Frugal freelancer Maria Rainier drops by DG with a bit of kitchen inspiration that’s creative, eco-friendly, and kind to your grocery budget, all at the same time –
Read on!

Lately, I’ve been faced with the following 2 problems:

1. Vegetable broth is expensive, especially if it’s organic, and what with horror stories of pesticides and artificial fertilizers going into my mouth and/or Mother Earth, I insist on organic.
2. You know that composting is good for the earth (vegetable scraps take next to forever to biodegrade in a landfill since they’re sitting up against plastics, metals, and other trash instead of dirt).  Still, your town doesn’t do it and you don’t have your own yard.

The solution is pretty apparent here: make your own vegetable broth out of vegetable scraps you normally throw in the trash bin (or at your dog hungrily waiting outside the kitchen).  Did you wait too long to have that spinach salad now wilting in the refrigerator?  How about the ends of onions, carrots, or celery you don’t want in your stir-fry?  For now, you can freeze them in a large yogurt container or even a plastic bag until you have enough to throw into a boiling pot of water.

Don’t leave out the following gems from your stock, either:

1. Egg shells.  Sounds weird, but you’re going to put the contents of your broth through a fine wire colander, anyway.  Egg shells can actually add calcium to the stock.
2. Apple peels and cores and peach cores.  They add a bit of sweetness to the stock.  Go easy on other fruits like lemons or bananas, though, since their flavor can be overpowering.
3. Parsley, rosemary, and thyme either from your personal herb garden or dried add lots of flavor to a vegetable broth.  Be sure to add a bay leaf or two as well as a tbsp of olive oil.
4. If you’ve got some bones lying around (from last night’s emergency grocery store rotisserie chicken, perhaps?), throw them into the pot, too.

Once you have a decent amount of frozen scraps, put them in a pot with enough water to cover the scraps and then boil.  When boiling, turn down to and keep at a simmer for at least an hour.  You can’t make a hearty broth in less time.

Pass the contents through a sieve when you’re done.  If you’re patient enough, pick the egg shells and inedible parts of the now cooked scraps out and pulse the edible pits in your food processor.  Add to the broth for more flavor and nutrients.

What to do with your cooked, nutrient-free, puny broth leftovers now? Composting is still provides the best end result.  Nearly a fourth of landfills are made of food, but since there’s no oxygen in landfills, it gives off methane (a greenhouse has 20 times more harmful to our ozone than CO2).  Even if you live in an apartment, you can compost.  Check out the Bokashi bin that allows you to compost under your very sink, and mull over the idea of vermicomposting if this isn’t your cup of tea.

The green-living experts tell us that the average family could reduce their garbage by as much as one-third, just by composting kitchen scraps and other organic wastes. Looking at the foot-path worn down from the house to our own compost bins, I believe that waste-reduction estimate!

The worst part of composting, for me, is the stinky old plastic ice-cream containers I keep under the sink to collect the veggie peelings and crumpled tissues and spent tea-bags.

One of these days, I’m going to brace my wallet to get a stainless steel beauty… maybe even one like this Canadian-sourced unit that mounts right in a kitchen countertop.

I’d never heard of such a thing before, but HWHTPT was drafting up a kitchen plan just last week that called for Blanco Solon’s organic waste bin to be installed right beside the prep sink. The minute I saw it… well, there’s a new entry in my Kitchen Wish List scrapbook!

Why bother, you ask?

Because of the best part of composting.

While my garden sleeps away the winter months under a blanket of snow, our coffee grounds and carrot peelings are turning into a gorgeous rich soil amendment and fertilizer that’s light-years beyond anything the garden centres have to sell in their big plastic bags.

When spring comes, I’ll scoop out the oldest compost from the bottom of the bin and run it through a wire mesh to catch the finest bits in my wheelbarrow, then use that fine dark compost to get my young seedling plants off to a wonderful start on the growing season.

Frugal, green, and productive of food and beauty… vegetable waste is turned back into yummy homegrown vegetables. In my books, that’s as close as you can get to household magic!

Technorati Tags: kitchen, composting, containers

Pick a Perfect Pumpkin

Start by choosing a pumpkin that’s firm, fresh, and not over-ripe. Avoid any with soft spots or obvious bruises. If you can, buy from a roadside farm stand to get the best quality in the best condition.

Ready to carve a scarey face?

Pumpkin Carving

Kraft Foods has some pumpkin carving tips and techniques for you, as well as free jack-o-lantern stencils.

And then there’s Me on a Pumpkin software that turns your favourite photos into “stencils for creating original and breath-taking pumpkin carvings,” so they say!

Children who are too young to handle a knife can be encouraged to create a painted pumpkin. Or the kids can draw on their Jack-o-lantern’s face with a marker and let a parent or other handy adult do the actual carving.

Keep your Jack-o-lantern fresh…

(In case you wonder why you’d want to bother, check out PumkinFresh.com for truly scarey pictures of a rotting pumpkin!)

Keep Halloween pumpkins in a cool place and don’t let them dry out. For example, you might wrap it in a damp towel and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to carve.

(Pumpkin Masters say that you can revive a shrivelled-up jack-o-lantern by soaking it in water for several hours.)

Once they’ve been carved, pumpkins — any cut-up vegetables, for that matter — will last longer if they are kept somewhere that’s cool but just a little bit on the dry side.

We used to preserve our Halloween art by washing down the inside of the carved pumpkin with diluted bleach and then smearing on a thin layer of petroleum jelly.

Now there’s a new spray called Pumpkin Fresh that’s said to make jack-o-lanterns last longer by discouraging mold and insects as well as keeping moisture in — basically what we did with the old Javex and Vaseline.

Jack o’ lantern Leftovers!

Don’t forget to put those vegetable remains into the compost when Halloween is over.

Oh, and save those pumpkin seeds to roast for a tasty, healthy snack!

One way to prepare pumpkin seeds for eating is to wash and dry the seeds, then toss them with a small amount of olive oil and the seasonings of your choice and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300°F for about 30-45 minutes. Shake with salt, if you like. Let the toasted seeds cool before storing.