In this final episode of Season 2, we're going to talk about learning to cook, bake, and make all sorts of things. Listen in!

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When @jasonbalmet and I got married 14 years ago, I had ZERO cooking skills.

No, seriously. My skill set included top ramen (which we use to eat uncooked with the seasoning sprinkled on top as kids. 😂 Anyone else do that??)and microwaving frozen burritos.

I didn’t know how to cook anything, meal plan, meal prep, grocery shop, compare prices…you get the idea. But when we got married, my domesticity snapped into place and I knew I needed to figure out how to cook and manage my kitchen.

I knew that the time we had before kids was the most free time we would likely ever have again (and did I mention we were both working full time and finishing college full time). I’m not sure how I had that wisdom back then, but I’m so glad God gave me that mission to take it seriously to learn how to cook. But it was a sloooow process.

For the past 14 years, I feel like I’ve had a crash course in cooking, but in tiny weekly baby steps. For about the first 3 years of marriage, Friday night was my night to experiment with cooking. For years, I consistently picked one new recipe a week to cook. Many recipes failed. Some burned. Some were inedible. Some were fine. And some were surprisingly good. But persist I did. And the failures became less and less and the winners became more and more.

I still have a looooong list of things I’d like to learn. And really, that list now more just stuff I want to get into a regular habit of making since my skills in the kitchen have grown so much (Praise God)! I’m a very simple cook. I cook a lot of just real foods. I’m not fancy but I’ve learned how to feed my family 🙌😍I want to encourage you: if you feel a huge desire to take control of your kitchen, there is hope! Start with one small task at a time. Pick one new recipe and go from there.

What I’m going to be tackling next: I’m finally ready to jump back into sourdough. But this time, I’ll be tackling sourdough from freshly ground whole grains. It’s a whole new challenge 😅 But I’m ready for it 💪

So on Instagram, I asked what items you guys wanted to learn how to make/bake/cook and today I’m going to share the responses with some advice from me on how to get started. I asked them to fill in a box that said “I want to learn to cook/bake/make _____” 

Just using my pressure canner: This is such a fun goal! Pressure canning is really fun but can also feel totally overwhelming. My go to cookbook for pressure canning is The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning: https://amzn.to/3YbSVis 

For anyone who really wants to learn how to can but you are a total newbie, I highly recommend learning first how to water bath can. It’s like low stakes canning. All you need is a big pot (as opposed to an actual pressure canner)! But it will help you learn the basics of sanitizing the jars, canning the food, checking the food, checking that it seals, etc. Then when you venture into pressure canning, it’s a lot easier! 

And I have a new book that is one my wish list currently! I got to interview Melissa K Norris recently, her interview will be here on the podcast in a few weeks. Her new book looks so good Everything Worth Preserving: https://amzn.to/43PmSWK 

Kombucha: 

Kombucha is so fun!! It’s scary at first. But give yourself time to get the hang of it and then it’s so simple to keep it going weekly. 

Last year we did a fun experiment and brewed Kombucha and Jun tea at the same time to test out all the flavors. My favorite resource: The Big Book of Kombucha: https://amzn.to/3OxHheK

And I binged watched this YouTube channel when I was first starting out and watched all her episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@YouBrewKombucha 

Farmhouse teas is where we get all of our kombucha flavorings and tea for making kombucha!!