Pfannekuchen (yay!) and waste (boo!)
Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. Why do I do this? Because in March of 2008, I finally got fed up with the amount of food I was wasting, and I thought that showing my waste to other people would motivate me to use up my food instead of wasting it. Because this often embarrassing practice was so helpful for me, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
This week I wasted some celery, a few grilled veggies, and sadly, some leftover roast pork. It was a pre-marinated pork roast, which I never buy, and now I remember why: we don't really like pork.
Maybe if we had pastured fresh-from-the-farm pork, it'd be different, but as it stands, we're just really not big fans.
Duly noted, won't do that again.
On a happier note, I used up two kind of mushy apples by making some Apple Pfannekuchen.
I didn't have quite enough apples for the last pfannekuchen, so I baked it without fruit and then sprinkled some raspberries on top. It was totally delicious.
FYI, baking raspberries into the pfannekuchen doesn't work because they give off too much liquid (I know because I've tried it before!)
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How did you do this week?
A great way to use up apples. The picture makes me hungry. We lost a few strawberries, but the critters have been enjoying them.
I haven't participated in FWF for months, but I'm back! Plus, I'm back in the best way, with a no-waste week!! WOOT!!
Like Frugal(er) I've not participated for ages either, but we're gearing up for this year's zero waste week and, as we're focusing on reducing food waste, I guess I need to get better habits back in place.
Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing that yummy apple recipes. We now have chickens who delight us with their eggs, so this recipe is going to be made for dinner this evening 🙂 What's the difference between this and a clafoutis?
I've not made a clafouti before, but I believe they're less puffy than a pfannakuchen or a dutch baby.
Welcome back!
Claufoutis is very pancakey and bakes up "solid" by which I mean it doesn't collapse when you take it out of the oven. A Dutch Baby is closer to the popover end of the spectrum, puffing up in the oven and collapsing as it cools.
BTW, Claufoutis is one of my favorite desserts when I have company over. Most of the work can be done hours in advance (cutting fruit, making the batter in the blender), assembled at the last minute (put fruit in pan, whir the batter, pour batter in pan), and baked while we eat dinner (it takes 40 min, which is usually about when my guests are ready for dessert).
Thanks Both and thanks for the explanation, William - the apple Pfannekuchen was fab, Kristen!
Those desserts look delicious. Good save on the softening fruit.
For us, well . . . I made a bit of a blunder in calculating how much yogurt would fit into my cooler/incubator. But I came up with a creative solution that saved it all! It's on my blog today.
Yummy Yummy Yummy! Nice pudding!
I do have food waste (boo), but no photo. Decided to do a recap on my No Waste Tastes Great Friday routine, as I haven't updated how I do it for almost 18 months now. And as with everything in life, there have been some changes.
(food-waste-confession - limp bagged salad and mouldy pittas... not the best week!).
I expected a lot of waste, and I got it. Another way of looking at it is, the compost pile is well fed today.
1) Expected: Watermelon. It's the eternal choice of spending less money to buy too much watermelon (a whole seeded one, as my store doesn't sell half melons), or spending more money to buy less melon (a whole seedless one, or cut up chunks). So I buy whichever will be tastiest. Last week the tasiest was a whole seeded.
2) Expected: ?? not sure what to call it. I am a Cooks Illustrated home test cook and the last recipe - a pre-tomato pasta sauce that braised beef round roast in a quart of onion & carrot - didn't work out at all. I ate the beef but couldn't find something decent to do with the braise. It didn't even make decent cream of veg soup.
3) Unexpected: a cuke went fuzzy while I was away this weekend.
William B - do you make smoothies? I've never tried this, but I've heard that melons are actually amazing in smoothies, so next time you could freeze some watermelon chunks for smoothies. I'd love to try this:
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/05/watermelon-frosty-or-margarita.html
I make a lot of smoothies, thank you, but watermelon is too wet for my preferences. I could experiment making popsicles (which are just frozen smoothies) but not this time, as I was goin away for a long weekend.
What about a granita kind of thing? Like watermelon ice. I've never made such a thing, but it sounds delicious in my head!
My problem is that as a couponer I like to save some money. When it comes to watermelon I see whole watermelons for $3.99, but a quarter watermelon for $2.50 to $3. Half Watermelon seems to be $3 something also. So it makes the most sense in some way to buy the whole watermelon, but my son is about the only one in the household to eat it. I know he can eat a 1/2 in no time at all, but I think a whole would be a bit much for him. But buying a half just seems like such a waste of money to me. Did buy him a quarter once so far this summer. What can one do with frozen watermelon, other than a smoothie? Also I am not sure I can keep a whole watermelon in my refrigerator, as that is huge.
