Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions-June 20, 2014

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions. Occasionally, if our eating is going okay, I'll talk about some other food topic.

This Week's Food Waste

Lettuce

Once again, I didn't quite make it to the bottom of the bag before some turned slimy. However, things should go better this week because I have fresh lettuce from the garden. That always seems to do better than bag lettuce from the store.

This Week's True Food Confesssions

 

I woke up this morning thinking about creamed peas and new potatoes. And then I also realized that it was West Virginia Day meaning that on this day 151 years ago, West Virginia became a state. So it seemed like the perfect time to talk about West Virginia food. I realize that with a population of almost 2 million, not everyone eats the same thing in West Virginia, but I think my growing up experiences are fairly common.

Much of the state is rural and most people have a garden of some kind. That means it just wouldn't be summer without tomatoes fresh from the vine. But before the tomatoes ripen, one of the earlier treats are creamed peas and new potatoes. When the first green peas get ripe, new potatoes are dug. The peas and potatoes are cooked with a white cream sauce and you have your first special supper from the garden that season.

Around the same time (or a little sooner), the leaf lettuce is ready for picking. That means it's time for a dish of wilted lettuce. For this, bacon is fried, a little vinegar and and sugar are added to the bacon grease, and that dressing is poured over lettuce and green onions. Yum.

Speaking of green onions, what a treat. Even those who don't like onions will eat a few green onions in the spring. With their tender white bulbs and tasty green stalk, they are the perfect accompaniment to most any dish. Some people like to eat them with butter on a sandwich, but most just like them plain or with a little salt.

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And now back to my favorite--tomatoes. If everything goes just right, the first tomatoes are ripe in early July. Then it's time for big juicy slices of tomato to accompany every meal. My favorite way to eat them is with cottage cheese or on tomato sandwiches. 

Also along about this time, the green beans are ready for picking. These can be steamed, pickled, or simmered for a long time with ham. This method may not be the most nutritious, but, boy, are the beans good when cooked this way.

Soon after the beans, corn will be ripe. Okay, maybe this is my favorite—just picked (within the hour) corn-on-the-cob with butter and salt. Now I'm drooling and I haven't even told you about the cucumbers or fried squash.

As you can see, my favorite food changes every week or two during the summer as something new ripens. There's a lot more to talk about in regards to WV food, but I think you get the idea—a lot of it is based on something that is grown in the backyard, side yard, meadow, field, or hillside.

Another time, I'll talk more about this subject, but for now, I have to go get something to eat.