Over the last few years I have seen this phrase on food blogs and general comments here, there and everywhere. This last year my frugal lovin' soul saw it more than ever. The average family throws away 25% of their food a year and this is what it looks like. Why? Do you have any answer for me?
Don't get me wrong, there are good 'threw it outs' and bad 'threw it outs'. And then there is the what were they thinking or not thinking 'threw it outs'.
The Good: 6 week old piece of fried fish that slipped down behind the crisper
Great Aunt Mildred's Jello Surprise that is 2 weeks old
The jar of flour with fluttery things in it
The ziplock bag of frozen freezer burned chicken feet from 2009
Possibly the can of Mandrin Oranges that expired in 2005
The Bad: The pumpkin pie made for the holidays that "just didn't taste right"
The 4 gallon pot of chicken stock that took hours to make that is "a little cloudy"
The beginner's loaf of white sandwich bread that "didn't rise as high as the one in
the picture"
The Ugly: The two day old pizza sitting in the fridge
The milk/yogurt/cottage cheese that expired yesterday!
The casserole dish that a neighbor brought when you were sick and you didn't like one ingredient in it
The piece of salami that fell on the counter top that was to be used in a sandwich
1/2 gallon of organic apple cider vinegar because it was cloudy!
I have seen all of these "reasons" posted in articles/diaries/posts or comments over the past year. Have we become a society that is so brainwashed and afraid of any and all germs that we will be wiped out by our lack of resistance to the little buggers? Or have we just lost our logical thinking and common sense?
^-^
And now for a little palate cleansing humor: Michael Ruhlman's Rant on French Fries and Cancer...do read the comments. Some are hilarious!
CIBATTA BREAD
Rising Cibatta
This week I made a DOUBLE batch of Cibatta bread! I used my biggest SS bowl and still the dough almost ate they oven where it was rising! I made a biga first and let that sit for three days to gather some wild yeast on top of the active yeast I used. Then I added the flours (this time I used 3/4 AP and 1/4 Bread flour, and I think it came out more elastic and rose nicer. I stirred the biga, water and flours until just mixed then folded it in the bowl several times while rising for three days in the fridge. I never "punched it down". In this instance of making bread, I felt that wasn't going to help with having a 'holey' bread like Cibatta. After turning it out on my pastry cloth, it was wet and puddley. I divided it into loaves and then shaped and put on the parchment paper with wet hands. The dough didn't stick and the wetness contributed to a crusty outside. Let it rise and bake on a pizza stone still on the parchment. The double batch made 5 loaves, 4 of which are wrapped and in the freezer! This method really created a nice crusty outside and chewy but moist inside that tastes heavenly.
Crusty Cibatta Loaves
Tonight for dinner we are having Fettuccine Alfredo with mushrooms in it and peas and the last of our homegrown carrots on the side. WFD at your house?
PS - Please think about writing a WFD diary for this wonderful community. It's really fun getting into creating one. I remember my first diary...