Is It That Big of a Problem?

Grades of Green students have been making efforts to reduce waste in their communities during this year’s Waste Campaign. Students are cleaning up litter, reducing their plastic emissions, and diverting food waste. But what’s the big deal with waste?

Waste Affects Us All!

Pollution from single-use plastics, micro-plastics, landfill dumped food, and litter all go in our environment. This pollution can have harmful and unintended side-effects on a variety of things. Animals can choke on larger plastic pieces. Microplastics can be found in many fish and in sea salts used to season food in virtually every ocean. Landfill dumped food can leak nitrogen and phosphates into nearby water ways- damaging wildlife and creating oxygen depriving algae blooms.

In addition, the emissions created by creating many of these unnecessary materials can harm the world as well. Increased carbon emissions are reducing the nutritiousness of rice around the world, a staple crop that feeds much of the world’s developing populations.

What Can We Do?

Grades of Green’s students have been brave enough to start by addressing waste issues within their communities. By reducing plastic usage, cleaning up litter, and diverting food waste towards composting bins, students are not only helping themselves, but helping their communities learn about easy ways to reduce the harmful habits that ultimately harm us. In addition to taking direct action, students have also contacted their legislators to bring this to the attention of decision makers!

Know a brave student who can make a difference too? Have them join us in our next Campaign!

With the holiday season approaching soon, we’re sure that you’ll be looking forward to eating a delicious meal with your friends and family. But what about dealing with the scraps and leftovers after friends and family are gone?

Instead of throwing your hard earned meal into the trash can, follow these recipes from Grades of Green Mentor and former chef, Jordan, to create new delicious dishes and memories.

Post-Holiday Soup

Soup is a versatile dish that can be used for many things. Soup can be eaten as-is, used as a base for noodles, it can be used to cook rice in a rice cooker, and it can be used to make risotto as well. Use it to make a ramen, pasta, or rice dish!

1 set of Turkey or Chicken Bones and poultry leftovers

Salt

Water

Any combination of the following leftovers you may have:

– 1 – 8 Celery stalks

– 1 – 4 Potatoes

– 1 – 4 Carrots

– 1 – 3 Onions

– 4 – 8 Cloves of Garlic

– 1 – 3 Large Tomatoes

– Up to 8 Sage leaves

Steps

– Optional: Roast the turkey bones at 400 F or 200 C for 30 minutes for more intense flavors

– Place bones and poultry leftovers into a large stock pot

– Place any leftovers into the pot

– Fill the pot with water ¾ of the way full or until you are satisfied. Do not fill above ¾ of the stock pot.

– Place the heat on high and boil the pot.

– Once the pot reaches a boil, place a lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low.

– Simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can continue simmering for as long as there is enough water to prevent burning.

– Optional: Skim scum off of the top of the soup with a ladle or a wooden spoon during this time to create a clearer broth.


– Salt to taste

– Strain the bones and vegetables and place the soup into containers. Do not place the lid on while the soup is hot.

– When the soup is not radiating heat through the containers, you may place a lid on the containers and refrigerate or freeze.

– Please use or freeze the soup within 5 days.

Stuffing With Leftovers

Leftover Stuffing is a tasty way to get rid of your leftovers. By mixing leftover ingredients like pulled turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, into your stuffing, you can easily rebake another few meals.

– 1-2 quarts of leftover stuffing OR 2 loaves of bread cut into small cubes

– 1 cup of stock or water

– ½ stick of butter OR 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

– ½ – 1 quart total of any of the following:

Turkey (pulled into small bite sized pieces)

Chopped Sausage

Vegetables

Mashed potatoes

Steps

– Preheat an oven to 350 F or 176 C

– Use ½ stick of butter or olive oil to coat a baking pan. Thoroughly grease the pan.

– Mix leftover stuffing OR cubed bread with leftover ingredients and stock. Place food in the baking pan and cover with a lid or aluminum foil.

– Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

– Serve!

Vegan Demi-glace

Save your food scraps! Vegetable peels, ends, stems, skins, and washed roots are all used by chefs to create savory stocks to make risottos, sauces, and soup bases, among other things. So save your vegetable leftovers in containers in the fridge or freeze your leftovers until you have enough. These scraps can be used to create a Demi glace or jus- a savory, thick sauce that can act as a gravy that coats roasted vegetables, steaks, pastas, breads, mashed potatoes, or whatever you’d like. Traditionally, demi glaces and jus take a lot of space, time to reduce, and loads of meat. Vegetarian Demi Glace has the ability to impart as much flavor (and possibly even more) as a traditional demi glace because of the sheer amount of different umami compounds from different vegetable scraps without taking loads of space. With a little xanthan gum, pectin, or cornstarch, you can create the same texture as a gravy or slow cooked sauce in an instant.

– 4-5 quarts of veggie scraps (NOTE: mushrooms, eggplants, broccoli, garlic, celery, cauliflower are the best scraps to use for this. Please limit beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, beets to 2 quarts out of the 4-5 quarts to prevent the glace from being too sweet)

– 6 inches of dried kombu (thick dried seaweed)

– 1 tablespoon of tomato puree

– 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

– 2 ½ quarts of water (or until the veggies in tray are covered)

– 1 teaspoons of pectin OR xanthan gum OR cornstarch*
(If using cornstarch, boil 1 cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch before using).

– Salt

Steps

– Heat oven to 300 F or 149 C

– Mix all the veggie scraps, tomato puree, olive oil, and kombu very well in a tall baking tray. Spread out the veggies as well as you can for even cooking.

– Place the baking tray into the oven for 40 – 60 minutes. Check and stir the scraps every 20 minutes.

– Once the scraps look heavily browned or blackened. Place 2 1/2 quarts of water into the baking tray. Be careful and do not burn yourself.

– Roast the tray again for 30 – 40 minutes

– While the tray is roasting, mix your xanthan gum/pectin and salt. Stir well. *If using cornstarch, mix the cornstarch slushie with salt. Stir well.

– Remove the tray from the oven.
– Strain the sauce from the container into a pot. Use a ladle, pour, or a sieve. Please don’t burn yourself. The leftover vegetables can then be composted.

– On medium heat, reduce the sauce for 20 minutes.

– Add your xanthan gum/pectin/cornstarch and water mixture. Please only use one option here.

– Salt to taste and stir well. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

– Pour the sauce over your favorite foods and enjoy!