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Zero-Waste Chef

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Posted on October 10, 2016by Anne-Marie Bonneau
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If you want to live more sustainably but think it If you want to live more sustainably but think it requires too much work, start with passive zero-waste strategies, such as leaving the leaves. Raking up nutrient-rich leaves, bagging them up in plastic and sending them off to landfill where, like all organic matter, they emit planet-heating methane gas and then spending hard-earned cash on fertilizer and mulch is too much effort! Why work so hard? 🤷 If you don’t want to leave the leaves on the lawn—a thick layer can suffocate it—then rake them over to a flower bed or save them for compost bins. See my blog for more passive, inexpensive, zero-waste strategies.
Pumpkin spice season is upon us! I bought my first Pumpkin spice season is upon us! I bought my first pie pumpkin and kabocha squash but had no ground cinnamon 😨 No problem! I do have cinnamon sticks. So I pulled out my secondhand coffee mill dedicated (pretty much) to grinding cinnamon and ground some up very quickly. You really notice the fresh taste when you grind it yourself. If you try this, leave the lid on your mill for a few minutes after you grind the cinnamon to avoid releasing a cinnamon dust cloud. There are worse things but you may as well inhale your dish flavored with cinnamon rather than inhaling the cinnamon itself. See my blog for 9 more staples to make not buy.
If it’s broke, fix it! This well-loved purse be If it’s broke, fix it! This well-loved purse belonging to my daughter finally gave out so we dropped it off at the shoe repair. A week later—good as new! Cobblers can repair all kinds of things, in addition to shoes. If you don’t have a cobbler in your city, you may find a repair café for your damaged purses, bags, belts, shoes... Or if you’d like to repair something yourself, you’ll likely find a repair tutorial on YouTube, @ifixit, @instructables and so on. Save money, keep stuff out of landfill, conserve resources and reduce emissions! I’ve had my Birks repaired four times (so far) at this same cobbler. How many lives do you think we can get out of this purse?
Yesterday, MK and I stumbled upon a thrift shop, @ Yesterday, MK and I stumbled upon a thrift shop, @style_beyond_threads in downtown Mountain View. Oh and MK said later that I could post this on here... We reached peak stuff long ago. We’re running out of both resources and room for trash in overburdened landfills. If you need or want something, with a little patience and luck, you’ll often find it or something like it—or something better!—secondhand. You’ll save money, stimulate the local economy, keep stuff out of landfill, help create demand for a secondhand market, enjoy that feeling of satisfaction when you find something great... What’s the best secondhand find you’ve scored?
I stumbled upon the @use.less.car yesterday at a t I stumbled upon the @use.less.car yesterday at a tour of electrified homes. From the @use.less.car website: “The goal of this project is to get more people to consider, use, and advocate for car alternatives. Bikes (electric or manual), buses, trains, walking, handcycles, horses, rowboats, ferries, subways, dirigibles, and many other forms of transport consume less energy per mile than personal cars. Individual action matters—live like your emissions matter, because they do.” The car is powered by two cyclists, one of whom can steer and brake. It sat parked on display during the tour. Go to @use.less.car to see the converted bug on the road in action!
How to make easy tomato purée with fresh tomatoes How to make easy tomato purée with fresh tomatoes! 🍅 On the weekend, I bought two, 20-pound cases of dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes. After prepping my seventh baking sheet of tomato wedges to roast, while deciding between prepping and sleeping, I chopped up a few pounds of tomatoes, threw them into the slow cooker and chose sleep. In the morning, I ran them through my food mill, reduced the ensuing purée over low heat, stored it in a jar and froze it. So easy! I’m definitely adding purée making to my yearly ritual. In the fall or winter, I’ll transform this staple into pasta sauce or pizza sauce or tomato paste or add it to chana masala or minestrone soup or any other recipe calling for fresh tomatoes. If you don’t have a food mill, you can blanch and peel the tomatoes. If you don’t mind skins, leave them on. You’ll need to purée the tomatoes after cooking them. In lieu of a food mill, use a blender, immersion blender or food processor. You can store the purée at this point or cook it down. The slow cooker isn’t great for reducing liquid—it can’t escape—but I did one batch that way. A pot is much quicker. When we broke up with plastic, I had to figure out how to replace canned tomatoes—cans are lined with plastic (the stuff is everywhere!) and although many food manufacturers plaster the claim “Now BPA-Free!” on their packages, the can linings may contain something similar and just as bad. I don’t know if I would have started processing so many tomatoes had I not broken up with plastic. As a result, the tomatoes I eat now taste incredible! I go through this ritual every fall after the price of tomatoes drops. I pay almost half for tomatoes as I do at the start of the season. But as I chop the 150th tomato, I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?” Then in winter, after thawing out a jar to make a fabulous tomato sauce or other tomato-based dish, with that first taste comes my answer. The full directions for tomato purée are on my blog.
