5 Creative Recipes to Cook With Food Scraps
No one on the planet feels good about tossing a piece of food they didn’t get to in time. Composting veggies that have lost their will to live is heart-wrenching!
That’s why we wrap food in Abeego reusable food wrap to extend its life and avoid the food waste blues for good. Few things are quite as delightful as unwrapping bright, perky, and delicious food destined for a meal shared with loved ones rather than the compost.
That being said, the compost bin can still pile up faster than we’d like. For many, foods like beet greens, potato peels, and veggie stalks are the main culprits. We’ve been taught that these bits and bobs are inedible “food scraps,” and, therefore, don’t evoke the same type of guilt when we toss them. As if they’re an inevitable side effect of eating fresh.
Hold on there, kitchens!
Abeego Founder & CEO, Toni Desrosiers, thinks it’s time we ask ourselves: What is food?
“Cauliflower grows with an abundance of leafy greens that are perfectly edible, delicious, and completely ignored. The transportation of that very robust head of cauliflower to your grocery store doesn’t allow the leafy greens to stay fresh and beautiful for the same amount of time as the head of the cauliflower. Therefore, we strip away those greens and toss them. The amount of perfectly edible things we toss because they don’t store properly, transport properly, or display well at the store level, is incredible!”
Are cauliflower leaves edible, you ask? Oh yes. Roast them up with salt, pepper & olive oil, and they’re quite simply to die for.
The same goes for broccoli.
“Broccoli stems have always been a coveted treat in my house. As she cooked dinner, my mom would always hand them to my brother and me as a pre-supper treat. In my opinion, they’re even better than the florets - I’m not sure why they ever earned the name ‘scrap’! To this day, I always add broccoli stalks to stir-fries, pastas, or snack on them raw.” -Melissa, Content & Communications Strategist
Can you imagine the positive impact if we ate all our foods root to stem and head to tail? We would save money, time, and keep delicious, edible foods out of the compost and landfill.
We’ve gathered our favorite creative ideas & recipes to run a zero-waste kitchen and reap the benefits of eating the whole beast.
1. PARMESAN RINDS
When you reach the end of your block of Parmigiano-Reggiano, keep the rind!
For a rich & creamy addition of flavor, put it in your simmering pot of tomato soup (like Britney Breaks Bread’s Creamy Heirloom Tomato Soup with Garlic Croutons) until it dissolves. If the whole thing doesn’t liquefy, you can then toss what’s left or chop it up if it’s soft enough.
Learn how to keep cheese alive with Abeego.
2. CARROT TOPS
Those beautiful, bushy, and fragrant tops on your Farmers Market carrots? Yep, they’re totally edible and flavorful. Our favorite recipe for these overlooked greens is Jacobsen Salt Co’s carrot top pesto.
Pesto lover? You can make it with kale stems, too!
Learn how to keep carrots alive with Abeego.
3. STRAWBERRY TOPS
We’re always looking for ways to incorporate more greens into our diet, so why on earth would we toss these nutritious little strawberry hats?
Pop the whole strawberry in your mouth, or better yet, try Toni’s Strawberry Mint Smoothie Recipe.
Learn how to keep berries alive with Abeego.
4. WATERMELON RINDS
Recipes with watermelon rind? Really?
Oh yes!
Think of how much space they take up in your compost bin. This Candied Watermelon Rind recipe (also known as watermelon pickles) is a nostalgic one for many. Not to mention it’s one of the most creative ways to prepare and devour a perfectly edible food we so often toss.
5. CITRUS PEEL
From yuzu, pomelo, grapefruit & beyond, experiment with citrus varieties for the following recipes!
Lyndsey Eden’s Candied Orange Peel recipe is one for the books and a perfect sweet treat.
Conscious Cleanse’s Blueberry & Lemon Smoothie Recipe uses the whole lemon—peel & all—for an extra burst of nutrients in your morning smoothie.
Learn how to keep citrus alive with Abeego.
The less food we toss, the more we can learn to understand its life cycle. Utilize your vegetable scraps to the fullest and embrace the sweet nuances of broccoli stems, the versatility of radish greens, and then nutrient-rich opportunities of cilantro stems.
WRAP FRESH FOOD IN ABEEGO & ENJOY IT ROOT TO STEM
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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