Interesting ways to use food scraps

Many kinds of food have leftover scraps that we don’t want to eat. People often toss items like broccoli stems, citrus rinds and even a few leftover teaspoons of tomato sauce straight into the trash. Instead of just throwing them out, try these ways to use food scraps:

Citrus rinds
The benefits of lemon water have been touted for years. Its antioxidant qualities can reduce the length and severity of colds. Add some lemon or orange rind to your tea for an immune system boost and a little zestier taste.

Veggie peels
Green Talk suggests saving carrot peels, celery leaves, broccoli stems, onion skin and other unwanted veggie parts by tossing them into a sealable plastic bag or container in your freezer. Once you have amassed a lot of scraps, add them to a crock pot. Fill the pot 2/3 full with veggies and water. Turn the cooker on low for 10 hours and then strain out the solid bits. Voila, a homemade broth to be used for whatever basting or soupy dish you desire. The only veggies that are bad news for this method are super earthy ones like potato peels or mushrooms. They only add a dirty flavor and will break down significantly, so skip the scraps bag and place them straight into the trash or compost.

Egg shells
Eggs are handy in the baking and pastry arts, and many chefs go through a lot of them each week. Instead of tossing the shells in the garbage, use them to clean out your disposal or clean super dirty pans! Read Food’s recipe requires 3 cups of baking soda and about two dozen dried egg shells. Grind the two together with a mortar and pestle. Be sure the eggs are totally dried before grinding them up. If you live in a warm place, you can set them in the sun for a few hours. For a faster drying time, place them in the oven for a few minutes. If you don’t want to do the manual labor part with the mortar and pestle, stick them in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is very fine. To use this handy cleaning solution, get a wet towel and apply the cleanser to the dirty surface (a greasy stove, caked-on layers of food on pots and pans or even a dirty sink) and rub until it shines like new. You’ll have a cleaner kitchen without the harsh smells of bleach or other products.