What kind of thoughts or feelings does the above photo bring up? I am always in awe of the produce section of a supermarket or farmer's market. It's not just the beautiful colors, the leafy-ness, and textures, it's the energy. There's so much life here! Sometimes, these feelings are enough to make me overbuy vegetables resulting in some or many going bad before I can eat them. I am more mindful of that now and it happens less often. I go to my favorite farm once a week and supplement as the week winds down with veggies from the grocery store. I have found that being open to going to the store mid-week allows me to always have fresh produce and reduce/avoid food waste and costs.
Food waste is a real issue, here in the United States the numbers are staggering. According to Feeding America:
Each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.
Food goes to waste at every stage of food production and distribution - from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes. Food waste in our homes makes up about 39% of all food waste - about 42 billion pounds of food waste. While commercial food waste makes up about 61% of all food waste or 66 billion pounds of food waste. Feeding America focuses on reducing food waste on farms and in food service, manufacturing, and retail. - Click here for the full article
One of the ways I make sure to use my veggies is in soups and stir fry dishes. Since it's July and too hot for soup (if you ask me, anyway) I rely heavily on a good stir fry to use up what's left. I love making stir fry because you really can add just about any leftover veggies you have, and if you're making stir fry more than once a week you just need to switch up the sauce to make it taste like a completely different dish, even if the veggies within are the same. I also alternate having it over rice or mixing in different types of noodles to keep it interesting as well.
Here's my latest stir fry. This is a simple one, sometimes, I can get wild and throw in a lot of veggies. It really depends on a few things, how much I feel like chopping/cutting vegetables, what I'm in the mood for, and what's in the fridge. This one was just broccoli, red bell pepper, and shiitake mushrooms. The mushrooms weren't yet in the wok when I took the first photo. As you can see, in this dish I used rice noodles and added tofu.
Rice noodles are gluten-free but this dish isn't as I used soy sauce in the sauce, you can make the swap for Tamari, which is gluten-free. This sauce is from Nisha Melvani's cookbook, Practically Vegan. She was a recent guest on my podcast, check out her episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
I've talked about mise en place a few times on my blog but I'd remiss if I didn't mention it here. Mise en place is the best way to make sure you are prepared in the kitchen, especially as a new or returning cook. Having everything prepped before you begin cooking changes the entire experience (for the better!) I find it incredibly helpful when making stir fry as this process, once started, moves very quickly. Check out my previous blog The importance of mise en place here.
Oh, before I forget, we went out for vegan ice cream over the weekend! This is "Sprinkles and Cake" from Windy Brow Farms in Newton, NJ. They are not a vegan establishment but definitely always have multiple vegan ice cream flavors which you can get by the cup or the pint!
I've got plans to batch cook some rice and lentils while making dinner later, so, we'll talk about how that went tomorrow!
The final episode of Season 3 is live today! Check out my interview with Food Inclusivity Expert, Heather Landex. If you have food allergies, make sure to check out this episode. Heather says some things that honestly blew my mind! Did You Bring the Hummus is available wherever you get your podcasts and my website.
Despite the rain last night, fireworks were booming. Here's my blog about why we need to avoid fireworks. https://www.didyoubringthehummus.com/post/why-i-say-no-to-fireworks-and-why-you-should-too
I am beta-testing a 4 week go vegan program, details are coming on 7/4. If you'd like to learn more, send an email to didyoubringthehummus@gmail.com with the subject "I'm in!" and in the body of the email let me know which time zone you're in. I'll be sending out an email on 7/4 with details about the program, you can decide then if you'd like to participate.
We can all get better at not letting food go to waste. Do you like Risotto? There are so many ways to make it, using most veggies.
I tend to end up with bad veggies as well. I hadn't really thought about improvising with my veggies. I always look for recipes (chemistry major here) so I don't improvise as much. I need to do better
I'm with you forget the fireworks! The idea of have everything prepped before you start is a great one. I didn't know that it is called mise en place. Love it! Btw that ice cream looked wonderful. Thanks Kimberly for teaching something today! - Cindy Rae