Waste not, want not

I have been dying to get back here and write some long and involved bit of culinary wisdom, or some funny anecdote about my life as a Mom, daughter, volunteer, sex kitten (part-time), domestic engineer. But the actual Moming, daughtering, volunteering, sex-kitten thing got in the way. I'd like to say my duties as a domestic engineer got in the way too, but frankly, you'd just have to look at my house to know that ain't true.

Ahem.

So today I am going to write about something near and dear to my heart recently and that is making sure you do not waste food. Food is a pretty big part of my limited budget and nothing irks me more than having to throw away my hard earned money with food that has gone past its prime.

The biggest things that go bad for me are fruits and vegetables. I have very little time to write today, so this post will focus on the vegetables and the next one will be about fruit. *Note: I have never had any ice cream go bad.

My best tips for preventing food waste are:

• Make a list, not only of what you need to buy, but also how you are going to use it. So you need to make a menu for the week, noting what side dishes you are making to go with what. Try to use your most perishable veggies first, but be flexible, if that broccoli is starting to "bloom" early (it develops a yellow color) then use it up quick.

• Make substitutions. Tonight's dinner was going to be chicken and rice plus broccoli and squash, but oh look a tomato is going bad (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes bad!) and needs to be used up. Cut off the bad spot and chop it up into the rice side dish. Chopping it and adding salt helps break it down and by the time it has cooked with the rice it merely becomes a flavoring agent for the rice. Good times.

* Make soup/stock. I have a freezer full of old bones. No, I am not a serial killer with grisly trophies (but you know I totally would be on Criminal Minds). I just love to make stocks. I therefore have LABELLED ziploc freezer bags of chicken and beef bones and very occasionally fish bones and crustacean shells (shrimp and lobster mostly). Now to these animal parts one must add vegetables. Do you have wilted celery? Put it in the freezer. When you cut off the tops of the onion, put it, skin and all into the freezer, more garlic than you can use all at one time? It freezes beautifully. Very pungent vegetables, like broccoli or asparagus get frozen in separate bags also LABELLED for use in what I call the "Great Green Soup" (featured elsewhere on the site, keyword green soup).

* Make a meal of them. If you find yourself, late in the week with a bevy of quickly aging produce, make fajitas or stir-fry or even a casserole or two. Cook finely shredded carrots into a tomato sauce, chop zucchini into zucchini bread, roast an entire pan of assorted vegetables with sea salt and olive oil.

* Make a rescue attempt. Sad, wilted greens can be briefly revived using the scientific principle of turgor pressure. Basically those lettuce leaves have dried out in your refrigerator. Give them a brief rinse and set them stalks down in a large container of ice water that you have dosed with a liberal slug of white vinegar. They will be perky and presentable in 20 minutes or less. Then spin dry or pat dry the leaves and serve yourself a great big salad that night.

* Make compost. Sometimes despite our best efforts, stuff goes bad. Return it to the earth by starting a simple compost pile. I had one on my balcony that was completely contained in a large rubbermaid tote. Besides vegetable matter I added egg shells and coffee grounds, plant clippings, shredded newspapers, paper towels, grass cuttings and the like. I was rewarded with dark rich compost for my container garden. You can also google search for how to start your own "vermiculture" composter (worms) and something intriguing I read about called a "bokashi" bucket.

Vegetables are cheap and abundant this time of year, so take advantage and buy up your summer favorites. This summer I am going to be investigating some home canning options, (yay strawberry jam!) and maybe even parching my own sweet corn. Wish me luck and I will keep you posted.

Eggplant Eggstravaganza

I belong to an organic food buying co-op. Every Tuesday the kids and I go to the Health Food Store and pick up a big box of farm fresh goodies. I usually pick up towards closing time, when the give away box is pretty full. The give-away box is where people put stuff they don't want or can't use. For weeks there we got an extra head or two of collard green. Who gives away collards? People who don't know to cook them with bacon fat apparently. Anyhow, this week I scored some extra red peppers and Ellen told me if I came back tomorrow I could have an extra eggplant.

The next morning I stopped by on my way to story time at the library with the kids. She gave me 4 eggplants! I already had a HUGE eggplant at home. I managed to give away 2 eggplants to some friends at the library. I made a terrific batch of eggplant parmigiana, but now I still have 3 eggplants at home? What do I make now? I'd love to make some hummus and some baba ganoush, but finding tahini in our town is kind of like finding real breasts in Los Angeles.

I wish I knew some good eggplant side dishes, as Lee caught 4 lobster yesterday and we have some lovely grouper that will be our entree tonight. Today I research, but if anybody out there has any good ideas I'd certainly love to hear about them!

Brandy sent me a good Eggplant Parmigiana recipe, so without further ado...

Eggplant ala Brandy

Cut eggplant into rounds. Dip each round in a dish with beaten eggs, then roll each round in a pie pan with seasoned bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese. Put eggplant pieces on a cookie sheet, bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Make your usual sauce, and boil pasta while they bake. Serve with a salad and dinner can be done in 20 minutes! I love that this parmigiana isn't fried! I felt like you could really taste the eggplant flavor. Each round was served on pasta, topped with a bit of sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella.