Don't Throw That Away!

“Waste not, want not.” It’s an old fashioned idea, isn’t it? It really doesn’t have a place in today’s throw-away society. Or does it? Mother Hubbard sure thinks it does! Minimizing waste is even part of the Hub’s Vision Statement.

Minimizing waste shows up in practice, too. The Hub composts, and even collects compostables from a couple of local restaurants. They hold classes in composting. (Have you seen Jessica Sobocinski’s post about her experiences with composting? It’s great.) I’ve talked repeatedly about saving bones to make BONE BROTH and saving chicken skin to make CHICKEN CHIPS OR GRIBENES and I’ve given directions for ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS, too. Domestic Diva Barbara has demonstrated making yogurt with slightly old milk and kim-chi with past-their-prime veggies. The Tool Share program lends out driers and canners so you can dry and can extra fruits and veggies and has classes on food preservation. There was even a class last month on wild edibles (a.k.a. weeds).

In the summer, with all the fresh produce that's available, there tends to be even more vegetable waste than the rest of the year. It's a great time for adding to your compost pile. It's also a great time for finding alternative uses for parts of the fruits and vegetables that you usually toss. So, in the spirit of self-sufficiency, economy and sustainability, here are some recipes for using things that might otherwise be tossed out.

Did you know that there’s only about three-quarters of a cup of corn kernels on an ear of corn? The rest is the husk, the silk (not much of that) and, of course, the cob. I don’t have recipes for the husks (though I think they’re used in tamales) or the silk, but I do have a recipe for the cobs. CORN COB JELLY. I’ve never made it myself, but it’s supposed to taste like honey. Wildflower honey, to be exact, according to some.

There’s a lot of waste with a watermelon, too, what with the thick rind and all. The solution? WATERMELON PICKLES. They’re a lot of work, though, if you make it according to the traditional recipe, or at least the recipe I got in the 70s from Toni, an old Iowa farm girl.They're also very sweet - some recipes call them Candied Watermelon Rind.  Or you could make EASY PICKLED WATERMELON RIND, which are lots easier and much less sweet, though they only keep about 10 days in the fridge. And if you’ve got an old-fashioned watermelon with lots of black seeds, you can make ROASTED WATERMELON SEEDS, which are a popular snack in the Middle East. You can do the same thing with seeds from cantaloupe, honeydew and other melons, too. For that matter, you should be able to make pickles from other kinds of melons, too, though most rinds aren’t as thick as watermelon rind.

Somewhat similar to the Watermelon Pickles are RED HOT CUCUMBERS, that Toni, who would be in her 90s today, used to make. They use the huge overgrown cucumbers that get overlooked in the garden and suddenly appear way bigger than you want to use in a salad. They're crunchy and sweet and cinnamony and spicy and pretty. A lot like the spiced apple rings that used to be used as garnish, especially at Christmas. I can't find Toni's recipe, but I know it took several days. The recipe I'm giving here is one I found online and only takes two days. You can use overgrown zucchini instead of the cucumbers if that's what you happen to have. Just be sure, with either the cucumbers or the zucchini, that they'll fit in your canning jar if you want to keep them in rings.

Looking over this, I see an awful lot of sugar added to the throw away items, so, with the exception of the watermelon seeds, they're not exactly cheap. They are cheaper, though, than if you had to go out and buy the cucumbers or apples or whatever to make pickles out of. And they're something different. And they're easy (fiddly, perhaps, but easy) and good. So why not give them a try?

Chicken Breasts and the Weekly Specials with Mary Anne

Before I get to the sales at the stores, a quick reminder for those of you who use food stamps. Don't forget that you can exchange up to $18.00 of food stamps each week for up to $36 of Market Bucks to use for fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. at the Farmers Market. You're getting the Market goods at half price. A wonderful deal!

