Before you throw it out...

Throwing food out should not be an option. Part of leading a truly thankful life is appreciating what we have and using it to its full potential. Just because the apples are too soft to eat or the bread is a bit stale doesn't mean they go in the garbage or compost. Here are a few things we do around the McGrath household to avoid trashing something:

1. Bananas

- this one is obvoius, BANANA BREAD or BANANA MUFFINS! Duh. We will often pick up 50% off organic bananas that are on their last leg just to make a few loafs of our favorite snack/breakfast. If bananas have managed to get a little too ripe (doesn't happen very often around here) we also add them to shakes (I'll get to shakes in a minute). Banana bread and muffins freeze VERY well, just thaw them overnight at room temperature before you want to eat them.

My all-time favorite Banana Bread recipe, adapted from Cat Can Cook:

Banana Bread

3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed

1/2 cup white sugar

1 slightly beaten egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and butter together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Add dry ingredients to wet. I line my bread pan with parchment paper, but you can grease it with butter if you prefer. Bake @ 350F for one hour.

You can also make 12 muffins with this recipe, just lower your cooking time to 20 minutes.

* Have some extra carrots drying out? Shred them and add it to the bread/muffin mix. You may want to add 1/2 cup applesauce or an extra banana to balance out some of the moisture the carrots will suck out!*

2. Apples

- Apples can go soft before you know it, especially in the winter when they've been sitting in a barn or warehouse for months already. Making applesauce is not only delicious, but it's a great way to make sure you know exactly what's in your sauce! I never add sugar, but if you'd like to put in a bit of honey or brown sugar it's totally your choice. What I really LOVE about making applesauce is keeping the skins on. The skins of fruits and vegetables contain such a high amount of their nutrition that it pains me to not use them. I simply core and slice the apples, add a small amount of water, and cook until soft. Once the apples are good and soft I throw it in the blender to ensure there are no big pieces of skin and it's good to go! If you have a lot of apples to cook, consider canning some of the sauce you won't be eating within a week or two. What you plan on eating should be refrigerated. Do you hate applesauce? Do your kids? They might not notice that you've replaced half of the sugar in your cookies with applesauce, or that you've sweetened their oatmeal in the morning with a generous dose. There are lots of ways to eat applesauce that doesn't include eating it straight with a spoon.

You can add all sorts of other fruit to applesauce. Ripe peaches, berries, even frozen fruit can be added at the cooking stage to add a bit of kick.

3. Vegetables

- If you notice your veggies are starting to turn, there are a few things you can do

- Steam and freeze. You want to steam most veggies before freezing so it means when you defrost them you have to cook them in some way.

- Grill and save. If your zuchinni, eggplant, peppers are starting to get soft, just throw them on the George Foreman or the barbecue and grill them for 20 minutes and put them back in the fridge. It will help them last a few more days and since they're already cooked and ready to eat you could simply throw them in the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich and have a deluxe lunch or light dinner.

- VEGGIE SHAKE. Surprisingly, veggie shakes are a hit with the old and young alike. The kids love the bright green of spinach and the adults love the nutrition of raw fruit and vegetables. If you notice your spinach is getting soft (not wet and dark) or you have a few carrots or pieces of celery starting to dry out, they are really easily added to these quick and healthy shakes. I sweeten mine with an apple or two and a banana or two (depending on the batch size I'm making), If you're just making it for yourself or family members, stick a straw into the blender jug and give it a quick taste before pouring everyone a glass - you may find you want to adjust the taste a little depending on what state your veggies or fruit was in. A good handful of ice is needed, or if you've frozen a few bananas that were turning they work well to cool the beverage to more of a frozen treat.

- Don't ever throw out veggies. You can make soup stock, soup, pizza, pasta sauce, cottage pie, samosas, ANYTHING - just cook them and use them goshdarnit.

4. Bread

- Home made croutons are simple and delicious. Cube the bread into whatever size of crouton you'd like and toss in a bit of olive oil and herbs (I like dill and garlic). Throw in your toaster oven on low (250-300) for however long it takes them to dry out (usually an hour) and you've got delicious croutons that aren't loaded with salt.

- Breadcrumbs are expensive considering they are CRUMBS! Sometimes you want to make pickle spears, or breaded chicken and because breadcrumbs don't really go bad you can make them in advance and save them for a few months. Just toast the bread, throw in a food processor and save in an airtight container.

- Bagels that are going stale can be sliced thinly, and just like the croutons - tossed in a bit of olive oil and herbs, baked low until they dry and used instead of chips. Bagel chips are delicious with homemade hummus.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE so that you use it before it goes bad. Finding a bunch of $4.00 asparagus rotting and limp at the back of your veggie drawer should hurt - you just threw money away! Plan on using your fresh food first, and saving the food that will last until the end of your shopping week. Not throwing food away is the simplest and most obvious way of saving money - start getting creative with your not-so-fresh food and you will be amazed at how much life you can get out of something you thought was garbage!

Pretzels, Bread and Stuffed Bread - Oh my!

