Day 5 of Zero Waste Week

Yesterday lunchtime I had ambitions to get below the 100 grammes on my food waste tally.

Fail! :( 

I'm blaming the squash again.  I'd forgotten about the butternut squash lasagne.

Thursday's food waste:

124g butternut squash skin
58g tea bags
the stalk of a cucumber too tiny to register on the scales

There were also 46g of butternut squash seeds that I put out for the birds.

Total 228g including the bird food.

On the plus side though, the corned beef and lime pickle sandwiches were a big hit.

We had them mid afternoon when Junior Daughter got home from school along with her best friend.  I offered corned beef sandwiches and announced that I was having lime pickle with mine.  They know I'm on a 'use it up' binge.  I brought the corned beef, lime pickle and also the jar of Branston pickle from the fridge.

"I thought we were having lime pickle," comments Junior Daughter.
"I am, but that doesn't mean you have to."
"Lime pickle sounds good," agreed JD and BF.

I can report that corned beef and lime pickle sandwiches are more than good.  Next time I'm tempted to buy a jar of lime pickle, I don't think it will be any trouble to use up!

My made up 'Use it Up Lasagne' recipe consists of this:
layers of:
lasagne,
green pesto (it was lurking at the back of the fridge unopened and going out of date)
steamed butternut squash
Philadelphia cheese
lasagne
tomato salsa
butternut squash
sage
Philadelphia
lasagne
bechamel sauce (butter, flour, milk, black pepper)


Abandoned by the rest of the family to their various engagements, I decided that I'd keep the lasagne whole for Saturday evening and just have a plate of the rest of the ingredients without the pasta.

Here's my lasagne-less butternut squash, sage and Philadelphia cheese dinner.

I can recommend it!  I hope the lasagne is as good.

As for today's Zero Waste Week recommendations, it was all about juggling differing dietary requirements and I've got a case for that this week, certainly.  Batch cooking was on the menu.  I guess that's what my lasagne was all about.  It will be an in and out meal day tomorrow, so the lasagne is there ready and waiting, and I'm hoping that Senior Daughter will then be able to take back a couple of portions, frozen, when she returns to uni.

And as for new food ventures in my 'use up the jars' effort, caper purée was on my hit list.  On the side of the jar it suggests using it in a quick pasta sauce.  A tin of chopped tomatoes, stir in the caper purée and add some sliced black olives.  I tried it out and it was delicious and Junior Daughter enjoyed it too.

I made another new discovery today.  I made JD two pieces of toast and butter this morning, but she only ate one - which is unusual.  We dashed out of the door leaving the second piece (already buttered) behind.  When I got back I decided to experiment with reviving cold toast.  I got out a pancake pan, popped the toast in and sprinkled it with cinnamon. It was delicious. So my breakfast this morning was yoghurt, 'cinnamon revived toast' and banana.

All in all a pretty successful use it up day, I'd say.