Moldy Monday - Waste Not Want Not

I heard that! "Oh it's just a little bit of mold. I can just pick that right off. My kid won't notice the hole in the crust. They're not going to even eat the crust...are they?"

Fess up. How many have you done this?

That's what I thought. All of you. Seriously?! I hate to tell you this but once one spot appears, you can bet the whole loaf is covered with a fine network of hyphae which can be so fine that they are not visible to the naked eye.

Necklace from Artist Sarah Norton's
Etsy store Beat Black

My dear there is nothing worse than wasting food. You don't want to throw it out, you don't want to eat it. I get it. Blagh-urgh! But is there a way to avoid food poisoning and not toss the bread in the garbage? Absolutely.

First take the bread you do have and cut it up into smaller pieces and compost it, but be certain it's covered by a layer of compost to prevent animals or birds from eating it. If you don't or can't compost you are going to have to toss it. 

The best way to manage bread is to keep it at room temperature (Vintage bread boxes are kickass!) only as much as you can eat before mold appears.

What amount is that exactly? Jezzum, how should I know?! My family is all over the map with this. Sometimes it's four loaves of sliced bread in a weekend. Sometimes it's two slices.


My family is fickle too. None of that crappy Wonder/Bimbo bread. They want whole grain, honey oat, sweet sponge, fancy pants bread that mold LOVES!!!! So I blow $4 on a loaf and hope they eat it all. And get all cranky pants when they don't.

You can freeze loaves and thaw it in it's closed plastic bag. Bread products should not be refrigerated, because they will go stale, unless they're sweet breads like cinnamon swirl or breads with fruit and nuts in it.

If you have a funny bread or mold story, please share it below.

Day 24 - Leftovers, How do you know it's okay to eat that?, and Planning for tomorrow's potluck.

So I have already mentioned how much we like leftovers in this house, but I didn't tell you some of the important things that I have learned about leftovers. For one thing if you have a lot left from that evening's dinner you may want to do one of two things. Either save it and hope several people with hearty appetites will finish it off over the next three days. Or two, toss it right in the garbage. I really don't like option two; however, if folks didn't go back for seconds or pushed the food around their plates, it's probably a sign they won't want to heat it up later.

I try really hard to think about what kinds of flavors my family likes and stay within that range, but sometimes I stray out of the expected and try some different flavor combinations and my family tells me I'm trying too hard to do something too different. For example I made South American Quinoa and Beans on September 16th and Vegan Tofu Stew on Basmati Rice on September 21st. Guess they were not the hit I'd hoped they'd be because I had to use the two large containers, and they are still sitting in the fridge. UGH! Which leads me to the second part of this post, which is, "How do you know it's okay to eat that?"

Well leftovers should really only be in your fridge for three days, maximum. That's it! Three! More than that and the food breaks down, bacteria and mold and other delightful organisms start to move into suburbs and pick out school districts. I'm serious. The food may look and smell tasty on day five, but honestly do you want to chance dealing with food poisoning later that day because it looks good? So I spent the half hour before writing clearing out items of a questionable nature. Which makes me sad. Only here in well off countries like America, do we make food, save it, and then not eat it. I try so hard to make just enough to feed my family of four (sometimes five) so that there is nothing remaining, but sometimes I over guesstimate and end up with three extra servings of a dish. I suppose I could ask my family what they would like for dinner the next night, but I don't usually get helpful answers. I can't deep fry, stir fry, or make pizza every night...

For tomorrow night's potluck I decided to make chicken and potatoes in garlic sauce in the crock pot. It's tasty and smells divine and just a little is very filling and I figure it being a potluck, with other dishes coming made from local and seasonal and organic ingredients, this will probably compliment many of the other offerings. I hope those of you who are able to make it to a potluck celebrating the NY Locavore Challenge enjoy your evening, and keep working on the challenge until the end of the month, I believe we can do it together!