October 16th was GLOBAL FOOD DAY. Hopefully you celebrated with some of your favourite eats- or even better, picked up some of your local faves from market! If you made it out to market that day, you may have run into the Kensington Clean-Up Club. This group of 10-11 year old community champions looks to educate their neighbours on climate change, and practical solutions to reducing your environmental footprint at home.
On Global Food Day, they set up with their ‘food waste fact donut’, waste cycle match-up game, and food waste trivia. Shoppers learned surprising facts like “1.3 billions tons of food are wasted every year. If wasted food was a country, it would be the third largest producer of CO2 in the world, behind the US and China”.
In addition to their community engagement efforts, they are encouraging and supportive of our Farmers’ Market transition to waste-free operations. Next time you’re at market, look out for our new signs to help you sort out your market garbage correctly. Thank you KCC!
If you’re looking for some ways to reduce food waste at home, check out this great website with lot’s of recipes to use up awkward food bits, or items on their way out.
https://savethefood.com/recipes/
One of our favourite recipe features is the Leftover Mashed Potato Apple Cider Donuts! (see recipe below)
MAKES
24 donuts
INGREDIENTS
1 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 ½ cups apple cider
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ cup (lightly packed) dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs
1 ½ cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups vegetable oil, for frying
DIRECTIONS
Combine cinnamon and sugar: In a brown paper lunch bag, add sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Shake to combine. Alternately, stir together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Make apple cider reduction: In a small saucepan over high heat, bring apple cider to a boil. Simmer until syrupy and reduced to about ½ cup. Let cool.
Whisk dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whisk wet ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk apple cider reduction, brown sugar, butter and eggs until smooth. Whisk in mashed potatoes, buttermilk and vanilla.
Make dough: Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. If dough looks too wet, add more flour. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for about 1 minute, sprinkling with more flour if sticky. Cover with a towel and let rest for about 15 minutes. You can make the dough up to 24 hours in advance. Keep in the fridge and bring to room temperature before rolling out.
Shape donuts: Roll out the dough until it’s about ½” thick, sprinkling with more flour if needed. Dip a sharp knife in flour and cut out doughnuts into 5″ squares. Use a round 2″ cutter to cut holes; alternately use the tip of a sharp knife. Re-roll leftover dough, and continue to cut more donuts. Try to handle the dough as little as possible for the most tender donuts.
Fry donuts: Heat oil in a large Dutch oven until temperature reaches 365F with a candy thermometer. Fry a few donuts at a time for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Donut holes will take less time. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. While still warm, shake in the bag of cinnamon sugar. Eat immediately.
