Waste Less Live More 2013 : Waste Less Wednesday

Earlier this month, Zero Waste Week really made me look at the amount of food that goes to waste in our house, just through lack of planning and over-shopping. In the UK, we throw away over 7 million tonnes of food every year just from our homes, whilst food poverty is increasing.  I don't know about you but that makes me feel a little queasy.  

So what can we do about it?  Well, in the first place, we can plan our meals around what we already have in the store cupboard or fridge.  Secondly, we can make sure we don't over-cook and use leftovers for another meal rather than feeding the waste bin or compost heap.  If you have unwanted ingredients or a surplus of dried/canned goods or vegetables, why not donate them to a local food bank to help provide emergency food supplies to those most in need.  You can find your nearest food bank by clicking here

When it comes to leftovers, it's vegetables that always seem to be main culprit in our house - either it's a spoonful of cooked veggies here or there, or the odd wilting carrot or half a cabbage that just looks too tired to use up.   A lot of the time, these can be turned into soups or stews in a trice but here's another idea for using up all those leftover raw and cooked veggies.

Leftover Vegetable Pilaf (serves 4)

Vegetarian, Vegan

Leftover vegetables - use whatever you have to hand, pretty much anything works well!
200g brown rice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 pint of vegetable stock
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
Hemp or coconut oil
Salt & black pepper to taste

If you are using any raw veggies, cut them into small pieces.  Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onions, garlic and any raw veggies over a moderate heat for 5 minutes.   Add the rice, seasoning and stock, stir well and simmer for about 20 minutes until the rice is tender and the stock is absorbed, stirring occasionally.  If the rice mixture becomes to dry, add a little more stock.  About 5 minutes from the end, add any cooked leftovers to the pan and make sure they are thoroughly heated through.

This makes a great meal on its own or as a side dish if you eat meat/fish.

Annie x 

Tomorrow's challenge is Thrifty Thursday - watch our for my post.  You can find out all about Waste Less Live More Week here

Waste Less Live More 2013: Meat Free Monday

Today's challenge for Waste Less Live More week is to be meat-free for a day.  Having just one vegetarian day a week is good for your health and your pocket - did you know you could feed a family of four a healthy and filling veggie meal for less than £3.00?  You don't have to become a vegetarian or vegan - unless you want to, of course! - all you have to do is avoid meat and meat products for one day.  There are lots of delicious and quick veggie recipes which can be knocked up in minutes. This is a great idea for a healthy and tasty lunch and doesn't involve any cooking.

Spicy Lettuce Rolls (serves 4)

Vegetarian

400g can of chickpeas
80g Dolcelatte blue cheese, or Feta cheese if you don't like blue cheese
1 heaped tbsp Greek yogurt
1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
8 large Romaine lettuce leaves, washed
Salt & black pepper to taste

Mix the chickpeas, yogurt and seasoning together and divide the mixture evenly between the lettuce leaves.  Spread the mixture down the middle of each lettuce lead, crumble the cheese and sprinkle over the top.  Roll the lettuce leaves up like a wrap to eat.  

Annie x

Tomorrow's challenge is Try Something New Tuesday - watch out for my post.  You can find out more about the Waste Less Live More Challenge week here

Eat: Damson & Apple Crumble

Vegetarian, Vegan

As the evenings begin to draw in, my thoughts turn inexorably towards warming, traditional puddings and when I was given some freshly foraged damsons recently, there was only one thing on my mind - juicy damsons, sweet organic apples, aromatic cinnamon ...............it must be Damson & Apple crumble!

I have given up sugar so use eating apples instead of cooking apples to sweeten the fruit filling but you can always add some honey if you prefer.

The Recipe 

250g damsons
6 large organic eating apples, cut into smallish chunks
75g buckwheat or almond flour
75g butter or vegan spread e.g. Pure
50g porridge oats
100ml organic apple juice
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
1 tsp honey (optional)

Cooking tip:  Damsons are notoriously difficult to stone but this method makes it a bit easier.  Wash the damsons and put them in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a fast simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes or so until the damsons begin to soften.  Drain off the water and leave until the damsons are cool enough to handle.  Cut in half and the stone should slip out easily. 