William B - I have always enjoyed your comments, but this one really threw me: "I am a Cooks Illustrated home test cook". Oh, please sir, tell us more!!!
At the America's Test Kitchen site - http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/ - they had a spot where you could volunteer to test recipes before they're published in CI. No screening method, no qualifications required, just sign up. Every now and then
(what happened here??)
Every now and then I'll get an email with a recipe to test. If I make it, I fill out a short survey on the experience. I make the recipe on CI's schedule, in my kitchen, out of my own pocket. It's a fantastic scam for CI, if you ask me. But it's also a lot of fun.
Hi Kristen,
I remember a few years ago you did a food waste post while on vacation. Did you also do a vacation menu plan? I seem to remember one but can't find it using the search function. We are going on our first week long vacation and I wanted to try cooking on this trip to save money. Thanks.
I looked and couldn't find any either! But these two posts have some vacation meal ideas in them:
https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2008/10/doing-vacation-frugally/
https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/vacationing-on-a-budget/
Thanks!
I love hearing about how you rescued almost wasted food!
Not a great couple of weeks for me. But we have now picked up from our CSA three times and haven't wasted a lot. Some of these ingredients, I am just not familiar with and have some trouble finding ways we like them. Kale has been the main challenge. None of us liked the kale chips at all, so they went to waste. The pasta dish with Kale my hubby and son liked, but I wasn't so fond of. Then we received kale a second time from the CSA and the second pasta dish I did like, but have no idea what the difference was. The kale wasn't bitter this time.
So we wasted some broccoli rabe and lettuce, when I was sick and not up to cooking. Wasted about a 1/4 cup rice. I usually use rice in my taco soup or for burritos, but didn't manage to do so. Yes, I know I can freeze rice, but had every intention of using it, then when I went to use it, I sniffed and it just smelled bad. I know there was a bit more, but can't remember what it was.
Overall, though the CSA is working out well, and we aren't wasting much. As long as I don't get sick and don't pine for recipes that don't use the CSA ingredients too much, we seem to be fine. The Swiss chard, turnips, and other stuff hasn't proved as much of a challenge as the kale. Let me know if you have any farmer's market recipes for what we are receiving or what we will receive as the season goes on. This CSA thing is a learning experience!
You can de-bitter the kale by parboiling it in salted water for 2-3 minutes before cooking it. I love making a sweet-potato and kale hash topped with eggs for a big breakfast. Tear the kale into smallish pieces. Parboil and drain the kale, squeeze it lightly or let it set in a collander to drain most of the water without crushing it. Dice some sweet potato (winter squash works ok too), sautee with the parboiled kale, pepper and spice to taste. Toss in some shredded cheese if that's your fancy. Top with poached or fried eggs and enjoy the beautiful bright green, orange, and yellow delight 🙂
Sounds really good actually. We do like sweet potatoes here and I like egg dishes. 🙂 May have to try that soon.
I like kale in bean soups. Chop it up and add when you add the beans to cook - it's a tough leaf that benefits from long cooking.
Cooks Illustrated reported that raw kale is more tender if you massage it. Cut it up, then squish it between your fingertips for several minutes. Full disclosure: I haven't done this and can't speak to the results.
Found me some hairy cherries. Ever tried one? Me neither.
Linking up:
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/food-waste-friday-62113/
I'm a single 100 lb gal. I'm not a big eater. I try to salvage food then end up not wanting to eat it anyway. So I end up wasting the food plus energy (electricity) and water during preparation and clean up. So if I would have gotten rid of the food to begin with, the result would have been greener. I used to have a single neighbor who would eat all my leftover soups, chilis, stews, ribs, etc. Wish he was still around! LOL My freezer is bulging with good intentions that usually end up in there for 6 months or more then gets tossed. I think I should shop each day and just buy what I need for that day. I don't really like leftovers. At one point I had a husband and a daughter. Now it's just me and it's hard to get into the habit of prepping small quantities. Kind of hard to make vegetable soup for one without leftovers. Enough of my rambling. I do manage to save my herbs, though. I separate half for the fridge and dry the other half so there's no waste. I don't waste produce much either. It's just the prepared leftovers and cooked meats that I have a problem with. Thanks for the postings and ideas!
I don't understand what you're trying to say? How are you wasting the food plus energy and water during preparation? If you already made it, then it's already there and you are only saving food and energy by eating what you have already made and not making anything else.
As for the soup, have you tried freezing it? I always make double batches of soup with the intent to freeze the extra for later in single serving portions. I don't consider them "left overs" because I actually freeze before I eat. I find cook meats also freeze well.