FRIDGE-CLEARING RECIPES

Frugality is an awesome byproduct of living sustainably, and to me, a big part of what I define as sustainable within the home is scratch vegetarian cooking (though I am a meat eater from time to time).

BUT- especially limiting food waste as best as I can.

We eat tons of different vegetables in my house, and the fridge is often packed to the gills with colourful produce. Sometimes some delicious (and expensive!) produce that I bought either too much of or didn’t have a plan for will be forgotten in a crisper. (See picture above of a pile of Romansco- a vegetable that when found in autumn at Fiesta Farms  MUST be purchased, though I almost never know what I’m going to do with it…)

This is where my “fridge-clearing” recipes come into play. These can be used for vegetables as well as meats and cheeses- things that are close to best before dates, and vegetables that are a little limp and have no specific destination, but can be used up with these base recipes that will be different every time you make them based on whatever you have on hand that particular day.

1. My favourite fridge clearing recipe is homemade pizza. Pizza dough can take a few hours (most of it passive rising time for the dough) but is super satisfying to make and eat and will allow you to create weird and wonderful masterpieces based on what you have on hand (leftover roast potatoes anyone?? BELIEVE ME.) My go-to dough recipe is found at Martha Stewart –  . Usign what you have on hand means you will probably never make the same pizza twice.
2. Stir fries are popular around my place, and Momofuku’s super simple and widely adored Ginger Scallion Sauce is a great dressing to go on top of anything stir fried with garlic. We often use straight up oyster sauce, too- (Lee Kum Kee is the good stuff) which is a one step yumfest that also gets dinner on the table super quickly.
3. Risotto is another really adaptable recipe that allows you to use up leftovers or use whatever is in season (I am partial to asparagus in my risotto, and often make it when the first Ontario asparagus hits stores in Spring, and season it with basil and lemon). Jamie Oliver’s basic risotto is authentic and delicious and makes you realize how it’s actually super simple to make risotto (though I won’t tell your dinner guests, this).
4. The other classic way to use up a bunch of sad root vegetables and limp celery is a vegetable soup. Easy, comforting, low calorie, it’s a nice relief to use up the parsnips you bought for some reason so they hit your belly instead of the composter. This Mark Bittman recipe is extra adaptable and also gives you tips to make sure your veggies are timed to go into the soup at the right moment, so there are no super mushy ones.

Am I the only person who impulse-buys vegetables??