Americans waste about a pound of food per person per day which amounts to about 30-40% of our food supply. We talked with Chef Mike Anderson at Platte Valley Medical Center who gave us some tips for avoiding food waste and also shared a couple of recipes.
Below are the recipes Chef Mike shared with us, along with some of his tips to avoid food waste.
Chef Mike will be hosting a cooking demo as part of the Girls’ Night Out event happening Thursday, September 14th from 5:30 -8:30 p.m. at Platte Valley Medical Center – 1600 Prairie Center Parkway. There will also be a special 9Health Fair at the event where you can receive health screenings and health education. Click here to register.
Tips for Avoiding Food Waste:
- Use bread ends to make bread crumbs. Grind them up and use on pasta, salads, etc. and save extra in the freezer.
Produce
- Celery – When it starts to wilt cut the ends and soak them in water to bring them back to life
- Save old bananas in the freezer – can thaw and use in bread and batter
- Pears – peel and dice them, put them in the freezer, thaw when ready and use in batters such as pancake batter
- Lettuce and leafy greens – put them in an ice bath, refrigerate for 15 mins – take them out and pat them dry to get another 2-3 days out of them
- Zucchini – if it starts to soften, trim off any mold or soft spots and can be roasted
- For any produce that is about to go bad – peel it, cut it and freeze it. Set them out to thaw and use as you normally would when ready.
Cheese
- If it starts to mold – trim edges and wrap it in foil – this will reduce spoilage and extend the life of the rest of the cheese
Recipes:
Fruit Salad:
- Cut fruits of your choice – we used strawberries, pineapple, grapes, bananas, and blackberries
- Make dressing for fruit salad:
- ½ cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice
- ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup of honey
- Tablespoon of lemon zest and orange zest
- Little vanilla extract
- Combine it all in a bowl and whisk
- Pour it onto prepared fruit and mix
*Use scraps from fruits such as strawberry tops, pineapple rind, squeezed lemons and oranges in an infused water later – very tasty!
Roasted Vegetable Platter:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Choose roasted vegetables you like and cut them up – about ½ inch pieces. We used zucchini, squash, red pepper, onion and mushroom.
- Make dressing
- Pick any store-bought Italian dressing, use ¼ cup
- ¼ cup of white wine
- About a tablespoon of Dijon mustard
- A little bit of salt and pepper
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk
- Pour over prepared veggies, toss to combine
- Put veggies on a cookie sheet and bake 375 for 15 minutes
*Save skins and discards from cutting your vegetables, put it in a bag and store in your freezer to use in vegetable stock.