Making your kitchen more sustainable and waste-free doesn’t have to be daunting, because small steps can lead to meaningful changes. Making your home kitchen more eco-friendly doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Even small steps can lead to meaningful change. Carrot and radish tops, turnip greens, potato peels keep these nutritious bits out of the trash can, here are tips, tricks, and recipes to green up your kitchen.
Potato & Carrot Peel Soup
Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Servings: 2 to 4
INGREDIENTS
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1½ cup onion, chopped
• 3 cups fresh carrots peels
• 2 cups potato peels
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups milk or cream
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
METHOD
1. In a medium-size pot, heat butter
2. Add onion and carrots to pot and sauté, stirring frequently until onion is translucent.
3. Stir in potato peels, stock, and bay leaf.
4. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes, until carrots peels are soft and begin to pull away.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Stir in milk or cream, and let soup cool slightly.
7. Use a blender to puree the soup in batches in a countertop blender (only fill the blender halfway).
8. Top with more butter and serve warm with salad or bread.
Cool Cucumber Peel And Chilli Dip
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Servings: 1 bowl
INGREDIENTS
• 2 cups cucumber peel
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 2 teaspoons chopped green chillies
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• ½ cup chopped tomatoes
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts
• 1 ½ teaspoon olive oil
• Salt-to taste
METHOD
1. In a pan, add oil, heat it and add onion, garlic and green chili.
2. Fry until translucent, add roasted peanuts and fry for couple of minutes.
3. Now add tomatoes, cucumber peel, 1/4 cup water, cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium flame.
4. Turn off heat and let them cool for 20 minutes
5. Blend or process until completely smooth and serve with carrot sticks or chips
Vegetable/Fruit Peel Chips
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Servings: 2 to 4
INGREDIENTS
• 4 cups dried vegetable peels, and/or fruit peels (e.g., bananas, sweet potato, carrot, apple, beet, etc.)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or canola oil
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for serving
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1½ tablespoon nutritional yeast, plus more for serving
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Lay the peels on 2 paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheets and pat dry. Let sit for 20 minutes to continue to air dry.
3. Place the peels in a large bowl, then add the oil, salt, corn starch and nutritional yeast. Toss to evenly coat.
4. Discard the paper towels, evenly divide the peels between sheet and spread into single layers.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the peels are golden brown and crispy (rotate the baking sheets if needed)
6. Taste the chips and adjust the seasoning with more salt or any other seasoning.