Lets talk Sunday Roast for a moment shall we.  The British have a great tradition of Sunday Roasts and for very good reason- they are amazing and give you meat and leftovers for the start of the week.  

Lets just do a little history to see just how important those Roasts are!    

THE GREAT BRITISH SUNDAY ROAST

It is widely believed that the English people’s love of beef began during the reign of King Henry the VII in 1485. His Yeomen Warders – the royal guard – would dine on fresh roasted beef every Sunday after church, and this became such a ritual that the guards were affectionately referred to as “beefeaters”.
Throughout the Industrial Age, almost every household would pop a roast on before heading to church on a Sunday. It had become an all-inclusive act with a kind of religious and social importance to it, and as playwright Henry Fielding exclaimed, “it ennobled our brains and enriched our blood”. The nobility would hang an entire animal on a spit in front of a huge fireplace and slowly roast it, while those who could not afford the larger cuts of meat, let alone a fireplace, would drop off a more modest cut to their local baker en route to church. The baker would use their empty bread ovens to cook the meat and hand it back to the villagers in time for lunch. No doubt in those times this was the best meal anybody had all week (which may explain why they ate it over and again as leftovers in stews, pies and as cold cuts), and why the Sunday roast became such an important part of the week.

So lets talk leftovers now.......

The leftovers lurking in my fridge this week was slow roasted pork shoulder. I simple de-boned the cooked meat and cut it into this strips and placed it into a freezer bag in the fridge. 

Monday arrives and with busy days all around I have needy people in need of fast, comforting food. Here are my two top ideas for what to do with that leftover cooked pork:

BBQ PULLED PORK SLIDERS

Simply place some BBQ sauce and a little water in a pan and bring to a simmer. Add the pork and bubble away till the sauce has reduced. Place between some bread and enjoy.

PORK NOODLE SOUP

In a pan place a cup of water, 1 tsp Miso paste, 1 dried chilli crushed, Juice and of 1⁄2 lime, few dashes of soy sauce and simmer gently. Add two chopped spring onions and some coriander leaves torn roughly. Add a handful of the chopped pork. Add a packet or nest of noodles (I like Udon noodles) and simmer until the noodles are cooked.
Eat greedily with the bowl just under your chin as you slurp up the noodles- you will feel better no matter what has happened that day!

NOTE: Just to let you know, I was sent a whole box of Glad goodies to use for the GLAD Fresh Food Challenge.  All opinions, dirty work surfaces and children are my own! 

Simple right?

Well, when you consider that the typical Canadian Household wastes 13% of all food purchased, resulting in over $725 worth of food items wasted each year it puts the idea of food waste in a whole new light.  

Each day this week I will give you my tips on not wasting anything in the kitchen with the help of Glad products.  First off lets talk money and chocolate.................

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F
2. Melt the 125g of chocolate either in microwave or in double boiler. Remove from the heat, set aside and allow to cool for a little.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt- whisking at this stage means there is no need foe sieving (Life is too short to sieve anything!)
4. Beat the butter and sugars together until very light and fluffy. Gradually add the melted chocolate and continue beating just to combine everything.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat in the egg.
6. Then gently add the dry ingredients and stir in the chocolate chips.
7. When the dough has come together scoop up dessert spoon-sized chunks of dough and place them on to two lined baking sheet.  One will be going into the oven and one in the freezer for later, so decide how many you want to bake and how many you want to keep for chocolate chip cookie emergency days!  
8. Bake for oven ready ones for about 16-18 minutes. Leave them cool completely before transferring to wire racks.
9. Once the freezer bound cookies are frozen simply transfer into a freezer bag and stash in the freezer.  When a chocolate chip cookie emergency arises simply take how many you want to bake from the deep freeze, place on a lined baking sheet and allow to defrost slightly as the oven comes up to temperature.  Bake at 320 F for 16-18 minutes.  Allow to cool if you can but in times of true emergency just allow to cool enough not to burn your face and enjoy!  

 I promise you, the knowledge that you have these chocolate bad boys lurking in the deep freeze is instantly comforting!
TIP: If you are placing anything in the freezer to bake for later just write down the cooking instructions on the bag with a sharpie.  I made the above cookies slightly smaller that the above recipe, so reduced the baking time from 16-18 minutes to 10-12 minutes.
Now I accept that this is not really about food waste and more about money waste but I figured chocolate was a good place to start any project and tomorrow we are talking soggy, unhappy looking fruit!










NOTE: Just to let you know, I was sent a whole box of Glad goodies to use for the GLAD Fresh Food Challenge.  All opinions, dirty work surfaces and children are my own! 

Are you ready to make gingerbread fish now?  Of course if you don't have a fish cutter, please feel free to use any shape you have.  The sillier the better I say;

Fsh

OK, I promise, no more fish jokes, for now, just go make some gingerbread before I think of anymore.......