Aldi has lots of fresh fruit on sale again this week. Strawberries are $1.49 a pound and blueberries are 99 cents a pint. Mangos are 39 cents each and seedless watermelons are $2.99 each. Cherries are new this week at $1.99 per pound. Five-pound chubs of regular (73% lean) hamburger are $10.99, or $2.20 per pound. Feta crumbles are $1.99 for 4 ounces. Kalamata olives are $2.79 for 6 ounces. “New low prices” include canola oil for $2.49 for 48 ounces, vegetable oil for $2.29 and corn oil for $2.59, both also 48 ounces. Steak sauce is 95 cents for 10 ounces. Heavy whipping cream is $1.79 per pint. Nonfat yogurt is $1.69 for 32 ounces, or one quart. Canned salmon is $2.39 for 14.75 ounces. Salad dressings are $1.29 for 16 ounces. Ketchup is $1.29 for 38 ounces. Prices are good through Tuesday, July 8.

Marsh has Oscar Meyer franks at buy one get one free, but don’t know how much that first one costs. Seedless watermelons (average 10 – 12 pounds) are $2.98 each. Prices are good through Wednesday, July 9.

IGA has boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders for $1.69 a pound, which is the lowest I can remember seeing in a long time. Corn on the cob is 5 ears for $1.00. BBQ sauces are 99 cents for 18 ounces. Frozen veggies are 10 for $10.00 or $1.00 each, for 12 – 16 ounce bags. That’s a good price for 16 ounce and ok for 12 ounce. Kraft cheeses are $5.00 for 3 packs, or $1.67 each, which is good for the 8 ounce packs and not so good for the 5 ounce packs. Tomatoes on the vine are $1.47 per pound. Prices are good through Sunday, July 6.

Kroger has 8 packs of hamburger and hotdog buns for $1.00. Cheeses are $2.99 for 12 to 16 ounces, which is good at 16 ounces and ok at 12 ounces. Sour cream and dip are $1.00 pint (16 ounces). Ice cream is $1.98 for 48 ounces (a quart and a half) but that may just be through Sunday. The ad wasn’t clear about that. Regular (73% lean) ground beef in packages of three or more pounds is $1.99 per pound. Again, that may be just through Sunday. Eckrich hot dogs are 89 cents a pound. Ground turkey is $2.50 a pound. Oscar Meyer franks are $1.50 per pound. Green beans are 99 cents a pound. Cherries are $1.88 per pound. Red, orange or yellow bell peppers are 99 cents a pound. I’m guessing that’s somewhere around 50 cents each, but it depends of course on the size. Prices are good through Wednesday, July 9.

Rats! Kroger did it again. I try to get as much as possible done on Wednesday (especially when the Hub is closed on Friday), but that means that I have to select my meat before seeing the Kroger ad. I probably would have gone with their ground beef for $1.99 a pound if I’d known they had it for sale. Oh well. I just talked about ground beef a couple of weeks ago, and anyway, you can still get it at that price and have it for hamburgers on the Fourth. Buy some extra at that price, too, if you possibly can, so you can eat it later in the month and get some variety then. Ground beef recipes are under the Meat heading of the Other Recipes page.

So, since I didn’t know about the ground beef, it’s chicken breasts this week. Which is fine since I found a whole bunch of new chicken recipes recently. Don’t forget the links to chicken recipes on the special Fourth of July post, too, and the complete list of chicken recipes under Other Recipes.

Speaking of the special Fourth of July post, be sure to check it out if you haven’t already done so. It’s got links to all of the picnic-type food that’s been posted on the new blog so far.

A bánh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich which includes meats and vegetables. (Here’s a site with a bit of info about the bánh mi.) Since I’m not doing bread, I’ve changed it to a GRILLED CHICKEN BANH MI SALAD by serving it on a bed of lettuce instead of between two slices of bread. I’m using grilled chicken breast, since chicken breast is the featured meat this week, but other meats can be used instead. And if you don’t have a grill, go ahead and season the chicken and then cook it in a skillet instead. It comes to right about $6.00 for four big servings of salad, though I had to estimate on some of the ingredients. I tried to err on the side of higher costs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave room in the budget for anything else. If you can squeeze it in, some fresh fruit would go well with this. A two cup serving of watermelon would run about 20 cents. Or serve WATERMELON ICE POPS for dessert for less than 10 cents per serving.

