someone's in the kitchen

Ages ago I tried to make a pledge to myself that I wouldn't throw out food, if I could help it. It pains me to not be able to finish a head of lettuce or for milk to go bad. Thinking of my mother when I was growing up, she didn't throw anything away until she used the hell out of it: bones were soup, fruit scraps were a crumble, vegetable scraps were soup stock and those that weren't edible were compost. It probably helped that my brother ate everything that was left in the fridge, but still. Having only as much as you can consume is kind of my goal.

I'm but one person, barely able to get through a shell of salad before it starts to go wilty. I'm lucky if I can get through yogurt without it turning, and if it gets close it gets thrown into the freezer. Stale bread becomes breadcrumbs for stuff. I still haven't figured out how to use up an entire bunch of parsley before it starts to brown. I have no idea how to tell if the squash on my counter is edible, but I'm afraid to throw it out.

One thing I've been thinking about is the apples sitting somewhere in my fridge. They're past the point of being edible in hand, but not to the apple sauce stage. Tonight I figured it was time to make the hell out of those apples. I found an apple cake recipe last week that looked pretty easy, and then last night I talked to Rachel about baking a cake and we both agreed an apple cake sounded good. I had all the ingredients for the recipe, so mixed it together in less than 10 minutes and threw it in the oven to bake while I watched TV. The cake part is light and flavourful, the apples taking up huge parts of it, the brown sugar crumb on top giving a sweetness to the cinnamon of the cake. It's pretty good. I'm pleased.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all that mac & corn that I made. It took 6 cups of cheese and my tummy can't handle that much lactose all at once. The idea of tossing it... Perhaps breadcrumbs on top or some broccoli will spice that sucker up.