The weather turned reliably warm and my chard bolted. I don’t mean, found the door and vamoosed. I mean, developed thick, faceted stems and prepared to go to seed. Chard in my experience is slow to bolt, but this patch was over-wintered — first time ever for me – and it’s time. Everything else that [...]
Archive for the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ Category
Waste Not Want Not: Pickled Chard Stems and a Bunch of Ways to Use Them
Posted in Beans and legumes, Greens, Pasta, Preserving, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Pickled chard stems on May 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Waste Not Want Not: Baked Peppers with Tuna and Rice
Posted in Fish, Peppers, Tuna, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Tuna rice stuffed peppers, using leftover olive oil on April 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
During seasonal transitions like early spring, I find myself cooking warm comfort food and dreaming about summer food. There’s a great Italian rice salad that I sometimes make for a summer picnic, laced with tuna that’s been poached in oil (or good quality canned tuna in olive oil). It’s loaded with crunchy celery, abundant finely [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Cheese Rinds and a Celery Soup
Posted in Celery and celeriac, Cheese, Soup, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Cooking with cheese rinds on March 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The garden’s getting drenched with rain today, thankfully, so I stayed inside and made soup. Lovely celery and leek soup feels spring-like, light and nourishing just like the rain. Local leeks were back in this morning’s farmers’ market so I wanted to build a soup around them. I also had an abundance of organic celery [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Yellow Split Pea Soup with Corned Beef Stock
Posted in Peas, Soup, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Re-using corned beef stock on March 27, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The spicy and aromatic stock left over from cooking homemade corned beef brisket was simply too good to pour down the drain. Slightly salty from the brined and cured meat and redolent of coriander, ginger, cinnamon, mustard seed, peppercorns and cloves, among other ingredients, it was a welcome base for split pea soup. I chose [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Using Bean Broth
Posted in Beans and legumes, Soup, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Using bean broth on February 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Stewing pots of dried beans and chickpeas and lentils all winter yields nutritious legume broth that is simply too good to pour down the drain. I save it for soups and stews including shellfish chili that I made on Super Bowl Sunday. Here, with some leftover cooked red beans from Cayuga Pure Organics, a regional [...]
Dark Days 8: Cabbage Stew with Spruce Needles, and Other Ideas for Recycling Your Christmas Tree
Posted in Cabbage, Dark Days Challenge, Leeks, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Christmas tree recycling, Cleansing cabbage soup, Cooking with pint needles on January 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. For more information, go here to the DDC section of Not Dabbling in Normal’s website: Dark Days Challenge. This light and healthful cabbage stew offers an appetizing antidote to holiday indulgences. Redolent of spruce needles from [...]
Pear and Walnut Bread Pudding
Posted in Bread pudding, Pears, Waste Not Want Not on December 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’m happy when I convert humble scraps into gut-lovin’ glory. And happier when it pleases someone else. A perfect balance of frugality and craving. That’s bread pudding in our household. I’ve cleaned out the pantry and my mate thinks I have made a genius dessert. Way cool, as the kids say. I’ve already posted a [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Roast Chicken Stock, Escarole and Lettuce Soup
Posted in Chicken, Soup, Waste Not Want Not, tagged Lettuce soup, Stock from roast chicken on November 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Every time I roast a chicken, I make stock from the carcass, stripping the bones of the last shreds of meat before, and then again after, the stock is cooked. You can also make good stock from a rotisserie chicken. It’s deeper and more flavorful than stock made from a raw chicken, but probably a [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Braised Fennel, Tomato-Orange Sauce, and Manicotti with Fennel Frond Pesto
Posted in Fennel, Pasta, Pesto, Tomato, Waste Not Want Not, tagged fennel frond pesto, pasta with tomatos and fennel, tomato-orange-fennel sauce on October 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
After a weekend of canning tomatoes, including a lovely Provençale-style tomato sauce with orange and rosemary, I had a little leftover sauce, a leftover half of an orange (precious at this time of year) and a large (3-foot-long) bulb of Florence fennel with stalks and fronds intact, courtesy of our CSA farm. I hadn’t figured [...]
Waste Not Want Not: Carrot and Celeriac Roots and Greens as Puree and/or Soup
Posted in Carrots, Celery and celeriac, Soup, Waste Not Want Not, tagged carrot green pesto, Cooking carrot greens, cooking celeriac greens on October 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
When the first fresh carrots and celeriac show up at our CSA or Farmers’ Market, the greens are young and tender and can be used as herbs or combined into purees and soups. The carrot greens can also be turned into pesto. Last year, I unwittingly created a family joke when I served carrot greens [...]
