Hey there! I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. My productive Saturday morning routine was kept intact with my usual farmers market visit, workout and work all fueled with a nutrient-packed smoothie. Now while I wait for the next round of laundry to finish I have some time to join in on a contest by @yasminep! You can check out the contest post here.
Like Yasmine, I too very much enjoy all of the beautiful food photography both here on Steemit and other social media sites. Some people make their meals into true works of art! However, I do also love the idea of sharing some "real" food, which is the idea of this contest. Just because a piece of fruit or plate of food isn't beautiful does not mean it isn't tasty or healthy. If you have ever done any gardening then you know a lot of the produce you get is not going to be perfectly round or unblemished. The supermarkets would have you believe otherwise, so we have come to expect a certain level of perfection in our food that isn't really realistic or sustainable.
I know I'm guilty of it myself--passing over a perfectly good apple that has a tiny bruise on it for one that is shiny and clean. It's kind of silly when you think of how far a lot of the food in the large markets has to travel to get to your plate that it won't have a few dents and dings. Even if you buy local, bugs take nibbles out of the kale and peaches get easily bruised just plucking them from the tree. Fresh-picked foods actually go bad fairly quickly in many cases because they don't have any preservatives added and ideally you are picking them at the perfect ripeness level to eat immediately.
Besides just helping cultivate a more sustainable approach to food buying, grabbing some overripe or banged up produce can sometimes save you money. I know at the end of the day many stands at the farmers market will reduce the price of the fruits and veggies that haven't sold yet. The bigger supermarkets also markdown browning bananas and other items to try to keep from losing money. I think most other vegans I know would fight for those super ripe bananas!! As long as you can be a little flexible with your shopping times you can definitely save some money buying the ugly stuff no one else seems to want!
So you have your ugly produce, now what? One of my favorite ways to use up squishy berries or wilted greens is in smoothies. Though I like smoothies ok, I still prefer to eat most of my calories as opposed to drinking them. This means I want to get the most bang for my buck as far as nutritional value when I make a smoothie so I don't waste those calories. Because I throw in lots of greens, sprouts, random veggies and fruits my concoctions generally come out an unflattering shade of brown.
Our blender is pretty good, but not great, so there's usually a few chunks left in there, too. I may have mentioned before one of my girlfriends jokes around that I'm drinking dragonflies and grass. Of course I prefer when they taste a little more palatable, but I hate wasting food so I'll chug it down even if it does come out a little Earthy. ;)
This one I made last week was definitely an "everything but the kitchen sink" variety. I put more stuff in there than not since I was trying to use up the rest of my beets and sweet potatoes, as well as finish off some greens before they went bad. Which brings me to another idea to use up some ugly greens that I have shared previously...
Green ice cubes! These are great to make ahead to pop in a smoothie for that extra green nutrient power. I just toss in a bunch of leafy things in the blender like beet tops, spinach, kale, and mint from the garden and whiz it up with some filtered water. Pour it into an ice tray and you have an easy addition for your latest smoothie combination. Since they are essentially pre-blended, it actually helps get the greens more incorporated into your drink so it may help make it more palatable to some. Beet greens make for an especially muddy-colored smoothie, but they are loaded with nutrients, so totally worth it!
What are your favorite ways to use up "ugly" produce? If you have any good tips make sure to share them on @yasminep's post or do your own to join in on the contest, too!
