Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Dont' Waste...

Lately Lew has been confronting me on an issue that is not a new one....not wasting food. Now I have to admit I do not waste food intentionally, but usually it goes a little something like this:

I go to the store I see grapefruits on sale..well i like grapefruit (Lew doesn't) but I still buy a good amount anyways b/c they are on sale....then I see some bread that I really like... I like bread (Lew really doesn't) but I still buy it anyways....then I see that its cheaper to buy a gallon of milk instead of 1/2 a gallon...so why not....you can see where I am going with this. With only 2 of us it's very hard to eat all of the groceries we buy per week especially the produce! This means I have to plan very well and keep track of what produce and other perishables we have on hand so that when I am planning meals I can incorporate them in someway...and therefore not waste them. My Mom can vouch for this struggle as I would often times do the same thing when I lived at home except I didn't have my own fridge, just my own drawer in the fridge. Many times my Mom would complain of a really bad smell in the fridge to soon discover there was once again some unidentifiable item rotting away in my drawer...yuck! So I have been trying to get creative and make things with my perishables when they are on the verge of going bad. It actually has been kinda fun.

So this week I made Caramel Bread Pudding thanks to Allrecipes.com
This is my second time using this recipe and it's so great. I have used french bread and that was very yummy, and this week I tried to be really innovative...I had 4 slices of stale oatmeal bread and two wholewheat bagels that were also on the verge of being stale...I also had some milk that was just about to expire....and yes, once again it turned out so yummy.

Ingredients:
6 slices stale (not moldy!) bread broken up into small (1/2") pieces.
1 C hot water
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs lightly beaten
2 C warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teas. vanilla extract
1/2 teas. ground cinnamon
1/8 teas. salt

Directions: Place bread in a greased 2 qt. baking dish. Combine water and brown sugar, pour over bread. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over bread. Let sit for at least 10 minutes, mix bread around a little if you see any dry pieces on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 min or until knife in center comes out clean. You would never know your eating stale wholewheat bagels ;)

4 comments:

Lew said...

sounds yummy! I can't wait to try it!

Mrs. Ellis said...

Just a little tip, Laura Lou.....When you go shopping, before you go into the store, pray and ask God for His wisdom on what to buy. Pray that He would guide you and if you pick up something you shouldn't get that He would direct you to put it back. I learned this when we had a limited amount of money for food, and to this day, I still always pray, and God is a great guide and provider for our needs(not always our wants)

megan haughery said...

yum... looking forward to making it!

Renee said...

Laura--I went through this same thing a few weeks ago. I found myself wasting food that I bought and never used. I think I found a solution that is working well for us so far. Remind me to tell you about it when I see you next!