Since I’ve been baking my way through the Bread Baker’s Apprentice, some the breads that I’ve made are new-to-me, like Antos, a Greek Celebration bread or Casatiello, a hearty Italian brioche. Others, like simple quick-breads, are a welcome change from the kneading and proofing of a lot of the BBA recipes.
I occasionally feel pangs of guilt for the amount of time, energy and unbleached bread flour I’ve invested in what is, essentially an experiment. While the challenge has pushed me to bake outside of my comfort zone and experiment with new recipes, I often wonder if I would be better off spending my time, energy – and the money spent on unbleached bread flour – on nutritious breakfast, lunches or dinners.
A 2004 study reported that Americans toss approximately $75 billion in food each year, which is alarming when you think of how much food that could feed hungry children winds up in the garbage disposal. To give myself insurance on food waste, I sometimes like to think of new salad, sandwiches and dessert recipes that are a surefire way to use up any extra slices and loaves that might otherwise lurk in my freezer.
No matter how ubiquitous of a bread, I always like to try to do something a little inventive with cornbread. Aside from the basic variation pictured above which is a perfect accompaniment to a barbecue dinner, there are plenty of ways to spice up a simple bread, by making croutons, a delicious summer salad or even a honey-glazed variation that would make for a great dessert.
How do you reuse leftovers to avoid wasting food?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, I loooove corn bread. How do you like the BBA for baking yeast breads? I’ve been relying on the No Knead stuff for too long and I want to learn how to bake “real” bread. Would love to hear your thoughts!
I am very bad about saving leftovers. I hate to admit it but usually if it doesn’t get eaten, into the garbage it goes. Except pizza that is!
There are never any leftovers in my house. There is usually a fight over them for work the next day. If for some reason there is food left over, it is mostly frozen for later on. I can’t stand waste…..
I wish I was better at utilizing leftovers but, most of the time, they usually end up in the garbage.
I never let leftovers go to waste! I’ll add whatever it is into another meal, bring them into work for my coworkers, or just eat it the next day as it. For breads, it sounds like they’d be a good oatmeal or ice cream topping if you crumble them up!
I love to find new uses for leftover bread. That is particularly important when eating artisan breads that don’t stay fresh as long as a loaf of Wonder bread. In the past year or so I have discovered how much I love bread pudding, bread salads, gazpacho (which uses several slices of stale bread) among others. Still it is an ongoing challenge not to overeat and not to be wasteful at the same time.
Thanks for the thought provoking post and, btw, the cornbread looks fabulous!
We’re pretty good at eating all our leftovers, but I always feel bad when a recipe idea doesn’t work out and I have to toss it!
We try to plan our weekly menu so that things can be used in more than one meal. We also use our freezer a lot.
I am terrible with wasting food. The best way I’ve found to deal with it is to buy very little, which is easy for me to do since I don’t really cook.
And, Maris, I swear I resubscribed to your blog, but apparently I didn’t and I was missing it! Ahh, sorry!
My husband doesn’t do leftovers very well (although he is eating leftover ravioli from last night right now–score!), so I end up eating bits and pieces for lunches and snacks. It suits me just fine. I hate food waste! I’m the girl who wraps leftover restaurant bread in a napkin and tucks it in her purse.
I always have this challenge when it comes to leftovers. It is difficult to find a way to re-purpose things.
My hubby takes a lot of leftovers to work, which helps reduce our waste.
Maris, I have the best recipe for cornbread pudding EVER. I’ll have to blog it soon!
That said, your cornbread came out fabulous..golden, perfectly executed ad infinitum! Great job as always!
I love using cornbread crumbs for stuffings. Freeze them in portions in ziploc bags.
Yum, I love corn bread! For leftovers I tend to try to come up with a new meal that uses the same things. But, luckily, I am not opposed to just eating straight leftovers like a lot of people in my family are. Some things are even better the second time around!