Cut the stoned damsons into quarters and place in a saucepan with the apple chunks. Pour in the apple juice and stir in the cinnamon.  Simmer over a low heat for about 3 - 4 minutes. Pour off about half of any excess liquid and transfer the fruit mixture to an ovenproof dish.  If you wish to add any honey as an extra sweetener, now is the time to do it.

To make the crumble, rub the buckwheat flour and butter/vegan spread together using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the porridge oats and add an extra sprinkle of cinnamon.

Spread the crumble evenly over the top of the fruit mixture and bake in the oven until the top is golden brown (200C, 400F, Gas Mk 6).

Serve with cream, custard or the vegan alternative.

Annie x 

Waste Less Live More 2013 : Food Storage Ideas

September 16th - 22nd is Waste Less Live More week, so in preparation and fresh from my experiences during Zero Waste Week, here are some simple tips I came across to make your fresh foods last longer and reduce wastage.

Wash leafy greens, such as cabbage, spinach and kale, in a bowl of cold water with a dash of lemon juice.  Dry thoroughly then put in a lidded container with a piece of paper towel in the bottom.  Store in the fridge.

Treat whole lettuces, asparagus and fresh herbs like flowers.  Put them upright in a bowl or jar with a couple of inches of water in the bottom and change the water daily.  Tired-looking leaves and herbs can be revived by plunging them into ice-cold water for about 30 seconds.

Carrots will keep longer if placed in a lidded container full of water and stored in the fridge.  Change the water every couple of days.

Most people know that potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark place but did you know that popping an apple in with them will stop them sprouting?   On the flip side of the coin, never store potatoes near onions, as they will go bad more quickly

Berries last longer if washed in a bowl of one part apple cider vinegar to ten parts cold water, before drying and storing in a paper bag in the fridge.

Cut the green leaves off the top of a pineapple and store upside down to stop over-ripening.

Have you got any other food storage tricks?


Annie x

Organic September : The cost of making One Small Change

When I talk to people about going organic, the comment I get most often is "I'd like to but it's too expensive".  So with Organic September in full swing, I thought I would do a bit of research to see if I could disprove that statement.

Let's have a look at fruit and vegetables.  Certainly if you buy your organic vegetables from a supermarket, it will be expensive.  But source your produce elsewhere and the cost isn't so daunting.

We get a family sized organic veg box from our local greengrocer.  This week, my box contained: 1 cauliflower, 1 large green cabbage, 1 iceberg lettuce, about 2kg of potatoes, 4 large parsnips, 3 white onions, 2 red onions, 1 bulb of fennel, 1 large head of celery, 4 courgettes, 6 tomatoes, about 250g of mushrooms, 3 peppers, about 1kg of carrots, 2 whole sweetcorn and a cucumber.  Cost: £18

How much would it cost to buy the non-organic versions of all this in a supermarket?  I looked at Asda's produce, as they are generally the cheapest of the Big 5 supermarkets.   Much of the produce sold by Asda is pre-packed, so where a loose version was not available, I estimated the cost on a pro-rata basis by weight, to get a fair price comparison. The total cost? £16  

So, making that one small change to organic vegetables could cost as little as £2 a week - less than the price of a take-out latte - isn't that worth it?

Organic veg box schemes are widely available and most of them offer fruit options too. There are the companies that deliver nationally, like Riverford and Abel & Cole, as well as retailers like Ocado.  Or you could try a smaller, local scheme or farmers' market, where you have the added bonus of knowing that most of the veggies will have been grown locally.  The cost is often lower too.  To find a veg box scheme or farmers' market near you, just pop your postcode into this website 

http://www.findlocalproduce.co.uk/Veg_Box_Schemes

It's also worth asking your local greengrocer, if you have one, as many now offer some sort of box scheme.

