El Bee

Walked up to the local organic community garden and saved some veggies from the projected freezing temps. Made a delicious fresh salad with a Green Goddess recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz Appetite for Reduction.

I have loved cooking from recipes these past two weeks, and I very much so feel that I will continue doing so. I have only gone grocery shopping once for some supplemental items since I went the first time to buy all of my ingredients. It saves money, time, is creative, diverse, and very fulfilling to cook such decadent meals every night.

Today I made a cheesy potato casserole and a bread pudding using ingredients I rescued from a dumpster (potatoes, onions, and bagels). As always, vegan friendly. :)

I also put a brick in my  let tank to save on water and dock off a one-time challenge. 

Over the last couple of days, I have made lemon maple glazed scones with clotted cream and the most delicious broccoli dal. One obviously healthier than the other... but my heavens are these both to die for. Vegan as always! 
I have also completed a one-time challenge of mulching around trees to reduce water run off. I planted an apple and a pear, and created the start of guilds around them by also planting comfrey (a nitrogen fixer/dynamic accumulator) and other herbs/beneficial plants. Then I mulched all around them! This is just the beginning of a larger vision I have. :) 

No waste today! 

Experimented with a tofu glaze. The recipe called for a marmalade glaze, but I didn't have marmalade so I combined a plum butter and a fig jam with tamari and spices to make a glaze for mouth watering baked tofu. 
It's been over a week and all of my waste fits inside of a 16 oz jar with plenty of room, so I am feeling proud. I hope to still reduce the amount I waste to eventually only have a jar full of waste per year. 

Went to my sister's who made vegan enchiladas so I showed up with a Mexican flavored coleslaw. Cilantro cumin onion garlic and lime went into the red wine vinegar dressing. 
After dinner I had asked if she had the fruit popsicles I really liked from last time, and her boyfriend returned with one for me... Only for me to realize it came in the plastic wrapper. I wish I had said "nevermind, I don't want to create the waste," and I thought about it, but alas, I have added a plastic wrapper to my waste jar. 

It was a long day and I didn't feel like cooking something elaborate from a recipe, so I whipped up a smoothie I've never tried before: carrots, apples, vanilla almond milk, and cinnamon! It was so sweet and flavorful. A little grainy, but I didn't mind. I ate the final muffin today, therefore only creating the waste of one muffin tin. 

My cherry tomato muffins from yesterday made a great snack at work today. :) Again, that meant two muffin tins to add to my waste. I also accumulated some packing tape from a box that was delivered to me, and Band-Aid wrappers.
On every walk I have taken so far, I have picked up every piece of trash I see.

Today's recipe was Cherry Tomato Muffins featuring freshly picked cherry tomatoes from an organic, backyard garden. About 95% of the other ingredients were store bought-organic and always vegan. They turned out really savory and hearty. I will definitely be enjoying these as the perfect breakfast muffin. They were a little gooey on the inside and I suspect that is from too much tomato juice that I did not drain.
The unfortunate part is that I was not very mindful and used twelve muffin tins to bake them in. Since I am holding onto all of the waste I create, I am more aware and see how wasteful that is. I have two more muffin recipes planned, and I will not use muffin tins for those recipes. Today would have been a zero-waste day had I not eaten two muffins.

Today was a great start! I went grocery shopping for all of my recipes, stuck to my list, and shopped at a local Indian grocer for the first time where I bought garam masala, cardamom seeds, and tamarind paste. We also dumpster dove about ten pounds of bagels :) Always nice to offset grocery prices.
Once home, I prepared my new recipe: Ricotta Tofu! Found in Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan With A Vengence cookbook, this recipe seemed really simple with few ingredients. I boiled organic wheat pasta and started to make a quick sauce before I moved onto the tofu ricotta. In the tomato sauce, I used fresh, backyard-grown, organic tomatoes and basil. I also used the fresh basil in the ricotta, and the tofu I used was made locally in Cleveland. This meal was phenomenal, and SO SIMPLE. I am convinced tofu should be used for nothing else than to mock ricotta cheese, because the texture is identical. 
After dinner, my love and I went on a walk around my small town. I contemplated the importance of setting goals, and we discussed our current and future lives. 
The only non-compostable, non-recyclable trash I generated today was the little plastic piece to hold tags onto clothes (bought myself winter boots from a thrift-store!) and the ever-irritating plastic film that comes on pasta boxes. 
I am really excited to continue with this "challenge."