I said NO waste, NO waste!

I really hate wasting food. I make a conscience effort to use everything I have before it spoils. Inevitably there are times where I have to throw something away, which really upsets me because I feel like an irresponsible consumer. I knew subscribing to The Produce Box meant that I would have to be very due diligent in making sure that all the produce was used in some capacity before it spoiled. This was my first box of local and fresh produce, and I am proud to report I have used almost every item- I still have two sweet potatoes left. I thought about blogging on each dish I made, but I really didn't think everything I made deserved its own entry. So instead I will show you briefly the dishes I made using the remaining produce from our box: kale, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

A bit of advice to those with fresh produce that needs using: try indexing- go to your cookbooks and look up the ingredient in the index, typically this will show you several different recipes using that ingredient. By indexing I was able to find a recipe that used all of my kale, The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop. I was excited to try Bishop’s Kale and White Bean Soup, since I haven’t made a thing from this book since receiving it for Christmas. 

Kale and White Bean Soup

Indexing didn't prove to be very helpful when it came to using the remaining cucumbers and tomatoes. I was looking to use the cucumbers and tomatoes in something refreshing. I didn't want to make your typical garden salad or pasta salad, I've done that before. Plus neither of those really provides that refreshing taste I was craving. I searched the interwebs for some help in what to make and finally found a recipe that had everything I was looking for, Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Mint. Fresh mint makes every dish refreshing and summerish! 

Fresh Mint from the Herb Garden

Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Mint

Overall I was very happy with myself for using almost all my produce. I plan on using the remaining sweet potatoes this week- I just need to decide what to cook!

Great Food, Great Weather, Great Company!

With so much information at our fingertips either on the web or in cookbooks, there is no reason to let food go to waste. I challenge you to make every effort to use your food before it spoils. You never know what kind of recipe you can find for leftover horseradish, right?

If you really do have left over horseradish to use, try Susan Stamberg's Cranberry Relish, click here for the recipe.