Spring cleaning

It's that time of year again, and our house for sure needs some spring cleaning and not just grabbing a cloth and washing cupboards, cleaning inside the stove and fridge, but also going through all the things we have. I don't have a very big kitchen, and I'm starting to run out of room, so I have started to go through my cupboards to get ride of things I no longer use or need.

I've only gone through 4 cupboards so far, but when I have a bit of time I will go through more here and there until it's all done. A good friend of mine posted about organizing her cookbooks/meal planning, which you can see her post on her blog at Eating real, being real. Which I also plan to do that with all my cookbooks, because it sure will make things easier to find recipes and like her, I often see recipes and want to try them, but once I put the cookbook away I forget about it. This way it will be easy to find and plan. It will take time and work, but in the end it will be worth it.

Another way that I'm spring cleaning is taking out things I have in my freezer. Spring is here and soon summer, which means going to farms and farmers markets to get fresh local vegetables and fruits. I want to have room in my freezer to restock on fresh vegetables and fruits. I will make big batches of different things so we have meals handy when I don't have time to cook. I also love getting fresh berries and fruit and freezing them to add to my smoothies. I took out two things today from my freezer, the first is stew, which will be great for lunch during the week, and the other is a chicken pot pie, which I'll put into the oven tomorrow for supper. Another thing I prepared is my own mix of spices. One of my cookbooks has an amazing spicy rice recipe, and usually I just throw a bit of all the spices listed, but today I decided to make the full spice recipe so I can easily grab a tablespoon to add to my brown rice.

This past week I only got to bike to work once since it was cold and rainy, so I hope this week we have nice weather so I can bike, and I also want to get out there for a run. Which I did a bit of shopping Friday night and went to the running room with a friend and picked up new running shoes. They didn't have the color I wanted, so they ordered it, and I should get it in about a week. I'm pretty excited to break in my new shoes. I will still keep my old running shoes but not for running since they have been through a half marathon in the rain. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!