Waste Not, Want not - Single Vegetables

WASTE NOT,  WANT NOT

LONELY HEART VEGETABLE

 

 

It's the end of the week and you look in the fridge for something to make a meal.  But all you find is a lonely single carrot or courgette, and your left thinking "What can I make with that!!!"

 

 

To reduce food waste I now do smaller shops, more often than one large monthly one.  By only buying what I need for that week I have reduced the amount of food I need to throw out.  The only problem is I usually end up with random single vegetables in my fridge.

 

 

 

Carrots

There's a lot you can do with a single carrot, it can go with any global cuisine.  Or more often a Hybrid of more than one, depending on what I have in my store cupboard.

Cous Cous

Add a grated carrot to cous cous for a quick meal.  I first make my cous cous up with a little veggie stock and add in a pinch of ground cumin.  For a Moroccan feel I like to add some dried raisins as well, they plump up great in the stock.

If you have fresh herbs, you could always add them instead.  Cous Cous is a pasta and doesn't have a lot of flavour, so needs a little help to make into a tasty meal. 


Porridge

Make carrot cake porridge for breakfast, just add a grated carrot into your porridge before cooking along with some mixed spice or cinnamon.  Before dishing up stir in some raisins for sweetness. 


Coleslaw

A great way to bulk up shop bought coleslaw is to add some grated carrot.  Would also be great with diced red pepper or spring onions. 



Courgette


Pasta

I usually buy courgette to make ratatouille I like to  stir it through my pasta or serve with polenta.  However my new favourite way is to mix lemon juice and a little vegetable oil with fresh grated courgette.  I drain my pasta and leave a little of the water, the starch in the cooking liquid helps my courgette pesto stick to the pasta.

Or you could serve as a pasta salad, by cooking your pasta as normal then running under cold water to cook it down.  Once totally cold stir in your courgette pesto, the vegetable oil will stop the pasta sticking together.

It works for any left over pasta, cool down under cold water, drain then stir in 1 tsp of vegetable oil.  You can keep it in the fridge till your ready to mix with any lonely single vegetables.


Raw

The simplest way to use lonely single veggies is to cut them up and eat them raw as a snack or with a dip.

For Christmas dinner last year, I ate hummus with sliced red apples as a starter.  They just work great together, Its better Tortilla chips. 

Why not bulk up a salad with diced raw fruit, along with your vegetables. 


Free Range Eggs

Traditional Spanish omelette is made with onions and left over cooked potatoes. Which just goes to prove that nearly ever vegetable will work in an omelette.

Most vegetables can be sweated off first in the frying pan before adding your egg mix.  However root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and turnip are best either boiled or roasted.  Roasting veggies is the one I most prefer, it gives them a lovely sweet caramel taste.

For vegans out there why not use roast veggies in your Tofu omelette or Tofu quiche recipes. 

I now need to go practice what I preach and

figure out what I'm going to cook for dinner tonight xx