it a try.  Never will I do that again!  The flavor changes and the texture is weird for a cantaloupe.  Overall, epic fail and do not try again.

Bountiful Baskets

Early Saturday morning after getting off the Noc shift, I went with one of the nurses, Alyssa, to volunteer at 6:30 in the morning for Bountiful Baskets.  Now you might be asking what Bountiful Baskets is.  Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op that gets locally grown produce within the state and connecting states from where you are located.  It is also volunteer-operated.

So after getting off work (and it was snowing!), we headed down the street to volunteer.  We helped to off load the truck and then to separate everything into individual baskets for people to pick up later.  Some of the boxes were really heavy, especially the celery and cabbages!  Others were pretty light, like the berries and peppers.  For $15, you get tons of produce at a price you could not get at the grocery store.  To get the variety and amount of produce you get in 1 basket from Bountiful Baskets, you would pay approximately $35 at the grocery store.  Plus, if nothing else, you get to expand your food horizons :)

Even though it was super early in the morning, it was snowing, and I had just worked 12 hours, I had a blast volunteering for them.  It was also very gratifying to be involved in something like that and to see how many other people showed up to volunteer also.

Afterwards, before we distributed the extra produce, all the volunteers got a free piece of produce.  So I got a free cantaloupe out of it!  (I'm going to try and dehydrate it.)  Since I helped Alyssa pull her order and her mother-in-law's huge order, she gave me a carton of strawberries and 2 mangoes!  (I'm going to make a strawberry-mango jam from them.)

I have heard of them previously but just never looked into.  Now I wish I had!  However, that will be changing.  I probably will not order something every week (especially since I am single and only cook for myself) but I will definitely look each week as to see what the offering is each week.  I also want to do a lot of canning and dehydrating this summer and if I can do it cheaper this way, then sign me up!

If there is not a Bountiful Baskets location near you, I am sure that there is some form of a food co-op near you.  It might not be economical for you or your family, but for some it might be.  It also could be a way to make sure you are getting your fruits and veggies in and eat healthier.