Waste Not, Want Not (Recipes & Such)

[Noahs ARK]

Soooooo - since we hijacked Sign's rice thread, we thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread.

Share some of your tips with us.

Sign keeps her bacon grease in her frig. I freeze mine in Tupperware midgets. 4Ever snags the ham bones at the Ward dinners and uses them for another meal. (How could anyone throw away a ham bone?!)

Come on...spill your secrets....you know you wanna!! :l0 (44):

[4evermama]

Hubby's left-overs invention: Fast and the kids can make this on their own.

Pizza Bowls

sliced day-old French bread
leftover Pizza/Spaghetti Sauce
Pepperoni/Sausage (leftover from breakfast)
shredded Cheese

Place a slice of bread in a bowl.
Spread sauce on bread.
Top with meat and cheese.
Microwave for 1-2 minutes.

Eat with a fork.

[Charlene]

This one can get the biggest groans at home, although sometimes it gets a PLEASE make that again. We affectionately refer to it as "Gottago". It's everything in your fridge that is left over. It either needs to be eaten or it's gotta go! So, it's unlikely that it will ever be duplicated again.

Combine all to make casseroles, soups, stews, pasta or rice dishes etc.

Once, when my youngest was in her early elementary years, I found a paper she had done for school. On it the teacher wanted them to write things they liked and disliked. "Gottago" was on her list of dislikes:)

[Charlene]

I always save vegetable scraps or leftover in a freezer bag in the freezer. When I get enough, it's broth to can. I keep the celery, onion, pepper in one and all the other vegetables in another. You can also save leftover bits of meat and such to do the same.

[signseeker]

No problemo hijacking my thread. I think more threads should be hijacked, it's just fun. I think more Gospel Doctrine classes should be hijacked, too.. but that's another subject.

Truth be told, I used to have two Mason jars of bacon grease that I'd rotate. I use it for hash browns and quesadillas mainly.

There was a family on my mission that made the "gottago" thing once a week. We happened to be there for dinner on one such night. We had this "soup." I think she even put some old cookies in it. Anyhoo--

Most of our kitchen scraps go to the chickens. I need to remember to look in every nook and cranny of the fridge cuz I hate throwing stuff out. Didn't use to bother me but it really does now.

[Noahs ARK]

Tomorrow is garbage day, so the frig gets cleaned out. Quite a few of our meals are hodge-podge on Friday, but tonight was good.

I had 8 buttermilk biscuits, some country gravy and 6 strips of bacon.

Made SOS and it was good, plus no food was wasted. Yay!

Tomorrow the rest of the cinnamon raisin bread will be turned into french toast or bread pudding.

[Justme]

My dad was an expert at the refrigerator clean out and we really liked his creations which he called "Slum Gullion". My kids weren't always as excited about mine. It did help to learn what each of us could tolerate mixed together, No fish with tomato based anything! And though I like corn mixed with anything my husband hated it mixed in (didn't complain though, just let me know later) so my chicken pot pies or soups with corn were out.

I also learned to determine when to add Italian seasonings or use a Mexican based one or more of a poultry seasoning one to suit what was leftover.

We love leftovers.

[Noahs ARK]

No fish with tomato based anything! And though I like corn mixed with anything my husband hated it mixed in (didn't complain though, just let me know later) so my chicken pot pies or soups with corn were out.

Ditto on the tomato based fish.

I love corn mixed with anything, hubby doesn't. I have learned I can sneak leftovers into cornbread, tho. I run it thru the blender with the buttermilk or eggs before adding it to the cornbread mixture and he can't tell.

[Justme]

This corn talk has reminded me of a recipe that I lost. When we lived in Oklahoma we bought a certain brand of cornmeal that had a recipe for spoon bread on the package that we really liked with our once a week bean meal.

It was a little sweeter and more moist than recipes that I have found on the internet. Adding raisins was an option we liked. Any of you Southerners or almost Southerners has a good spoon bread recipe?

[4evermama]

This is my recipe.
My family is all in/from Oklahoma.
Products from Shawnee Mills are staple. Perhaps it was on something from them. Albers is the other brand that we used growing up. Maybe a search would turn something up.

I've had sweet potato spoonbread with raisins. YUM!
Usually, if we wanted it savory for dinner, we'd just add cheese and onions.
If we wanted it sweet, we'd use light Karo syrup or maple syrup poured on top after is was sliced.


