Week 13:Reduce Food Waste

As I look back on my life I see some definite failings in the area of food and thriftiness.  I vividly remember not that many years ago buying groceries on Saturday afternoon and then throwing most of the produce away that was in the refrigerator and replacing it with what I had just purchased.  And, then the next Saturday-yep, the same thing.  I don't dare imagine how much money I threw away by not using the food that I had purchased, which is why this week is devoted to reducing food waste.

I had this whole litany of tips in my head for this post, but they were tossed aside this morning when a daycare mama brought me a present (not really!).  She brought me a bag of Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and said that they were the nastiest cookies she (or anyone else brave enough to try) had ever eaten.  Great!  Thanks.  Bring your nastiness to me.  But, then I decided that since good money had been spent on these "cookies," I would try to salvage them.  I actually just looked up the price of these things and OMGoodness that is ALOT of money!

I broke off the edge of a cookie and tasted it.  Yes, I would have to agree-not tasty!  I broke my piece in half and tried to feed it to my guy but he sniffed it and said "gross!"  After pondering my options, I decided a muffin might be the best course of action.  I threw the bag of cookies (6) into the food processor and ground them up into bits, similar to granola.  Then I started adding with reckless abandon.

6 Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, pulverized into crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup of sugar (evaporated cane juice)
2 eggs
Pulse to blend wet ingredients and cookies
Then add:
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups whole white wheat flour
Pulse until completely blended.

I tasted my concoction and it was sooooo much better, but I decided I needed to give it a little ooomph!  I dumped in 1/3 of a bag of mini chocolate chips and mixed that in.  I filled my mini muffin pan using a 1 tbsp. scoop and baked them for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

We changed up our menu plan and had these muffins for morning snack.  Every child ate 2 and most ate three muffins (even the child from whose home the cookies were delivered and my kiddo who had declared them "gross").  It was a stunning victory.  Now, the problem is that this mama is going to bring me the remaining 46 bags of cookies.  I just know it! LOL

Now, am I suggesting that you run out and buy hideously overpriced, bad tasting cookies so you can remake them into something edible?  Heck no!  But, we've all made some less than stellar dishes, or let the bread sit out and get stale or let the grapes sit in the fridge a day or two too long.  Instead of throwing that food (money) in the trash, how about brainstorming other ideas to reuse and reinvent that food into something new and maybe even better?