I just spent $9.99 on toilet paper, $36.97 on food and $9.25 on two birthday gifts, one for my little guy and one for a different niece. The clearance toys and sporting goods are an additional 50% off today.
Average daily spending for 2015: $16.25
The average factors in the next three no spends and does not factor in cat food I'm going to need to purchase probably today.
The food waste situation is on the verge of getting out of control here.
I bought a beautiful large orange today, sliced up the three wrinkly clementines, and I'm working on another batch of orange marmalade right now. I'm not sure how well it will work out but I sliced up the yuck strawberries that didn't have any mold on them and threw them in with the oranges. It'll be an interesting batch of marmalade with orange, clementine, strawberry, and a little rum.
The other three strawberries got tossed out. I think I'll freeze the bananas and use them for smoothies. I'm highly contemplating using my new mini muffin tin to make a batch of apple Tassies with those two rapidly decaying apple halves. That'll be the second batch of Tassies I've ever made.
I've also got some creamy mushroom chicken in the fridge that I need to use up and I'm not sure if I should transform it into soup or just freeze it before it's too late... Something must be done about it today! Really keeping close tabs on the food we throw out is leading me to believe I threw out way more food than I ever thought before. It takes some work but I'm glad to be trying to utilize all of the food we bring into our home. It's only fair to the food, the people who produced it, and certainly the animals that gave their lives. AND it certainly helps save money.
Good choice to freeze the bananas, but I think I'd use them for banana bread/muffins rather than a smoothie. I find that making a smoothie with overripe bananas makes it taste, well, like overripe bananas, especially with ones this far gone. The flavor can be really overwhelming, at least for me.
ReplyDeleteThey are great for bread or muffins though. And I've heard that the riper the banana, the more moist and less crumbly the bread is. I wonder if your marmalade would be good on it. I love apple butter on mine, with a good smear of butter, of course.
I think I might have to try your orange marmalade recipe too. I've got a bag of navel oranges that are getting a little dry in my fridge. I got some at the same time as mandarins, and though we like the flavor of navels better, the easy-to-peel-ness of the mandarins won out almost every time, and now we're kinda burnt out on eating oranges.
I was thinking banana bread but I didn't want to have to make it right now. The marmalade turned out awesome again. I truly never knew I liked orange marmalade but I love the stuff! I highly recommend it although I haven't exactly followed a recipe since I've been using odd amounts of fruit but it's turned out great both times.
DeleteYou can definitely use the frozen bananas for bread (and I think it leads to better bread than just using them fresh). Unlike other commenters, I just freeze mine whole in the skin. Then when I take them out to thaw, I leave them on the counter until they're partially thawed, cut one end off, and squeeze the banana out of the skin. I might try their way though, because this is kind of a gross process.
DeleteI freeze all old bananas (skinless) until ready to make the next batch of banana muffins. I also throw in old mushy but not moldy strawberries for added flavor. That way you are not under the gun to use them - they can be frozen right along with the bananas.
ReplyDeleteOoh, so you thaw them before making the bread? Just on the counter? I hadn't thought of freezing them an then making bread with them.
DeleteDitto - I freeze them (without skin) & then defrost before making muffins. You can also use them in smoothies! To save the blender, partially defrost before throwing into a smoothie!
ReplyDeleteI freeze all leftover produce, save for oranges. I find those harder to use. But, I have a great recipe to share! We have three orange trees in our yard, so I'm always trying to find creative ways to use them. :-) http://www.food.com/recipe/fresh-orange-muffins-14325 My one caveat - if you think the oranges are super bitter, I'd remove half of the peel. If not, toss in the entire orange. Depends on how ripe/old they are. I've had success with both, but have to tweak depending on the bitterness of the oranges.
Enjoy!! :-) You can also puree the oranges, freeze, and then defrost when you are ready to make the muffins.
I've placed the bananas (skinless) and the apple halves chopped into tiny pieces for the Tassies into the freezer so I'm now in no rush but I will use them. Thank-you for the orange muffin recipe! I'll try it out sometime. I love the orange coconut bread I make from time to time and orange muffins sound great.
DeleteI have a bunch of cuties that are going to go bad soon - do you think they would work well for the orange muffins?
ReplyDeleteSue :)