Beneath our ever-so long winter, spring is finally emerging with a glimpse of sunshine and sporadic warm breezes. One of my favorite things about spring is the way it will tease your senses just enough towards the end of winter to ignite motivation and inspiration for renewal. Most years on one of these first spring days, I get an itch to overhaul the house and Spring Clean-my favorite room to start with is the kitchen. I start by unloading my refrigerator and then the pantry. My purpose is to clean and sanitize, but also take an inventory of where the winter has lead my shopping habits. I am pleased that the winter has not placed too many processed carb-filled snacks in my cupboards, but I am saddened that my refrigerator unloaded a number of inedible items that I would have to throw out. From here I made a promise to myself, my family, and the future of our Earth to find healthy ways to utilize those end of the moment ingredients that always end up in the back of the refrigerator or cupboard.
Each year in the United States, about 40% of our food goes uneaten and is thrown away. This equals about 20 pounds of food per person each month. Not only are we wasting food that could feed others, but we are contributing to about 25% of the methane emissions to our atmosphere when we throw food into the landfill. In addition to that, we are personally not helping our budgets as we basically throw our hard earned money in the trash as well. All of the reasons combined give me ammunition to change my shopping and cooking habits and finally get around to starting a compost site in our backyard.
I consider the bits and pieces I throw away each week, originally I think it seems like a small morsels, but now I see how it adds up to quite a significant amount of food. As your family gets started on this path, make a list for one week of every bit of food your family throws away in the garbage. This will help give you an overall visual of the amount; you can also roughly cost out the prices and see what your wallet gave up as well. This will aid you in figuring out where to purchase less, and what type of recipes you can look for to help use up your forgotten leftovers.
Remnants of produce items are one of the key items left behind in my refrigerator. There are a handful of greens or half an onion or pepper that somehow made their way to the bottom of the drawer. I am not alone in this as fresh produce is the number one wasted food item in our society. Well here to fix this problem is the mighty frittata.
This Farm House Frittata will make all those ingredients from the depths of your fridge into a delicious gourmet treat. Tucked away into my scrumptious frittata is a large handful of spinach, just slightly wrinkled grape tomatoes (not quite right for a salad, but still ok for cooking), a few chopped chives, garlic, the rest of an onion from a previous recipe, and a cup full of roasted potatoes from a couple nights before. All of this is sautéed together, caramelized over with whipped eggs, and then topped with a shaving of Robusto Cheddar Cheese that is frequently on hand in our refrigerator. This is a great way to help your family eat vegetables and is extremely quick to make.
I also desperately need to use up the citrus fruits sitting longer in the drawer than I would like. I decide it is probably best to marry some fresh spring flavors with our citrus fruit. This vibrant beet salad utilizes grapefruit and fresh mint to awaken your pallet. You can also turn oranges into a beautiful salsa that is great on fish, or tossed with cooked quinoa to make a salad for lunch.
Citrus Salsa
- 2 Oranges, peeled, diced
- 1 Red Pepper, diced
- ½ Cup Parsley, diced
- 1 Avocado, diced
- 1 Lime- Zested and Juiced
- 2 Teaspoons Capers, drained
- 2 cups Cooked Quinoa
- Fresh Greens-Spinach, Kale, Arugula, your choice
Instructions:
- Toss together oranges, red pepper, parsley, avocado, lime juice and zest, and quinoa.
- Toss with greens for a salad, or layer in a jar as a packed lunch item.
On to the pantry where I found jars and bags filled with tiny bits of grains and dried fruits from previously planned out recipes. For this dilemma I have found two recipes that my family will love and uses the pantry misfits. For the first one I can use my leftover pieces of dried fruits, a few nuts, a spoonful of amaranth, rye flakes, and rolled oats to create granola muesli that I can turn into these warm Granola and Applesauce Morning muffins. I also find a half filled jar of cornmeal, once used to make cornbread, but it is not my favorite bread to eat, so it too has been left behind. Luckily I find this great recipe to make your own pancake mix. This is fantastic as I can use my cornmeal, purchase many of the ingredients in bulk (where I fill my own jars at the store), and I can turn this into a sweet or savory meal for my family. When I am doing a freezer clean out I can simmer the half bags of frozen fruit together to make delicious compote for breakfast pancakes. For another quick dinner I can stir in a handful of cooked frozen shrimp to the batter, then stack these pancakes with garlic sautéed greens, sliced tomatoes, and a drizzle of yogurt.
As we move forward and diligently try to use up our leftovers, here are a few more tips to help us stay inspired, eat wonderful food, and waste less.
- Try to utilize older ingredients with newer purchased ingredients. This will keep your taste buds happy, and not getting board.
- Create a leftover meal night- Tuesday or Wednesday usually works well as we are tired from our week, and probably have soon to be expired leftovers from our weekend cooking and entertaining.
- Keep a list of freezer and pantry items stored outside of your kitchen. Basement pantries and garage deep freezers are storage for easily forgotten foods.
- Consume as much of your produce as you can. Sauté the stems and leaves from your greens. Keep onion peels and fresh produce scraps to make your own vegetable stock.
- Frequently clean out the produce drawer, so you do not give produce a chance to become inedible.
- Compost whatever is left from your produce that is not consumable.
- This is a great source for composting information: Composting Basics
- Use recipe website like Whole Foods Market and Love Food Hate Waste to type in ingredients and get recipe ideas.
In April we celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, and I hope that this will inspire you to consider all that we are capable of giving back to our earth and our loved ones through the foods we purchase, cook, and consume. All of the tiny improvements we strive for can make a huge impact.
Enjoy and Celebrate your Earth this Month!
With “A Kitchen Inspired” we will share with you the current and up and coming ingredients, products and cooking methods that inspire our team members, chefs and the kitchen at Whole Foods Market Dublin.
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com, NASDAQ: WFM), is the leading natural and organic food retailer. As America’s first national certified organic grocer, Whole Foods Market was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” by Health magazine. The company’s motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”™ captures its mission to ensure customer satisfaction and health, Team Member excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement.
All facts and information about our food waste in the United States came from the Natural Resources Defense Council website.
