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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about trying to use up what we have in our refrigerator and pantry before going to the grocery store to purchase food for every meal- yes, I know this is how they do it in Europe, but it’s quite time consuming and costly!  There are often nights when we think we have “nothing for dinner,” and then as if by some miracle I pull something off that could feed the five thousand. It’s really no miracle it’s just viewing my leftover veggies and dried beans and grains in a different light.
The other night, when we had “nothing for dinner” I made a yummy vegetable soup with wqter, 4 carrots, 3 stalks celery, some frozen farmer’s market squash, leftover cooked kale,1 cup of rice, 1 cup of black beans, salt, pepper, and some other random spices. I spooned it into bowls, topped it with avocado slices and pumpkin seeds, drizzled it with a swirl of olive oil, and voila! a super healthy, tasty dinner on a cool night. As my husband was putting away what was left of the soup (A LOT!), he said, “I can’t believe we thought we had nothing for dinner!” It reminded me of that story “stone soup” i heard as a child- except everything came from my kitchen!
I also just read a great article in Body+Soul magazine (Jan/Feb 2010) about not wasting food, and how to use leftovers- even things you think have gone bad. Before reading this, I didn’t think twice about tossing an aging carrot- “it’s biodegradable” i always justified to myself…yes, but did you know it could take 40 years for that carrot to break down in a landfill? I didn’t! Now I am inpired to have a compost bin for my future mini garden- urban living style!