Plastic-Free Food: Day 5

For as long as I can remember "5" has been my number... I call it my favorite number, my lucky number... I often say I live by fives.  SO... of course, I had high expectations for day 5 of plastic-free food week.  

With the rain falling, I knew exactly what I wanted to eat for breakfast.  MUFFINS!!  I, seriously, have an addiction to muffins... they're so quick and easy to make AND the flavors are endless.  Today, I made Happy Herbivore's Apple Crisp Muffins.  I decided to make apple muffins because I have applesauce that I made last week and EVERY single ingredient on the list is plastic-free (thanks to the bulk bins)!!!  The muffins were absolutely amazing... I couldn't stop eating them!!  True, I do LOVE apple pie more than any other dessert... so these muffins are on my make... ummm... everyday list!! ;) Yep, the day started off AWESOME!!

At noon, the rain was pouring down... I didn't have a clue what I was going to make for lunch.  The kids shouted in unison that they wanted "PIZZA" (again), but I had to let them down because I was out of cheese.  I scoured through my pantry... trying to figure out what to make for lunch.  I grabbed a box of elbow noodles and thought that I would make Pasta E Fagioli... but looked at the little plastic window on the box and put it back.... I was starting to revert to Day 1 when I couldn't stop thinking about all the things that I wanted to make but couldn't.  Then I stopped..... stopped thinking about plastic and started thinking about food.  I made the decision that I would make soup... I had to have everything to make soup!!  I skimmed through a few cookbooks... and then looked at what I had and decided to make my own soup.... no recipes... no ingredient list to follow... Potato, Cannellini and Green Bean Soup.  It was perfect because I used what I already had and it was just what I needed (and wanted).

My afternoon was busy preparing for our camping trip... ever gone camping plastic-free??  Me neither.  Days 6 and 7 of our plastic-free food week will be spent camping... at first, I was super nervous... but after stocking up on bulk snacks, making bread, making graham crackers (YES! I made graham crackers... I'll share the how next post), making chili, shredding (paper wrapped) cheese, and filling glass (juice) bottles with water all today... I think we're about ready! (Note:  I always cook before we go camping... I find it more relaxing to reheat something than to slave over a camp stove while everyone else hangs out... extra work now means I get to chill later ;) )

Based on everything that I was doing to prepare for 2 days of camping, I wanted a simple dinner.  Once again, I had no idea what to make.  I stared at my CSA box hoping for inspiration:

Acorn squash, turnips, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, collards, eggplant, okra (in biobag) and arugula (in biobag- not pictured)



Day 5 Plastic-Free Dinner Menu
Potato and Onion Frittata
Sautéed Okra
Romaine Salad with Carrots and Red Onion

This dinner was the easiest (of all the meals I've made) to make plastic-free.  Everything naturally comes without plastic... no special requests... no plastic alternatives... they're all REAL whole foods... in their purest form... this is one the the best dinners that I never would have made if we hadn't decided to go plastic-free this week.  (Oh yeah, and I would've never bought okra had it not come in my CSA box... cooking okra tonight was a first!!!)

Before I started typing this post... I opened my email to read this:  (I think it's rather fitting... day 5 ;) )

"Starting something new allows us to choose to reset; knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward."

It's perfect... it says everything that I feel about what I've been accomplishing this week...
Moving forward, learning and growing... :)