Today was a bake day. I gave myself to the kitchen for a few hours and will have days (and more) of food to show for it. I can't say exactly how long it took because I had to break up a few fights between my two youngest, but the baby to sleep, do the dishes a few times, etc. Including all of those things, it took 4 hours from start to finish - but those hours weren't all spent in the kitchen. I pay my own utilities, so to cut down on energy costs I bake as little as possible - cramming as many things into one session as I can. I often freeze things soon after they've cooled so when they're defrosted they taste as fresh as the day you made them.

Please note I couldn't even take a picture without Sol grabbing a pretzel!

First on the list:

Soft Pretzels

12 big soft pretzels

2 tbsp Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp softened butter or softened margarine
2 cup warm water

5 1/2 cups flour

Coarse Salt to sprinkle on Pretzels before baking
5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water

Preheat oven to 475 F

Mix sugar and salt with warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let proof for about 5 minutes. Add butter and two cups of flour, mix well, and let it bubble again (another 5-10 minutes).

Add remaining flour one cup at a time until dough pulls from the bowl. Turn dough onto floured work surface and knead. Dough should be moist but not sticky.

Allow dough to rise to about double (typically 1 hour)

When dough is risen enough, punch down. Begin to boil water and add baking soda only once the water has boiled. Knead dough a few times, then divide into 12 even sized pieces. If you'd like to make smaller pretzels just keep an eye on them as they bake.

Roll pieces into long ropes (anywhere from 1 - 2 cm thick) and watch video on bottom of page to see how to shape them. Place them into boiling water-baking soda mixture one or two at a time.

Let the pretzels boil for 1 minute, then flip them over with a slotted spoon and boil on the other side for another minute.

Fish them out of the water, let them drip off and place them on cookie sheet. Your cookie sheet needs to be greased or have parchment paper.

Sprinkle the pretzels with rock salt while they are still wet from being boiled.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the pretzels are golden brown.

Bread

While my dough was rising for the pretzels, I began to get a batch of sandwich bread going. I'm not going to share the recipe I used, because I used specialty bread flour and most people bake with all purpose. There are a TONNE of bread recipes online, but I particularly like a recipe from King Arthur Flour website. It's called "The easiest loaf of bread you'll ever bake"

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/the-easiest-loaf-of-bread-youll-ever-bake-recipe

It's rustic looking and beautiful like a baguette. I'll make a few loaves soon and post the pictures.

So, I made three loaves of sandwich bread for the kids lunches. It took no more work than making one loaf, and since bread typically takes an hour to rise and another hour to rise in the loaf pan - the timing will work out perfectly. When my pretzels are done baking I can turn the oven down for the bread and it will be ready to go in. After they've cooled, I'll keep one in the bread box and the other two will go straight to the freezer for when we need them next.

Ever get stuck for lunch ideas? Stuffed bread is AMAZINGLY delicious and quite simple to make. You can substitute the meat in this recipe with grilled vegetables if you prefer, any way you change it - it usually turns out delectable.

This recipe is an adaptation of the "All-American Ham and Cheese Roll" from King Arthur Flour

Stuffed Bread

Crust
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp corn starch
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tsp traditional Italian herbs (oregano, parsley, whatever you'd like. I used the Tapinade mix from Epicure)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or quick yeast
1 cup water (you may need more depending on weather)

Filling
thin-sliced deli meat

thin-sliced cheese

Butter

Mustard

I haven't specified amounts for the filling, because this is entirely to taste. I used enough meat to cover the dough, and only enough cheese to cover one "fold". Today I had specialty turkey (onion and sage flavored) that I bought 50% off and froze. You can use more if you're not on such a tight budget, or even replace the meat with roasted peppers, zuchinni, eggplant, etc. Just be sure to keep the veggies to one layer and not to pile them on top of eachother.

To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients (wet ingredients last), and knead them together until you've made a soft, smooth dough. This is where you may find you need an extra tablespoon or so of water. Allow the dough to rise, covered with a damp cloth or dishtowel, for 1 hour.

Roll the dough into a rectangle until it is roughly 1cm thick. Brush one third with soft or melted butter. Brush all over with mustard, leaving a 1" mustard-free zone all around the edge. Lay your meat (or veggies) out in a single layer across the dough, again leaving a 1" border. If using veggies, you might want to substitute the mustard for hummus (see Hummus recipe). Add the cheese to one third of the dough.

Starting with a long edge, roll the dough into an log. Pinch the long seam closed (or as close to "closed" as you can get) then fold the ends over and pinch them closed too. Curve the log into a horseshoe shape on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Cover the sheet, and allow the roll to rise for 1 to 2 hours; it should look puffy, though not doubled. I only let mine rise for an hour today, because the oven was ready for it and I had a doc appointment coming up.

Score the roll crosswise (you may want to sharpen your knife first), about ½" deep, at 3" to 4" intervals along its length. Bake the roll in a preheated 375°F oven for 35 minutes, until it's golden brown, tenting it lightly with foil if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm, or at room temperature.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings.