CLOSED-LOOP COOKING | Helping you avoid taking out the trash since 2018

Letter to the Editor (From Gram)

September 13, 2018 by hawnuh lee 8 Comments

I’m lucky enough to still correspond with my grandmother, Helen. She’s a dang, dear woman living in rural Iowa, making cookies and cakes for sale well into her 80’s. She’s gracious beyond measure and grew up during the depression – nothing in her home was ever wasted. Gram is the OG Closed-Loop Cook! She’s also the fastest letter writer I’ve ever penned. Truly amazing is this gal and I loved her latest mail. I wanted to share this particular letter with y’all because it puts everything I’m doing with this project into perspective. Nothing on Closed-Loop Cooking is new news. Preserving, canning, making use of scraps, these were things done out of necessity and only fell out of favor as convenient cooking / prepping methods came into popularity in the late 50’s.

There’s so much to learn from these decade-tried culinary practices. Self-sufficiency, sourcing local, and building community. I shared this project with my grandmother (specifically my Tender Lovin’ Chickpeas recipe) and am grateful to share her response:

What a nice surprise to receive your beautiful letter. Good for you for helping to save our precious Earth. Not using so many “throwaways” was the way I was raised. The only tin cans we had was at special occasions when we had canned pineapple in something – also, we had gallon cans from sorghum or molasses. If we ever got small cans they were saved to start plants. The gallon cans were our lunch buckets for school lunches. They weren’t very fancy! Yes, my mom always used soda in her beans. All our beans were dried from our gardens. We canned all our vegetables in glass jars. Canning was work. Vegetables in (glass jars) had to be boiled, 3 hours of rolling boil. Corn, meat, and heavy veggies had to be under rolling boil for 4 hours. It took a lot of wood, cobs, etc. to keep a boiler full or jars boiling that long. There was no electricity, gas, or fuel. Picking up stuff to burn was the kids’ job.

And this great tidbit:

Kris (my cousin) is coming Sept 14 to enter a lasagna soup contest at Clay County Fair.
Love you!
Gram
Thanks for recipes and good thoughts.

This letter is so special. Sending all of you good recipes and thoughts as well as we keep making progress towards a closed-loop kitchen!

Stay hungry,
Hawnuh Lee
Closed-Loop Cooking

Zucchini Top Applesauce

September 11, 2018 by hawnuh lee 6 Comments

finished zucchini top applesauce recipe
It’s September, I’m officially posting Fall-inspired recipes. I can’t stop this from happening, really. As soon as I put on a second layer (long sleeve shirt included) the season’s are a-changing. I may be a bit sweaty but just ignore that… So let’s talk about my inspiration for zucchini top applesauce! Along our morning walk route with the pup in tow, I’ve noticed the same large bowl of apples sitting out, waiting to be taken home with passerby. In just short of 2 weeks those lovely, crisp neighborhood apples gained some gentle bruising, a sort of delicate floral patterning around the skin. Every morning we’d walk by and I would see them out and think, they’re starting to turn, someone should really take them home! Well finally that someone was me; I gathered the softened fruits in my sweater and had a moment of feeling really pleased about super-hyper-local produce.

red and yellow bruised apples on plate …

5 Easy Swaps towards a Low Impact Kitchen

September 8, 2018 by hawnuh lee Leave a Comment

Changing Kitchen Habits One Trash Bag at a Time

A few weeks ago we ran out of large kitchen trash bags. Ya know the ones – white, shiny plastic that you can never find the top to open and you spend too many precious minutes of your life turning over again until one of you admits defeat. Yeah, we ran out of those ones and I haven’t bought any since! I had high ambitions of bringing (dragging) my partner and sister into the zero waste fold with me and while I may have had the best of intentions, I’m realizing that introducing manageable, low impact changes in the kitchen over time is much more effective than abrupt swaps that force you to quickly change your behavior. I don’t want these people to start making trash just because they resent me *nervous sweats emoji*. So while it may have been my dream to kick the kitchen trash can altogether and never buy plastic trash bags again we’ve come to a balanced compromise for the moment.

This is where the term “low impact” over “zero waste” becomes important. Zero waste is an awesome goal to work towards but often times can feel inaccessible because there is no room for error. This may discourage folx as they transition into a waste-conscious lifestyle. Our conversation with Celia Ristow of Litterless was a great example of accessible lifestyle transitions. Especially living with other people who may not be totally sold on giving up their secret stash of flaming hot cheetos (yeah I found ‘em!), suggesting gradual “low impact” changes encourages better participation. So where to begin?

…

Favorite Vegan Almond Pulp Cookies

September 4, 2018 by hawnuh lee 12 Comments

Another amazing discovery on the almond pulp repurposing front! All the homemade almond milk this house drinks results in quite a bit of excess almond pulp. We made excellent use of it in the vegan strawberry cheesecake crust and I keep finding more places for it that don’t require time drying out in the oven! This has been a big week folx 😀 These (healthy!) cookies have something for everyone – they’re vegan, gluten-free, low sugar, and low impact. Just about every ingredient is from the bulk section and in our efforts for a cyclical kitchen we can eat these cookies guilt-free! At least I am. Let’s be real I’ve been eating these for about two days straight and still don’t feel bad about it.

Honestly, I feel pretty dang efficient when I can find multiple uses for new-to-me ingredients. It feels like I’m building up a solid repertoire of cooking knowledge – an awesome platform to keep create sustainable meals. I think your kitchen space should be flexible and empower you to use the things you have on hand. You can do so much with just a few things in the fridge! This helps with a “use-it-up” mentality that helps prevent food waste. Hopefully sooner I’ll be able to do a monthly recipe round up where you can peruse 10 different ways to use your leftover nut pulp! I hope you’re equally excited about this.…

DIY Low Impact Produce Wash

August 30, 2018 by hawnuh lee 3 Comments

I’ve learned that buying local / loose produce at the farmer’s market or grocery store inevitably comes with a bit of grime. Roots tangled up in dirt clods, things I keep dropping on the ground, and a range of stranger’s hands my produce has passed through to get to me. I have somewhat of an obsessive contamination-oriented mind. It’s a blessing and a curse. So I think a lot about where food has been, how it’s traveled and who’s tended to it lovingly (besides myself.) This state of mind inspired quite a bit of research into a DIY, low impact produce wash! Even your cleaning products should be making a sustainable effort pals.

…

Changing Kitchen Habits One Trash Bag at a Time

Footer