Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Challenge Update

Between trying to get Abe Lincoln through the Civil War in "Team Of Rivals", and allowing the live coverage of the impeachment trial in our state Senate to distract me from my housework, I'm not getting much blogging done. I have been working on the Food Waste Reduction Challenge, though, and I thought I should post a quick update.

My family is reasonably on board with this one, especially my husband, who is notorious for eating just about anything. My daughter is a bit more selective, but has helped finish up a few of my "messes".

I thought last night's supper was a genuine success. I had the following things that needed to be used before they went south: several slices of roast beef left from Sunday dinner, four cloves of fresh garlic that were starting to shrivel, a handful of raw baby carrots that looked suspicious, about 1/4 c. uncooked brown Minute Rice, and a cup or so of uncooked barley.

I diced up the beef, garlic, and carrots, plus an onion. In a pot with some water (sorry, I don't know how much water- maybe 6 cups?) I cooked that with the rice and barley, along a can of beef broth, the last three cubes of beef bullion, and a can of stewed tomatoes in vegetable broth.

This made a beef and barley soup that was great! It was rich and thick, not quite a stew, and just the right combination of flavors. The three of us ate heartily at supper, and there were two good sized helpings left over for lunches.

Usually, those carrots would have sat in the fridge until they were relegated to the compost heap. The roast was very good meat, but what was left had a couple of streaks of gristle that kept it from being good for sandwiches, so that might have been wasted, too. I'm pretty pleased that we made such good use of this food.

10 comments:

Green Resolutions said...

Awesome! I'm a lousy cook, so I'm always intimidated by trying something without a recipe. Thanks for sharing :)

Joyce said...

GR- I was clueless about cooking when I first got married. I think you just have to plunge in and try it. When I was thinking about this soup, I tried to remember what I liked about prepared beef and barley soup and figure out what the ingredients might be. Fortunately I had what was needed on hand.

Donna said...

Mmmm! That sounds good!

I'm not doing the challenge, but have been paying a lot more attention as to what I'm throwing away. It's amazing how much you can use instead of toss if you just give it a little thought!

Jena said...

Isn't this a great challenge!? I'm lovin' it. I too have come up with some new concoctions in an effort to use up all the leftovers. Great recipe idea, thanks!

Rose said...

Good for you, Joyce--and this soup sounds delicious! Although I didn't take the challenge, I keep thinking about it as I fix meals. Last night I fixed a hamburger/noodle dish and instead of cooking some vegetables, I got out all the small containers of leftover vegetables from the past several nights. I used up some leftovers, and we ate healthier than usual!

If all goes according to plan, you won't get much housework done today:)

Joyce said...

I'm glad this challenge is sort of rippling through he blog community, because it is a pretty important think to think about.

Rose-I'll be glued to the radiio today; I'll be honest and say I hope we have a new governor by day's end!

Donna said...

Hey, congrats on the new governor. :)

Joyce said...

It feels like the end of a hostage situation.

Going Crunchy said...

Good for you! I've also found a quiche is a good way to get rid of assorted veggies. Hum, just call it a Ressurection Pie for you!

Marino said...

I agree with Going Crunchy with the quiche thing. And it tastes great too!! I just made a vege quiche/pie to try and use up some large zucchinis we've had given to us. I only ended up using one (these are BIG zucchinis) mixed with onions, tomatoes, almost too hard cheese etc...