Spoon Bread<O:p</O:p
1 C Yellow Cornmeal
½ C Hominy Grits
2 ½ C Water
1 tsp Salt
1 C Buttermilk
½ C canned Hominy-drained
¼ C Butter-melted
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 large eggs
<O:p</O:p
Mix water, cornmeal, grits and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until thick-approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in Buttermilk. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and add remaining ingredients. Combine both mixtures and blend well. Pour into a greased casserole dish.
Bake @ 375 for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

[Justme]

Thnks, 4evermama, for the recipe. It is not exactly the same as there was no canned hominy in it but I am going to try it and see if it is similar.

And thanks for the information on the common brands. I have tried to remember what brand it was to no avail. I know it wasn't the Albers brand as that is the most common one here. I'll do a search on the Shawnee Mills to see what I can find.

[Earthling]

My dad would clean out the frig and put a base of lettuce then add the leftovers on top. He called it "dumpster salad". It made everyone gag - especially when he got older and started putting the whole thing in the "Magic Bullet". :puke:

[prairiemom]

I've mentioned this before in other threads, so sorry if this is old news for you. There is no such thing as leftovers in our house. I dry everything--I mean EVERYTHING. Soups (no meat) get dehydrated, put into baggies for instant soup (esp good for 72-hr kits and camping) Yogurt, dried into "leather" (more like a chewy candy.)

And veggies, esp those parts of the veggie that might get thrown away--broccoli and cauliflower stems, asparagus stems, carrot and celery tops, Swiss chard stems, etc. Chop them up and dehydrate them. If they are veggies you probably don't like reconstituted, that's OK. Grind them into a powder for veggie powder.

What is veggie powder good for? Soups, soup base, meatloaf, meatballs, casseroles. Anywhere you want filler. I use veggie powder instead of cracker or bread crumbs in meat or tuna loaf. Each serving of meat loaf also has one serving of vegetables and no one even knows it.

Some veggies don't can or freeze well--eggplant, peppers, zucchini, (OK, yes, I know you can grate it, freeze it and make zucchini bread with it. But honestly, how many loaves of zucchini bread can you make in one year?), radishes, Swiss Chard, cabbage (most of mine goes to sauerkraut, but again, if you have a bumper crop, how much sauerkraut are you going to make, really?) asparagus, mushrooms, to name a few. None of those need to go to waste if you use them in veggie powder.

My dehydrator runs virtually year round, taking care of scraps and left overs.

[Noahs ARK]

Yogurt, dried into "leather" (more like a chewy candy.)

If they are veggies you probably don't like reconstituted, that's OK. Grind them into a powder for veggie powder.

I'm dragging out my dehydrator. I don't waste a lot, but would love to make a veggie powder.

As for the yogurt, do I just smear it on my fruit leather trays and dry it like that? I usually eat all the yogurt, but this sounds like a handy snack to have around. I love yogurt in any form!

[signseeker]

But honestly, how many loaves of zucchini bread can you make in one year?

50? :w00t:

[prairiemom]

That's about 35 more loaves than I'd make. :l0 (17):

Yeah, make the yogurt just like fruit leather--spread evenly over plastic wrap or trays that are sprayed with non-stick spray.

[signseeker]

We have Amish bread about once a week. That's easily made into pumpkin bread or zucchini bread or chocolate chip bread or whatever...

We have a fanTAStico chocolate zucchini cake recipe that uses 2 cups of zucchini. I grate and freeze it in 2 C. portions just for that. Daughter won Sweepstakes at the Fair with it.

[Noahs ARK]

My neighbor got me hooked on that bread. She brought me a loaf, some starter and a ton of recipes, but I couldn't keep up with it.

I need to make a small batch of the starter.

Will you be sharing that prize-winning recipe with us? :worshippy:

[signseeker]

Will you be sharing that prize-winning recipe with us? :worshippy:

Yeah, I can play the "you have to beg me first" game, too. :d0 (36):


CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. oil
1 3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs
2 C. grated zucchini
1 1/2 C. flour
1 t. vanilla
1/2 C. buttermilk or sour milk
4 T. cocoa
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder

TOPPING:
3/4 C. brown sugar
chocolate chips
nuts


Combine all ingredients and pour into 9x13 greased or sprayed pan. Top with topping. Bake at 350* for 40-45 minutes.

:hurray:

[Noahs ARK]

That sounds so good - especially the topping. YUM.

Thank you!!

[signseeker]

Yeah, it's a great alternative to the ole' frosting routine.

[Noahs ARK]

Yeah, it's a great alternative to the ole' frosting routine.

It reminds me of something mom used to make years ago. I think she put it on graham crackers and threw it in the oven until it all melted.

You wouldn't happen to have that recipe, would ya? :l0 (55):