A traditional ingredient in bánh mi is do chua, or pickled daikon radish and carrots. I haven’t included it in this recipe because the recipe I’m copying from doesn’t use it. Here’s a link for a recipe for do chua  in case you want to try it for yourself. Daikon is available at the farmers market, though I’m not sure if this is the right season for it.

Summer, tomatoes, basil and grilled chicken all seem to go together, don’t they? BASIL AND TOMATO STUFFED CHICKEN is another take on that combination. This makes four servings at a cost of about $4.70. Add some GARLIC CORN ON THE COB and MINT WATERMELON SALAD for a summery dinner at a tad under $6.00.

Seems like there have been a lot of recipes lately that call for cooking on a grill, and not everyone has one or knows how to use it. So this final recipe is cooked on the stove top instead. CHICKEN LAZONE has a rich buttery cream sauce that would be good over rice or noodles or something starchy like that. Instead, buy a big zucchini at the Farmers Market and grate it coarsely. You want pretty big pieces – bigger than grains of cooked rice – but not too big. Maybe about the size of a piece of macaroni cut in half lengthwise? Put the grated zucchini in a bowl, cover it, and nuke it for a couple of minutes. It should still have some bite to it. Serve that alongside the chicken to sop up the sauce and, if there isn’t enough sauce, add some butter. Add some color to the plate with some sliced tomatoes.

The CHICKEN LAZONE will cost about $3.40. You should be able to get an overgrown zucchini at the Farmers Market for $1.00. A pound of tomatoes on the vine is $1.49, which brings the total to $5.90. By the way, when I say an overgrown zucchini, I mean it. Not baseball bat size, but bigger than normal. They aren’t much good for slicing that way because the seeds are too big, but grated or julienned (cut into matchsticks) they’re fine. And the farmers are usually glad to get rid of them and price them cheap.

50 Cent Budget Breakfasts

This week’s STRAWBERRY & BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE DELUXE uses plain milk instead of yogurt. You could use yogurt if you wanted to but you might need to add a bit more sugar. For a special summer treat pour the smoothie into popsicle molds (or small paper cups), stick in popsicle sticks, and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours. Send the kids outside to eat them! This makes two smoothies of not quite 2 cups each, for a total cost of $1.00, or 50 cents each.

Enjoy!

Mary Anne

Watermelon Ice Pops

4 c seeded watermelon chunks

1 T lime juice (bottled is fine, fresh is better)

Sweetener to taste

Start by tasting the watermelon. If it’s really ripe it should be sweet enough that you don’t need any sweetener.

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. (Or put into a deep container and use a stick or immersion blender.) Pour into popsicle sticks or small paper cups, add sticks, and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Remove paper cups and serve, outside and/or with plenty of napkins. 

Watermelon Pickles

(an old family recipe)

4 to 5 qts watermelon rind

Boiling water

1 T salt

1 qt cider vinegar

6-1/2 qts sugar (26 cups)

28 whole cloves

14 cinnamon sticks

Choose firm fresh melon with thick white rind. Peel and trim away all but faintest pink. Cut as desired – cubes, hearts, shamrocks, etc. (There are old-fashioned cutters designed for this sort of thing. Cookie cutters won't do because they're not deep enough.) The pieces should be about 1". Cover rind with boiling water; add salt. Bring to boil and cook 10 minutes, or until cubes can be pierced easily with a fork. Drain well. Squeeze out extra liquid. Pack in crock or enameled kettle.

Bring vinegar and 6 cups sugar to a boil; pour over rind. Let stand overnight. Each day, drain off syrup and bring the syrup just to a boil, adding more sugar as follows: first day 4 cups, second through fourth days 2 cups each day and fifth to 14^th day days 1 cup per day. Skim if needed; pour back over pickles. (It won’t hurt if you skip an occasional day.)

On 14^th day, pack the pickles loosely in hot sterilized pint jars. To each jar, add 2 cloves and 1 stick cinnamon. Cover with syrup, leaving 1/2" headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel and put on two piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Makes 11 to 14 pints.

