This Week's Month's Food Waste
and True Food Confessions
I've gotten out of the habit of reporting on these endeavors and it's time to get back on track after being absent for a month.
Overall the food waste hasn't been too bad but we certainly have had some. With an abundance of garden produce this summer has also come a few tomatoes and a cucumber that have gone bad before we used them. Also down-the-drain went a jar of mayo and a jar of BBQ sauce. The mayo got left out on the counter overnight after using it for a tomato sandwich. Also I decided it was time for some BBQ sauce to go. It's been in the fridge for over seven years. (Yes, I said seven years.) I didn't like the taste of it and apparently neither did anyone else.
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| Some of the things we've enjoyed eating recently. |
As far as our eating, it hasn't been too bad either. Our eating-out has been an occasional Chinese takeout or Subway sandwich except for the week we were on vacation. There we ate out every night after having breakfast at the hotel and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. As I mentioned above, we have been enjoying fresh things from the garden. Many of our meals have centered around watermelon, cucumbers, squash, beets, brussel sprouts, beans, zucchini, and tomatoes. Also, Ward tried out his new smoker with a chicken and some ribs. And I'm happy to report that it worked well. Also, we recently tried a recipe for crock pot lasagna. That was also a hit.
As much of the garden produce is done for the year, I'm going to have to start planning more. This summer's meals have mostly been guided with what fresh vegetables we had to work with. Wish me luck with the planning as this has never been my strong suit.
Until next time...(which will hopefully be next week.)
I'm feeling overwhelmed by garden produce. My in-laws visited last weekend and brought some of theirs ... which, added to ours, is a LOT. A good problem to have, but I'm sympathetic to your plight of food going bad before you can get to it.
ReplyDeleteCrockpot lasagna is my daughter's favorite meal. I never make it in the oven--I love the fix-it-and-forget-it aspect of the crockpot.
Good luck on planning your meals! :)
Do you have a recipe for your slow cooker lasagna or do you just throw it together? Our lasagna tasted good but the noodles were soggy.
DeleteI do have a recipe. I use regular lasagna noodles and don't bother pre-cooking them--they steam up in the crockpot. Maybe if you used a little less sauce the noodles wouldn't be soggy? Here's what I do:
DeleteBrown hamburger and onion. Drain fat. Mix in 1 jar of spaghetti sauce.
Mix one beaten egg in with 1 24 oz container of cottage cheese.
Spray crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Layer meat/sauce mixture, 4-5 dry noodles, half of cottage cheese/egg mixture, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese in crockpot. Repeat layers. My recipe calls for cooking on high 4-5 hours or on low 6-8 hours but I usually (if I'm at home) cook it on high for about 2 hours and then turn it to low. I think it depends on how hot your crockpot cooks--the newer ones cook at a higher temperature.
Hope that helps. I haven't had a problem with soggy noodles although I do think the texture of them isn't quite as firm as if the lasagna was baked in the oven--the crockpot doesn't vent much moisture.
Thanks for the recipe. It gives me a good idea of the proportions. The recipe I used only called for three noodles. I'll think I'll use at least one more next time.
DeleteBecause of the layering, I use a total of 8-10.
DeleteSo that's like the amount you would use for a pan in the oven.
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