Eat Garbage

Garbage day at my house is about eating garbage, well, almost. Sometimes when things in your fridge are too old, you throw them out even though there is still hope. I had some apples that went into the fridge early last summer and there they stayed. I didn't panic because I remembered that on my grandparent's farm, apples and lots of fruits and vegetables were kept in the root cellar and although not as pretty as when they were plucked or foraged, they were edible. They were food. And they were used. And they were delicious. One of my peeves is throwing out food. Hope it's yours, too. My four apples were destined for a cobbler using that quickie boxed biscuit mix for the topping. Enhanced of course. I didn't peel the apples due to my belief that it's where the flavour lives, and taking out the little bad spots, quartered and cored them, slicing the whole into a bowl with  lemon juice.When I cut into one, there were two little white worms about half an inch long, whose home, the core with seeds, I had just destroyed. I ugh-ed a bit and then admired these little beings for living so long and obviously healthfully inside the core. Such resilience! The rest of the apple looked firm and juicy so I removed the core along with the little worms whom I now admired for their tenacity and wrapped their tiny white lengths in newspaper for the composter where I hoped they'd survive.It made me appreciate that as long as we have such creatures in our environment, it must be viable. No poisons hurt the little guys and I certainly wasn't going to do anything other than establish them anew in a landfill somewhere.  Also last summer, I had a couple of baskets of strawberries that began to turn mushy. Into the freezer they went at the time and now out they came. With cinnamon and the brown sugar and lemon juice mixed with the apples, they'd make an interesting cobbler. When they were done, topped with some sour or ice cream or yoghurt, they'd be yummy! I guess the point I am making is that we should try to use leftovers because they are not only real and useful food that is still nutritious,  they also help save the planet. When I go into the fridge determined to use up what lurks in the back somewhere but is still good, or find the murky packages of food that separate the other things in the freezer, I want to use them. They are food. My son, a single guy now, says he hates wasting food. He does soups for his Garbage Day. And they are easy and tasty. My strawberry apple cobbler is sending fragrant reminders of summer throughout my home and my heart is happy that I didn't just throw them out.  What do you create at your house on Garbage Day,  the day you decide to clean out the fridge or cooler and dutifully use what's there?