Make Haste on your Waste!

Throughout our daily lives, food becomes an essential part of who we are. From the religious dishes that decorate the table on holidays, to the home-cooked meals that can heal your soul after a rough day, food and cuisine are an essential part of who we are. Food doesn't just affect they happy families who eat it. One can argue that the food we make has an even bigger impact on the plants and animals that live outside!

Most foods that we use to cook with have parts of them that can be reused for later purposes. In the vegetable category, most stems, roots, peels, and shells can be thrown in compost heaps, or made into organic solutions for other plants. The fruit category provides even more options! By soaking orange peels in water, you can create your own insect repellant, as citrus fruits are natural bug sprays! Soaking Banana peels in water creates solutions with densely packed nutrients like phosphorus and potassium, that help your plants in many ways. Apple peels soaked in water give your plants other nutrients like calcium that your banana solution might not provide.

Getting started with reusing our leftovers can be a bit tricky. After all, many of us don't cook so often, and finding leftovers with which to compost can be quite the challenge. I've found an excellent recipe that is not only nutritious in the kitchen, but yields many excellent and nutrient dense scraps that make excellent additions to your compost heap!

Take all of your leftover vegetables from the week. Any vegetables that have been in your refrigerator for more than a week that might spoil soon make excellent ingredients for this recipe. Make sure you have garlic, tomatoes, and herbs like rosemary. These components are vital for the taste.

Lay all of your vegetables out on a tray, and sprinkle salt, pepper, and olive oil over the top. Balsamic vinegar is optional. NOTE: the scraps from most of these vegetables should be removed at this point. Peel your onion, carrot, and cut the garlic in half, leaving it in it's shell. Peeling other vegetables like zucchini is also recommended, but not mandatory. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for around 10 minutes, or until you see the vegetables start to get soft in the middle. Cooking times can vary greatly based on the vegetables you use. Ingredients like carrots and onions can take longer to cook, whereas peppers and tomatoes don't require as much cook time. After cooked, remove any leftover scraps that you didn't previously remove (garlic shells), and blend. Sprinkle in additional seasonings at this point to taste. After doing so, you have a nutrient dense sauce! I personally love using this for pastas, but they work just as well in many other dishes. The sauce is very healthy for you, but even better, it yields a treasure trove of fertilizers for your garden:

Have fun cooking and gardening!