My daughter MK and I made one last batch of fermen My daughter MK and I made one last batch of fermented salsa. (Actually, MK made it, I recorded...) This stuff tastes great pre-ferment but after... OMG. It has a tangy, intensely tomato flavor with a slight effervescence. Several years ago, a reader told me it makes her husband’s eyes roll up into the back of his head when he eats it—quite the testimonial! Chop up tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro. I use a my hands to crush the tomato pieces. You can also prep this in a food processor but omit the onions—the blades can make them bitter. Stir in salt and lime or lemon juice to taste. (We use lemon juice because we have a lemon tree.) Pack into clean jars, leave an inch or more headspace to prevent the salsa from gurgling out of the jar when it ferments and close the jar. This is essentially liquidy so I don’t weigh it down—it’s hard to weigh down soupy ingredients. Let it sit at room temperature until it bubbles and the color becomes more muted—both signs of successfuly fermentation. Stir it daily when you check on it and taste it. It ferments in about 2 to 3 days. Move it to the fridge when it’s done. We didn’t add a starter to this batch—it ferments on its own—but you could add one if you like. This recipe is highly adaptable!
🐝 I bee so happy! 🐝 This July, we drilled 🐝 I bee so happy! 🐝 This July, we drilled holes into the dead stump we left standing with the intention of turning it into a snag—a bee shelter. Today I noticed that about five tunnels are occupied! Leaf litter plugging up a hole signifies that someone has taken up residence (hopefully native bee larvae). The holes face east and southeast—out of direct afternoon sun, which would be too hot. We drilled two different sizes. So far, the bees prefer the smaller, 1/4-inch holes. The holes are about 4 inches deep (as far as we could get with our drill bit). After reading Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy @homegrownnationalpark, I started planting native plants to provide habitat for insects, including bees. This bee shelter is part of that process. Fall is the time to get back into planting natives. If you have no yard but do have a balcony, you can make a difference to bees and butterflies by planting a few natives in pots—they will find them! Stay tuned for updates on our snag’s residents.
For breakfast, my daughter MK loves to eat khichdi For breakfast, my daughter MK loves to eat khichdi (aka khichuri, kitchri, kidgeree, kitchari…), an ancient Indian comfort dish enjoyed worldwide. We sometimes have it for lunch or dinner as well. When we broke up with plastic in 2011, we dumped breakfast cereal first. Not only does every box on the shelf house an inner plastic bag, the cereal itself, while not plastic, has been processed to such a degree as to hardly be recognizable as food. It consists of cheap grain, which manufacturers have morphed into sugary, child-appealing shapes with some nutrients added back in order to compensate for what processing stripped out—and all at huge profit margins. Although the list of ingredients may look long, khichdi calls predominantly for dry ingredients (moong dal, rice, spices) that you merely measure (versus chopping piles of food). Once combined, stir occasionally during cooking. A few minutes of hands-on work and 30 minutes of simmering produces a filling dish that keeps in the refrigerator for about a week—simply reheat when hungry for a quick, tasty, convenient meal. The adaptable ingredients: 1 cup moong dal (split yellow mung beans) ½ cup basmati rice 1 tablespoon ghee or, if vegan, coconut oil 1 tablespoon minced ginger 4 cardamom pods 2 teaspoons black mustard seed 1 teaspoon cumin seed 1 teaspoon fennel seed 1 teaspoon fenugreek seed 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon ground coriander 3 bay leaves 8 cups water 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 2 tablespoons lime juice, about 1 lime (optional) ½ cup cilantro for garnish (optional) See my website for the full recipe. Enjoy!
If you read the news at all, scroll through your f If you read the news at all, scroll through your feed or live in an area affected by climate change (i.e., the planet), you may feel anxious about the state of our home and the future of all of its inhabitants. The strategies I've outlined here can help. . . . . . #heatwaves #heatwave2022 #heatwave #drought #californiadrought #californiafires #wildfire #waterconservation #conserve #conservewater #noplanetb #thereisnoplanetb #lowwaste #zerowaste #zerowastekitchen #zerowastetips #climatecrisis #climateemergency #extinctioncrisis #climatechangeisreal #globalwarmingisreal #climatejustice #climateaction #climateactionnow #actonclimate #earthdayeveryday #loveyourmother #dontlookup
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