inspiration

Inspiration tends to come in waves for me. Right now, I'm feeling re-motivated to strive toward a lower-footprint lifestyle. For the environment, for peace of mind, for my family's financial "bottom line", for the kids' future...there are endless reasons abstract and concrete, selfish and altruistic.

Here are three blogs whose archives yield a wealth of ideas and inspiration.

http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/

http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/

http://notbuyinganything.blogspot.com/

This week's mini-mission: Eat all the fresh locally-grown, organic vegetables in my fridge before they become food for the chickens.

We belong to a wonderful CSA, a farm-share. The boys think it sounds conceited when I say my farm, but I think of it that way, and I don't think the farmers would mind. It is a beautiful spot tucked into the Coast Range about 45 minutes from town. Once a week, they deliver boxes of veggies picked that morning to drop-off sites on members' front porches.

Every week we pick up a gorgeous box packed with vegetables, which we carry home in cloth bags and eat for the week. However, the things that are "easy" or that we would tend to buy anyway (like carrots, salads, and spinach) go quickly, which vegetables we are not quite as crazy about or less sure how to cook tend to linger (think fennel root, spicy radishes, and eggplant).

Minou's solution to our Thursday bounty of produce is to make soup, and it is a good one. However, some things just don't lend themselves to it (again, fennel root, spicy radishes, eggplant...)

I can't let this bounty go to waste. I'll let you know how it goes.

What is inspiring you these days?

leftovers

How do you feel about leftovers?
I suppose it depends what they are, but in principle I welcome the challenge of using them in tasty ways.
This is contrast to Minou, who would prefer to cook just enough and make something fresh nightly.
Which doesn't always work...

...leaving me with the minor irritation of multiple small, ignored pots and jars of this-and-that in the fridge.
I think that for Minou eating leftovers implies something--want, poverty, not having enough to cook more.
Whereas I feel that it is an appropriate, frugal, responsible thing to do. Not wasting. Making something good.

Maybe I'm turning into my mother?
She used to make me laugh, as a young adult, with invitations offered to "Come over and help me eat XYZ before it goes bad!" Ummm...no thank you! It's all in the presentation.

Tonight's dinner: the fridge was feeling really full, so I did some rummaging around to see what I could consolidate and make for dinner. I found:

• leftover orzo pasta that I sauteed with onion, garlic, red bell pepper and plum tomatoes
• a bit of parmesan to put on the pasta
• vegetarian lasagna (I do like lasagna, but even I am getting tired of it after 4 days--I made a very large pan of it, forgetting that P'tit Minou Un does not care for ricotta)
• plain cooked lasagna noodles (maybe I will bake with bechamel sauce and cheese tomorrow)
• jicama and carrots (these weren't really leftovers, but were tucked away in a crisper corner)
• vegetable soup
• two pounds of fresh tempeh, which I crumbled and marinated to make into "soysage" tomorrow
• some cooked garbanzos in vinaigrette that I will take for lunch tomorrow
• leftover chocolate chip muffin dough (in a big bowl) that I baked in cake format
• leftover whipped cream (from Minou's last cake) that we will eat with it

Good things!

I also sadly found some soup (from the last batch) that needed to be tossed. It was languishing in an opaque yogurt container, its true nature disguised. 

Do you have any interesting leftovers in your fridge? Would you prefer to toss them or eat them?

-

June Use It Up Challenge: Kitchen

While the boys are gone, I decided that this would be a perfect time for a Use-It-Up Challenge...in the kitchen. (When they are here, I still try to use food efficiently and avoid waste, but feel a certain amount of pressure to have foods on hand that they find appetizing). So what is currently IN my kitchen, waiting to be used up eaten? So glad you asked.

First, I somehow have a fridge that is chock-full of vegetables. I'm not sure how it happened (party preparations, maybe), but there is a bag with 6 red bell peppers and another with 6 green bell peppers, as well as organic salad mix, celery, and a beautiful bunch of baby beets from the farmer's market. So hurray for having healthy fresh veggies! As fruit goes, I'm a litle more limited. There are still 3 bananas in the kitchen and several bags of frozen strawberries from last year. Strawberry season is upon us now, but it's late due to the very cold and rainy spring. I think I may concentrate on blueberries for our freezer stock this year anyway. So using up those berries in smoothies before buying more fruit is a reasonable thing to do, also clearing the way for blueberry season in July. The freezer also has a 2-lb block of cheese that I will save for when the boys return.

In the can/packaged food cupboard, pickings are slimmer. There are 6 cans of black olives, 2 of wild salmon, 1 of marionberry jam, 6 of mandarin oranges, and 2 of vegetarian refried beans. Also a jar of pasta sauce and some leftover pasta shells.

In the grain area, there is LOTS of brown rice, raisins, rice krispy cereal, several cups of quinoa, both white and whole wheat flour and some brown sugar and oatmeal. I also recently bought some Grape-Nuts, a whole grain cereal. And in the interest of more vegetarian protein, a small bag of almonds and a couple of pounds of green lentils.

Little extras: kalamata olives, baking yeast, artichoke hearts, vanilla ice cream (not the good kind, luckily for me and my LDL level--I already polished off the tastier Rice Dream), homemade tomato soup, corn tortillas, parmesan cheese, jam, and Smart Balance margarine. Oh, and an ongoing, ever-replenishing stock of wonderful fresh eggs from the Ladies. And Earl Grey tea, green tea, Pero, and a tiny amount of coffee.

So what will I buy? I will buy milk and yogurt (almost out), maybe more fruit. I will try my darndest not to buy any more food until the cupboards, freezer and fridge are mostly empty, while still eating a healthy and balanced diet (coffee may be where this resolution breaks down).

Our usual food budget for a family of 4 is $400. Some months we go over, some under. Most of the time, with planning, it's enough (not enough to add in much wine, licorice or chocolate, though). I'm not used to the dynamics of purchasing and cooking for 1 person, and I can see how it would be easier to accidentally waste food while making the transition. I'm hoping that I can keep myself (after this Use It Up Challenge is over) to $100 per month, or even less, for my own food.

And guess what else is in my cupboard, leftover from the party? Several bottles of good wine, 8 cans of diet cola, and at least 12 bottles of stout. A terrible hardship if it has to be used up, too....at least the diet cola.