Well, it's the end of the week again. No more school lunches to pack for a few days. A busy, hectic, weekend is no doubt in store. It's that time of the week when we run a real solid chance of having some food go bad in the refrigerator before we can get to it. Hey, now, it happens to the best of us. We do great in not wasting food and work all week at making sure we use what we bought. I also make a huge effort during grocery shopping to not over buy. I know my family's eating habits and I know what we need to do to stay healthy. It's not easy but I balance them both, and that's the key. Nonetheless there is sometimes that one random clementine juiced in it's own rind rolling around the bottom of the fruit drawer, that sad limp celery stalk in the back of the crisper, the lonely handful of grapes on their way to making their own wine. I can't let that happen!
If I notice a few things here and there that are straggling toward the end of the week I try desperately to take action. Last night we had a glorious fruit tart for desert. All in the name of conservation!
We had one plum, two small peaches, 3 strawberries, and about a 1/4 cup of blueberries (which had already made their way to the freezer for longevity's sake). Hubby offered to whip up a quick pastry dough. Then I remember a random, lonely, single pre-made pie crust that my mom brought over for the last family get-together that was never used. It's just been taking up space in my freezer...sure not a ton of space but you get my drift. Plus unless I'm making pumpkin pie I'm going to need two crusts so this lil guy was never going to be used.
We took the fruit and grilled it to really enhance the flavor. It makes the fruit super yummy! The grill adds a "rustic", earthy element to any item that I really love. Then we cut it all down to generally the same size pieces and tossed it with brown sugar, a teeny bit of cornstarch to bind and a pinch of salt to elevate the flavors. The mixture was placed in the center of the pie crust and the sides were folded up and pinched secure. We left the top open so it would cook faster, not be stretched too thin, and look cool too. With a damp hand hubby moistened the crust edges and then sprinkled a bit of raw sugar around the top. (Oh good, now there's no chance I won't eat ALL of it tonight, thanks Hubby.)
It was popped in the oven at 375degF for 15-20 minutes. We put it in as we sat down to dinner, having made it with dinner prep, and it was perfectly cooled and ready to serve right after.
In the words of my youngest, "Tso, TSO yummy". What's best is that the reality is that these ingredients could have easily found their way into the trash or compost- a total waste. All it took was a teensy bit of creativity and effort and instead we had a glorious desert.
Happy Salvaging!
Simple City Sam
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