So it turns out that I’m not the best blogger. I have plenty to talk about these days, but I would much rather spend my few extra minutes each day doing something productive in the kitchen rather than writing about what I’ve been doing in the kitchen. Recently, I’ve been busy freezing asparagus and rhubarb, baking bread, turning soft, overripe fruit into jam, and making my very own apple pectin to use in jams and jellies later in the harvest season. But I’m taking a forced break from all of that thanks to an overworked back after pulling too many weeds.
What I’ve been training my focus on for the last month or so is finding ways to utilize the leftovers, both prepared dishes and extra raw ingredients. A lot of food goes through our kitchen at home and especially at each of the three churches. It would be easy to let food spoil, and I am tempted on a daily basis to simply throw out the food that is taking up precious space in my refrigerator and that I do not know what to do with (Just eating it is the simple solution that I cannot seem to accomplish). But the part of me that is just like my mother thinks, “I can use that…somehow…someday…” I have that part of me to thank for my drive to learn about good stewardship of food and food preservation. Also, thanks to some incredible inspiration from my favorite food bloggers, Kate at the Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, Marisa at Food in Jars, Dana and Joel at Well Preserved, and several others, I now know how to use unfamiliar ingredients in delicious dishes, creatively preserve the bountiful harvest that many of our church members share with us, and utilize every part of the fruit and vegetable (apple cores and strawberry hulls included).
First of all, I have to say I am extremely grateful for the freezer. I can easily put away raw fruits and vegetables to cook later, but I can also throw the extra brown rice or enchilada filling into a ziploc bag to quickly heat up for another meal on down the road. When in doubt, throw it in the freezer! This saves Jeffrey and me from eating the same leftovers day after day and from allowing food to spoil in our refrigerator before we can eat it all.
But what about all of the broccoli stalks, carrot peels, onion skins, and strawberry hulls that are an inevitable result of the food preparation process? Are they assumed an unavoidable loss in the kitchen? Is their only hope for an honorable (and useful) spot in the compost pile? The answer, my friends, is no.
Here are some of the ways I try to utilize all parts of my raw ingredients:
- Vegetable stock can be made from your kitchen leftovers with little effort. I collect and freeze all of my raw vegetable scraps (onion skins, celery trimmings, carrot trimmings and peels, etc.) in a gallon ziplock bag until it is full. Then I make homemade vegetable stock! (I use the linked recipe for a guideline. I use different ingredients and different amounts of those ingredients each time, but it always turns out delicious!)
- Apple cores and peels can be turned into pectin for jam- and jelly-making or apple cider vinegar. These can also be collected and frozen until ready to use.
- ANY fruit scraps (even bruised and overripe fruit) can be fermented into fruity vinegar in about a month! I recently finished a strawberry vinegar and a pineapple vinegar, and they took little effort and basically no cash.
- Citrus peels can be used in more ways than I can imagine. See LocalKitchen’s post to read all about it.
- My new favorite way to use up quickly ripening fruit is making a small batch (usually a pint or less) of jam. Food in Jars (see above) is an excellent resource for small-batch recipes, and Kate has written an incredibly helpful post on reducing canning recipes so that they are still safe.
- Broccoli stalks can be grated to make a delicious and nutritious variety of slaws or can be cooked down and blended into a flavorful and (again) nutritious base for a variety of broccoli soups. You can find the recipe for the base and a couple of soups at the bottom of this post.
- Composting is always a viable option for your kitchen scraps. But before you throw your scraps into the compost pile, think about (or Google) the possibilities that item has for another application in the kitchen. You might be surprised how far your food will go.
Now what does this have to do with Jesus or the Christian community? Honestly, not much. But in my own community context, I am attempting to educate folks on the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables and eating fewer processed foods. Many will claim that buying fresh produce is more expensive than buying pre-prepared and frozen meals, which is sometimes true. However, if I can teach folks how to cook delicious meals with fresh vegetables and fruits and then how to put the scraps that many would throw away to good use (see the list above), then folks will find abundance where many see only a one time use for a raw ingredient.
In this mindset of abundance, I am reminded of the miracles that Jesus performed in which there were thousands of hungry people and only a few fish and loaves of bread to feed them all (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:32-39, Mark 6:31-44, Mark 8:1-9, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:5-15). But in the end, all the people were fed and satisfied, and there were baskets of food leftover! God provided. When I finish preparing a meal at one of the churches, I am oftentimes left with scraps that can be transformed into something useful and delicious for our next meal. God still provides. I know that as I continue to learn and grow as a servant of Christ and a kitchen ministry coordinator I will learn more efficient, creative, and faithful methods of stewardship, preparation, and preservation. God will provide.
My own journey to use every little ingredient for what it’s worth has been a slow one. I started with vegetable broth and gradually added those projects that you saw listed above. And I still don’t have it all down. I know there is more that I can do and less that I have to toss. I hope this post serves as a challenge for you–not for you to magically turn into a waste-free machine but to find little ways to turn less into more, scarcity into abundance. God will provide, my friends, and it is our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s gifts.
Broccoli Soup Base
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- ¾ to 1 pound broccoli stems–trimmed, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups water
- 2 carrots, chopped
In a large pot set over medium heat, add the olive oil, broccoli stems, and onion. Cook, stirring often, until the broccoli is tender and the onion is soft, about 10 minutes (reduce the heat if the vegetables begin to brown).
To the pot, add the vegetable broth and water. Simmer for 15 minutes. Allow the base to cool. Puree and add additions for soup or store for later.
Creamy Cannellini-Broccoli Soup
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 dried bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
- 1 recipe of Broccoli Soup Base
Heat soup base. Add bay leaf, black pepper, and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes, add the beans and simmer for 10 minutes longer. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Puree the soup. Sprinkle with fresh dill before serving.
Yield: 6 servings
Vegan, Gluten-free
Broccoli Stalk Soup
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- A handful of pearl barley or red lentils
- ½ tablespoon fennel seeds (optional)
- Salt
- Black peppercorns
- Soured cream or creme fraiche
- A few tarragon leaves
- 2 recipes of Broccoli Soup Base
Put the potatoes, and pearl barley or lentils in a large pan and cover with water.
Bring to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Drain potatoes and barley. Add to broccoli soup base. Heat until warm.
Take off the heat and allow to cool a little before pouring into a blender and pureeing until smooth. Taste and season.
Pour into warm bowls and add little sour cream or crème fraiche, swirl into the soup and add a few sprigs of herb such as tarragon.
Yield: 12 servings
Vegetarian, Gluten-free
The Broma Blessing 