Americans discard nearly 40 million tons of food every year. Reducing waste is important because it fills the country’s landfills with more garbage. Repurposing scraps and cooking consciously can reduce the amount of trash we generate, minimize food waste and create something delicious.
Cilantro pesto, great on tacos and quesadillas, is easy to make with leftover stems.
While prepping meals, most of us chop up the herbs; use the tops and throw away the stems. These stems can be used as a base for soup or salad dressing, chopped up and sprinkled on a salad or made into a delicious pesto. Cilantro pesto, great on tacos and quesadillas, is easy to make with leftover stems.
The tops are tasty
Carrot greens, beet greens and radish greens can also be repurposed. If they are fresh, use them in a salad; if they are wilted, sauté them with a little olive oil and garlic. Broccoli stems are my all-time favorite. They are absolutely the best in a stir fry. Peel off the tough outer layer and slice them thinly. They offer a nutritious crunch to an Asian stir fry. Roast or fry the peels from white or sweet potatoes and enjoy crispy, tasty chips.
Leftovers for stock
Leftover chicken and beef bones are great for stock. Add the leaves and ends of vegetables and stems of herbs that you might otherwise discard. Add in a stockpot with bones and simmer with your favorite spices. Celery leaves are excellent to add to stocks and soups — especially chicken stock. If you don’t eat animal protein, use the discarded parts of vegetables for vegetable stock.
Use the rinds & seeds
Most of us cast away our lemon and orange rinds. Lemon rinds can be used for morning espresso or black coffee. Lemon peels are also great to clean stainless steel.
Candied orange peels are another way to use the entire fruit of the orange. Use citrus peels for marmalade. Watermelon rinds can be pickled. And don’t throw out your pickle juice. Save it and throw in some fresh cucumbers and dill or other vegetables you’d like to pickle. The juice can also be used to make salad dressing or a Sunday morning Bloody Mary.
I don’t discard strawberry tops. I pull off as much of the green stem as possible and freeze the tops for future use. I make strawberry vinaigrette dressing or fruit compote for pancakes.
When cutting up butternut, acorn or pumpkin squash, don’t discard the seeds. Roast them with some olive oil and salt for a savory snack or to top a salad.
Make croutons & breadcrumbs
Is your loaf of bread going stale? Before it gets hard a rock or goes moldy, make croutons. Cube the bread, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake for a few minutes until lightly browned. Garlic and parmesan are also delicious on homemade croutons.
Stale bread is also good for making breadcrumbs. Store-bought breadcrumbs have all sorts of additives that I don’t particularly want in my diet. If that half bag of opened tortilla chips are starting to go stale throw them in a blender and use them for breadcrumbs, as well. Potato chips are great to top off a casserole.
Regrow your veggies
Another way to deal with food scraps is to regrow some of your vegetables. Green onions, leeks, onions, celery and romaine lettuce are relatively easy to grow in water. Discarded carrot tops and potatoes can grow in soil. Store-bought herbs can often root in water.
I’ve not been too successful at growing avocados from the pit; it’s a bit difficult. My friends have done it and it makes an excellent house plant, as do pineapple tops.
Whether you use food scraps make a beautiful meal, sweet marmalade with or grow new plants from waste, doing this will reduce the amount of household garbage you generate on a daily basis.
The Town of Truckee also offers a composting program for residential food waste for items that can’t be reused. | keeptruckeegreen.org
Cilantro Pesto Recipe
From the kitchen of Priya Hutner
¼ C olive oil
2 cloves garlic
¼ C walnuts or pine nuts
1 C fresh cilantro & stems
¼ C water
Salt & pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes taste (optional)
Toss ingredients in a blender. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with tortillas, tacos, quesadillas or scrambled eggs.
