Friday, January 14, 2011

Weekword = Recycle

This week our Weekword is recycle. When The Distracted Cook first read that, she thought "how do I fashion that into a kitchen post?"  Will this turn into a really boring post with no good pictures? Most likely - who wants to see pictures of landfill and stacked newspapers on a blog about the kitchen? But on second thought,  what better place to think recycle than in the kitchen. After all, a cook does that almost every day. And The Distracted Cook is no exception. Just think of the ways that you can recycle in the kitchen:

1. Composting, of course ranks way up there.
2. Recycling all your paper boxes (cereal, crackers, grits, Cracker Jacks) and metal cans and glass jars is really neat.
3. WAIT - don't put those glass jars in the recycle bin yet. How about using them in the kitchen at least one more time before tossing them out? They are great for storing left-overs!
4. Left-overs! The original recycled goods. We refer to them as "use agains" instead of left-overs because we change them up a lot.
5.  Soup-potting is another way to recycle all those scraps and peels from the vegetable drawer. Not exactly left-overs but definitely recyclables.

Let's talk about composting. If you are into gardening then composting should become your best friend. All those potato peels and coffee grounds and tea leaves have a place to go now, and important things to do. The Distracted Cook has a strange yard ornament sitting in the side garden that looks like a cement mixer. It is, however, a dirt mixer! Every other day I take my little pail out from under the kitchen sink and empty its contents into this dirt mixer. After giving the crank a few turns, I walk away thinking of all the great soil that will come tumbling out in a few months. I keep that pail in the kitchen to hold all the scraps, peels, and leaves from the fruits and vegetables that  we cook. If it doesn't get used for soup-potting, it goes into the compost pail.

If your kitchen is anything like The Distracted Cook's kitchen, then you know what I mean when I say the kitchen is the place for recycling to happen. How many cans, bottles, jars, and boxes do you open in a week? And it is just so easy to flatten the box and fling it into the recycle bin in the laundry room right next door. And the metal cans? In they go too! The glass jars are another story, however. There are just too many good things that we can do with a glass jar before we aim it at that bin. A few good things to use them for are holding plant cuttings on your windowsill, keeping stands of parsley and cilantro in the refrigerator, using them for making salad dressings, or filling them with water to clean your paint brushes.

And then we have left-overs. It isn't hard for The Distracted Cook to end up with left-overs with only two of us here now. It is hard to scale back all your favorite "serves 4-6" recipes to just 2, so we keep on cooking the same old way. Using left overs is a fun thing when you really think about it. The first night's dinner is splendid with all the great side dishes and the main Star dish. Then the second time around you get to mix Monday's sides with Tuesday's Star and toss up a new salad and voila! it's Wednesday dinner. And there is always the added bonus of grabbing a bunch of condiments and dressing up sides and Star and getting some new tastes as a result. Now that is recycling in all its glory!

Another really good way to recycle is to keep the soup pot going on the back burner of the stove. I had never really thought about it before, but all those carrot tops and parsley stems and onion peels can be simmered in some water to make a really nice vegetable broth. The first time I did that I wasn't so sure about it. Sort of like the first time I made shrimp stock....didn't look all that good during the cooking stage, but the result was magic. I just read somewhere that you can collect all your clippings and scraps for about a week (aha! keep them in one of those large glass jars in the fridge!) and then put them in your soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 45 minutes. Let the contents cool, then strain through a fine mesh strainer. Voila! Vegetable stock!

So that's the beginning of the Recycle Saga in the kitchen. Tomorrow we will explore the The Distracted Cook's best attempt at recycling and that is her Recycle Recipes.  Every cook who has a recipe box is a recycler. I dare anyone to open a recipe box and not find a recycled recipe. Recycling recipes is one of the best ideas cooks have had in the last few centuries, I am sure. Recycling Recipes connect generations, families, cultures, and interests. Look in your recipe box and find the one that was your first recycled recipe. Let us know if you have sent it on to another recipe box to be recycled again!

12 comments:

  1. I love the idea of making a vegetable broth with peelings. I am going to save all my peelings and try that next weekend!

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  2. So many fantastic tips!! Composting is one thing I have never tried.
    The biggest problem I have is my huge pile of cookbooks and recipes. My mom used to clip recipes and collect recipes then I did the same and I have inherited a really large pile that I need to whittle down to a usable sweet collection. I find it amazing how attached you can get to an old family recipe that you never even use anymore. I'm going to be trying to work out that out next month. I'll be watching your blog for more great tips. :-)

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  3. Sally, this seemed like such a strange thing to do. Peelings, onion skins, limp carrots, pieces of bell peppers - what a combination! Even old mushrooms. But somehow, after it simmers and cools and you strain it, it is a good broth! The article said to just put the filtered out bits into the compost bin but I wasn't too sure about that part. Think that's on this week's agenda!
    Karen

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  4. Junebug - I finally decided to scan in all the recipes I have from Moms and aunts and friends and sisters and put them together for a family cookbook. I did that with one recipe that was always at every holiday dinner and I had the original that was handwritten and given to me. I put one at the place of every daughter, sister, and daughter-in-law and they got to take it home. That recipe has been served for over 50 years that I know about! Seemed like time that everyone had a copy of the original.
    Karen

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  5. Life here isn't conducive to composting, but growing up on a farm, we had an active compost pile (significantly taller than me) and the one ready to use in the gardens (flower and veggie). With six of us to feed, I don't recycle too many leftovers but I love recycling recipes. ;o)

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  6. I agree that recycling recipes is one of the most fun and certainly most interesting ways of recycling. I especially love to receive recipes for dishes that are the 'home foods" of a particular area. Those are the recipes that have already seen so many rounds of recycling and it seems each time makes them a little better as each cook adds her/his special touches.
    Karen

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  7. I love the idea of recycling peels, etc. for a broth, have to try that!!

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  8. I've never thought of "recycling recipes" I have to admit that is an interesting way to think about it when I share my recipes with others... Coooloool... Still pondering this thought!

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  9. I wasn't too sure the first time I tried this, but after you try it a few times you learn what sorts of thing to put in there together to get the type broth you want. Let me know how it works in your kitchen!
    Karen

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  10. Christine,
    I think that recipes are probably one of the first forms of recycling or "up -using" that we know about. And lending and exchanging cookbooks and food magazines ranks right up near the top, too. Libraries are great recyclers as they lend out again and again the books that sit on their shelves. I bet we could think of many more ways that we all recycle - it's just that we don't think of it as recycling. This has been a great Weekword - thanks so much to Elizabeth!

    Karen

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  11. We have three compost piles here and it makes such a tremendous difference in the amount of trash we actually have to throw out on a weekly basis! I love the idea of upcycling recipes, and I love all your great tips-I'm a maker of stocks on the back burner myself while prepping other dishes ;) So glad you are hanging out with us in weekword-I'll be the next host!

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  12. I can't wait to see your Weekword for next week! This is really such a fun and exciting thing to do - I hope more and more decide to join us.
    I had to laugh when I looked at my pictures for the newest post - even one of my recycle bins that I use inside is recycled! The circle (or cycle?) never ends.
    See you next time.
    Karen

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