Let's not waste anything!

We often buy specific ingredients for a recipe, put the leftovers in the cupboard or the fridge thinking that we will re-use this ingredient, and month later, when we decide to do a bit of a clean-up in the supply closet, we end up finding that ingredient ... now spoiled.

We say NO!  Let's not waste anything!

Let us give you a list of ideas to not waste perfectly good ingredients.

Chorizo:
Leftover chorizo is never a problem. You can eat it just by itself for an appetizer, you can use it as a pizza topping, or along with Sun-Dried Tomatoes in a Sun-Dried Tomato and Chorizo Cookie or Sun-dried Tomato and Chorizo Risotto. Or you can try to make our Spanish Omelette with Chorizo.

Egg whites:

If you only need the yolks for a recipe, don't throw away your egg whites.  With egg whites, you could bake Meringues or make a Strawberry Mousse.  You could also make egg white omelette. And you can also freeze them.

Ginger:

If you buy a root of ginger or even some ginger powder to make our Orange Ginger Salmon with Roasted Red and Orange Peppers and Butternut Squash recipe, and you don't know what to do with the ginger left, here are few ideas: try to make the Salmon with Ginger and Sesame, mashed potatoes seasoned with ginger, ginger cookies, or ginger tea.

Goat cheese:

Goat cheese can be used in lots of recipes such as with pizza (check out our goat cheese and chorizo pizza recipe), with salads, on toasts grilled in the oven, with appetizers (check out our Sun-dried Tomato with Goat Cheese Tartlets recipe).

Mushrooms:

Mushrooms are always tricky as lots of people are a bit reluctant to eat mushrooms, and sometimes without any other reason than mushrooms are fungi. So, try to be creative with mushrooms.

You can use mushrooms in a lot of your current recipes like adding them in your Quiche, or with your pastas, or even raw as a salad with a crème fraîche vinaigrette sauce.

You can even try making a Mushroom Risotto, a Chicken Marsala with Green Beans, or putting them on a pizza.

Pineapple:
If you buy a tin of pineapples to make a dish such as Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken, you might find that you have some pineapple pieces, or the juice from the tin, left over. No worries, we won't throw that stuff out. First, the pieces make for a great garnish on a pineapple flavoured dish. Second, they are just great to eat by themselves, straight out of the can! If you really want to be adventurous, wrap some bacon around a chunk of pineapple, secure it with a toothpick, and toss it into a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes or until the bacon is cooked. Why not try making our Pineapple and Shrimp Verrine?

Portobello mushrooms:

Portobello mushrooms are delicious and savory, but they are not cheap, so don't waste anything!

You can try our Portobellos Stuffed with Lamb recipe or our Portobello Mushroom Burger recipe.  Or just slice your portobello mushrooms, sauté them in olive oil with a bit of ground pepper, and serve them as a side dish with some parmesan cheese grated on top.

Sun-dried tomatoes:

Depending on where you live, sun-dried tomatoes might be sold in the expensive World Food Department of your supermarket, so obviously if you are not used to them and you use them to make the Sun-dried Tomato with Goat Cheese Tartlets, you might be wondering what you are going to do with your leftover sun-dried tomatoes.

Let us give you few more ideas: You could use sun-dried tomatoes for salad (like in our Roasted Potatoes, Sun-dried Tomatoes, and Smoked Duck Fillet Salad), pizza, pasta, or even as an appetizer mixed with olives.
You can also try to make our Sun-dried Tomato and Chorizo Cookies or Sun-dried Tomato and Chorizo risotto.

Yolks:

If you only need the egg whites for a recipe, don't throw away your yolks.  With yolks, you could bake Vanilla Cream, Chocolate Mousse, or sponge cake.  You could also use your yolks to make mayonnaise (or any variation such as aioli), hollandaise sauce, or pasta carbonara.

Feel free to add any ingredients to this list and give us few ideas on what you can do with them in order to not throw away the food.