A Smaller Version - only about 3 pints

4 to 5 cups watermelon rind

boiling water

3/4 t salt 

1 c cider vinegar

6-1/2 cups sugar

8 whole cloves

4 sticks cinnamon

Choose firm fresh melon with thick white rind. Peel and trim away all but faintest pink. Cut as desired – cubes, hearts, shamrocks, etc. (There are old-fashioned cutters designed for this sort of thing. Cookie cutters won't do because they're not deep enough.) Cover rind with boiling water; add salt. Bring to boil and cook 10 minutes, or until cubes can be pierced easily with a fork. Drain well. Squeeze out extra liquid. Pack in crock or enameled kettle.

Bring vinegar and 1-1/2 cups sugar to a boil; pour over rind. Let stand overnight. Each day, drain off syrup and bring the syrup just to a boil, adding more sugar as follows: first day 1 cup, second through fourth days 1/2 cup each day and fifth to 14^th day days 1/4 cup per day. Skim if needed; pour back over pickles. (It won’t hurt if you skip an occasional day.)

On 14^th day, pack the pickles in hot sterilized pint jars. To each jar, add 2 cloves and 1 stick cinnamon.  Cover with syrup, leaving 1/2" headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel and put on two piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Makes 3 to 4 pints.

Easy Pickled Watermelon Rind

(based on a recipe from kitchenriff.com)

1 qt watermelon rind, cut into pieces about 1” square

1 c vinegar (rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or plain white vinegar)

1/2 c water

1 c sugar

2-1/2 t table salt

1 star anise

2” piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (optional) OR 1/2 t powdered cinnamon

Cut or scoop out the flesh from about half of a seedless watermelon. You can leave about 1/2 inch of red flesh on the rind or cut it off closer. Either way works, but be sure to leave at least a little bit of pink for the color. Cut the rind into 1” strips and then peel each strip, using either a potato peeler or a knife. You want to get rid of all the green skin. Cut the peeled strips into 1” pieces and measure. You should have between four and five cups.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, star and anise and optional ginger or cinnamon in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Once it boils, add the watermelon rind, return to a boil, and simmer for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and cool for 1 hour.

Transfer watermelon rind to a 1 quart plastic container or canning jar. Don’t leave it in metal; the acid from the vinegar can ruin the metal and/or react with the vinegar to taste bad. Cover with the syrup. Refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

These pickles must be refrigerated and won’t last more than a week to ten days in the fridge. Do not keep them longer than this.

Roasted Watermelon Seeds

(based on a recipe from about.com)

1 c raw watermelon seeds (black seeds only, not the small white ones)

1 T salt

Water

Rinse thoroughly to remove any remaining watermelon. Drain, then spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet to dry. Drying outdoors in direct sunlight is recommended, but not if you have as many birds and critters as I do who would love to help themselves to the seeds! Roast seeds in a 325 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Spray with oil or cooking spray and sprinkle lightly but evenly with salt. Allow to cool completely before eating.

Note – other melon seeds can be used, too, like cantaloupe and honeydew.

Mint Watermelon Salad

(based on a recipe in Healthy Cooking, June/July 2012)

1 T lemon juice

1 T olive oil

2 t sugar

6 c cubed seedless watermelon

2 T minced fresh mint

Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and sugar together in a small bowl. Combine the watermelon and mint in a large bowl, then drizzle with the lemon juice/olive oil mixture and toss to coat. 

Grilled Fruit

Did you know that you can grill fresh fruit? It's mostly just to heat it up and caramelize the sugars in the fruit. According to Rick Browne in 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes  (available in paperback or for the kindle), bananas, halved lengthwise, need 6 to 8 minutes over direct, medium heat. Cantaloupes, cut in wedges, also need 6 to 8 minutes over direct, medium heat. Pineapples, peeled and cored and cut into 1/2” slices, need 5 to 10 minutes over direct, medium heat. And whole strawberries need 4 to 5 minutes over direct, medium heat. He also gives grilling times for apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and pears, if you’re interested. I’m guessing that you could do some fancy fruit kabobs and grill them. Watermelon can be grilled, too. Grill thick wedges over high heat for about two minutes per side. Some say to salt it first and drain it to get rid of some of the juice, others say to brush it with honey or balsamic vinegar, and others to just leave it plain.