Don't waste that bread!!

I hate wasting food. It's unnecessary, speaks of poor planning and galls my budget-conscious self. Additionally, I small part of me dies when I treat myself to a loaf of herb asiago cheesebread from The Fresh Market and I can only eat half of it before the rest goes dry and hard. It's not careless waste really, it's I'm-only-one-person-trying-not-to-over-indulge waste, but still! It's cheesebread!! It deserves better than to be cast aside, unsavored and unappreciated.

My younger sister and room mate, Crazy Cora, found me in the kitchen the other day mourning this very situation. A few nights earlier, we had shared several glasses of chianti and gotten sufficiently fussed over how the glorious stone-baked loaf crunched and how tearing off pieces and dipping them in a bowl of olive oil, salt and pepper was proof that God loves us. (what can I say? we're Italian Catholics, we know how it's done) But two days later, I was standing next to the trash can with the other half of the loaf in my hands, trying not to think about what a crying shame it was to toss it.

Fortunately, Crazy C is a smart cookie with cool toys.

When she moved in, our Mom got her a Cuisinart Hand Blender with all the cool little attachments like the immersion blender, whisk and chopper as a house warming gift. At Crazy C's brilliant suggestion, we cut the bread into chunks and popped them into the chopper bowl and BAM, we had bread crumbs! Herb asiago cheesebread bread crumbs! We toasted them in the oven for a bit, stuck them in a mason jar (of course) and popped them in the freezer to await their destiny as a companion to a lovely piece of tilapia. Happy sigh. I love my sister.

What creative ways do you save food about to go bad?

Thoughts on Sisters

I love having sisters. I also love being around other groups of sisters! You can't really understand the wonderful insanity of being one of three or more girls in a family unless you experience it. I got to thinking about what a blessing sisters are last night when I was hanging out with some friends. There are three girls in their family that are right around the ages of three of us girls in my family. I'm convinced this is a recipe for fun. We need to get together an adventure or two.

But back to my sisters. I can't image not having them around. There are five sisters and two sisters-in-law, spanning 24 years worth of age difference, and we all have ridiculously strong personalities in our own ways. (I'm a little worried my baby sister is my clone though...) We have the delicate girly natures, the rough and tumble girls, the adventurous ones, the quiet stay at home types, the athletic ones, the artistic ones, the night owls and the early risers. Basically, I think that if my sisters and I had to rule the world, between all of us we could get the job done. They always challenge me to be more compassionate, patient and to keep laughing. God knew what He was doing putting us all together! I couldn't do without them.

me and two of my gorgeous sisters

So for all of you out there who have sisters, work on those relationships every day and treasure them! Nothing is more beautiful than seeing sisters hanging out together, joking around, teasing each other, praying for each other and just having fun. We are a witness to love in a unique and powerful way, so lets bring that witness to the world!