The Thrifty Kitchen

Yesterday I saw an interesting segment on Rachael Ray (don't judge) that I enjoyed quite a bit. It was on using kitchen scraps instead of just tossing them. The guest chef/restaurateur David Burke has a whole cookbook that has "second day meals" or recipes using the leftovers from the first meal in the cookbook. In addition, he featured two recipes using kitchen scraps, Broccoli Puree and Potato Peel Gratin. Not only is it economical to use more parts of the vegetable/animal/fruit, but the parts that we throw away often have great nutritional value. I stuck with fruits and vegetables in this list because I am still working on being able to eat meat again. But you can use your imagination or mission experiences for the meat section. Yum, anticuchos.

Broccoli Stems: Don't throw away the stem! Just peel the tough outer skin off and dice up the inside. You can make this suggested soup recipe or use it however you normally use chopped broccoli. If you really want those dark green seed things from the broccoli, just shave a few off and add them in to whatever you're cooking.

Potato Peels: I normally eat and like the potato skin on my baked potato, so the Potato Peel Gratin recipe doesn't seem too weird. There are also a lot of dishes where you really don't even need to peel the potato, just keep the skin on.

Celery Leaves: Not that I ever buy celery, but for those of you who do, save those leaves. They can be used as a garnish (if you actually garnish foods), in soups and stew, or in green salads. Gross.

Citrus Peel: After eating an orange or juicing a lemon, zest it before you throw it out. You can wrap it in wax paper or put it in a little container and freeze it.

Other vegetable peels/leaves: You can save things like onion and garlic skins, carrots tops and other vegetable scraps and boil them together to make a nice vegetable broth. Chicken broth can be kind of pricey, and in a lot of cases this can substitute well. Just make sure you strain the broth well after it has boiled. And don't leave it in your fridge for 9 months or you'll end up with a lesson in microbiology that you probably didn't want.

If you can't think of anything else to do with the scraps, you can always compost them and make some nice dirt to grow new delicious things.

Happy cheaper cooking.