So, times up, two weeks, no waste?  Did you manage it?

The GLAD Fresh Food Challenge was two weeks with no food waste.  Seems simple enough but the shocking statistics show that the average Canadian family throws out 13% of all food purchased!

For our little family, honestly, it was not that much of a challenge because that is the way I shop and cook anyway.  I hate waste full stop.  I plan my meals and shop accordingly using what I have left before it goes to bad.  I buy in bulk and use my freezer to store things in correct portion sizes so I only ever defrost what I need at any one time.

For us the main use of the Glad products we were sent to try out was to deal with leftovers.  I often plan to cook a meal that leaves me some leftovers.  It makes subsequent meals easier as the bulk of the cooking has already been done.

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving and we sure had some tasty leftovers!


As always, I let the boys set the table.  Harry built us a Thanksgiving Lego robot each that would help us with all the jobs we do- mine did the washing and the cleaning (Oh I wish it were true!)

My Thanksgiving leftovers made it into two meals over two days, here is what I made;

THE HUMBLE LEFTOVER PIE

I love pie.  Its warm, comforting and is like a hug in food form.  I made a simple pastry using half white and half wholemeal flour.
So this crust was 75g white flour, 75g wholemeal flour, 75g butter (you can use all butter or part butter and part shortening), fat pinch of salt and a little water to bind.  You simply rub the fat into the flour and salt and when you have the texture of sand add a little water to bind it into a ball- don't over work it.  Wrap and chill for 20 mins then roll out and give it a good egg wash with just the yolk and a pinch of salt before it goes in the oven.

The pie was layers of leftovers and included stuffing, chicken (we had chicken instead of turkey this year), vegetables, roast potatoes and the leftover gravy.

This is hands down my favorite way with leftovers- pastry for the win every time!

LEFTOVER SOUP

I roasted some baby carrot in honey, butternut squash with some smoked paprika and some beetroot with cumin seeds for Thanksgiving lunch and the leftover veg was just begging to be made into a rich, thick bowl or warming soup.

I only needed soup for two and I had half an onion in the fridge, stored in a freezer bag or it makes the fridge smell funky!  Chop the onion and fry in a little oil until soft, add some stock and your leftover veg.  Bubble for a few minutes and then blitz till smooth.  Add a splash of cream and taste for seasoning.

Toast some fat slices of bread, butter them generously and sit back to dip your toast into your soup and enjoy.