Avoiding Food Waste

Both my hubby and I grew up in families where left overs were seldom thrown out, and we strive to continue to keep food waste to a minimum. It generally means that I have to become quite creative in putting some meals together :-)

The leftovers I had to work with today:
-A cup of sauce (which was basically ketchup/soy sauce/honey sauce for chicken) left over from an earlier dinner. We had eaten all the chicken but some sauce remained in the pan, so this went into the fridge.
-Two hamburger patties (home made) that were left over from an earlier BBQ and tossed into the freezer.
-Left over bacon
-Mushrooms that had (earlier) been fried and frozen into portions.
-A bit of red onion

Here is what I did with this, along with some veggies from our garden. The end result was a very delicious macaroni dish which received rave reviews :-)

I fried the bacon and set aside to drain on paper towels. Using a bit of the bacon grease, I fried the onion, then a chopped yellow pepper and small diced zucchini (seeded). Then the mushrooms and finely chopped (1 cup) swiss chard were added, along with the cooked bacon.  (In the meantime, I made one cup of chicken broth using Better than Bouillon and added this to the left over sauce.)

To the fried veggies/meat, 1-1/2 T. of flour was stirred through before adding the sauce/broth. After bring to a simmer to thicken the sauce, 1 cup of grated cheese was stirred through before adding cooked macaroni. This went into a glass dish and put in the microwave just before dinner.
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 By the way, our garden is producing A LOT of zucchini so, if you live in my town and want some, let me know. Grated raw zucchini can be put into the freezer and used, liquid and all, in loaves and muffins. They make the most delicious chocolate chip zucchini muffins!

"Wanting less is probably a better blessing than having more"

 I've been pondering a lot lately on the topic of 'minimalism' and may write about this on my blog one day. In the meantime, here is a quote I came across by Mary Ellen Edmunds:

“Wanting less is probably a better blessing than having more.”

I am not one for spending time in shopping malls but once in a blue moon necessity dictates a trip there. It bothers me when I see A LOT of teenage girls out shopping and I just recently read that  93% of teenage girls (in the U.S.) list shopping as their number one choice of recreation.

We live in a culture steeped in consumerism which translates into a whole host of problems, especially debt and an abundance of stress. Wanting less gives a person more time, contentment, and of course freedom from stuff and unnecessary debt.