What changes are you making in Organic September?


Annie x

The "I Quit" Fiesta

I recently came across the I Quit Fiesta on the lovely Zoe's blog, Eco Thrifty Living, which got me thinking about the things we gave up in the name of greener and healthier living a couple of years ago and also the things that are on my 'I Quit' hit list this year.

The microwave : this went a couple of years ago when we realised that we were only using it as a bread bin - just the perfect size for holding a large loaf and maybe a teacake or two.

Household chemicals : a couple of years ago, the cupboard underneath our kitchen sink was crammed with cleaning products - kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, descaler, washing powder, washing up liquid, stain remover.  Yep, we'd been sucked in by years of advertising convincing us that you really do need different cleaners for different parts of the house! 

Now we use just two store-bought products - washing up liquid and one multi-purpose cleaner, both from Earth Friendly Products.  We now make much better use of things like baking soda, white vinegar, tea tree oil and lemon juice to clean.  A few weeks ago, we gave up laundry liquid and started using Soapnuts, dried nutshells from the soapberry tree which grows mainly in India and Nepal.  You just pop a few in the little cotton bag provided and put it in with your wash.  The soapnuts can be reused 3 or 4 times and clean really well.

Soapnuts

Sugar : We have reduced our sugar consumption a lot and 2 weeks ago, I gave it up completely.  It's really hard going at the moment - headaches, grouchiness and cravings abound - but I am feeling the benefits already; more energy, sleeping better, and no dark circles under my eyes!  Mr H, on the other hand, has cut down but doesn't feel he can cope with hundreds of kids each day (he is a teacher) without cake.

However, my next big thing to quit is supermarkets.  I tut and grumble at the inexorable expansion of Tesco and loathe the effect supermarkets have on the high street but still shop in one.  So, this is the next target on my radar, coming soon ...... watch this space!

Annie x

Eat: Oven Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

Vegetarian, Vegan

Home-made soup is just the best - easy, healthy and delicious.  Red peppers and tomatoes are two of my favourite veggies and roasting them rather than the traditional stove top cooking method brings out all the sweetness and flavours, to make a rich and velvety soup.

The Recipe

2 large onions, peeled and cut into chunks
4 whole cloves of garlic, unpeeled
500g large ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 large red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks
2 tbsp hemp oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary, or a few sprigs of fresh
1 litre of hot vegetable stock
Black pepper to taste 

Preheat the oven [220C, 400F, Gas Mk 7].  Put the vegetables and garlic in a large roasting tray, whisk together the oil and balsamic vinegar then pour over the veggies.  Make sure the veggies are well-coated, like tossing a salad.  Season with black pepper and scatter over the herbs.  Roast for 25 - 30 minutes.  

When the vegetables are cooked, remove from the oven and place into a deep bowl.  Pick out the roasted garlic cloves and slip off the skins, then return the peeled cloves to the bowl.  

Using a hand blender, puree the vegetables until smooth, adding a little of the stock at a time until the soup is the consistency of cream.  Have a taste and add a little more seasonning if you need it.

Sprinkle on some fresh herbs and serve with chunks of wholemeal bread.  

Annie x x

Gizmo's Green House on the launchpad!

Hello and welcome to my new blog.  A few months ago, I started writing a blog called Hello Purple Clouds which was mostly about natural beauty but also a little bit about natural food and my attempts to live a greener life.  Over the last few months, my journey towards being greener has really taken off and I found that there is a lot I want to share about that side of my life, perhaps more than feels relevant on what is predominantly a natural beauty blog.

So I decided to begin another blog, just about greener living and the natural food that is part of that ethos.  So here it is, Gizmo's Green House, named in honour of our splendid puss, Gizmo, who settles himself on the desk beside my keyboard whenever I sit down to blog, purring loudly and taking a great interest in everything.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and if you are interested in natural beauty, why not have a look at Hello Purple Clouds too, where you can read about all that's good in organic and natural beauty without having to wade through posts about composting!

Thanks for visiting!

Annie x