The Three "R's"

Repair
Reduce
Recycle

Of the three, recycling is my favorite. When you reduce waste, most times you also automatically recycle. When you recycle, you are re-using something in a different manner, and when you repair, extending it's purpose. In recycling, you are re-using things, in different ways, thereby possibly saving you the expense of buying something that has one purpose only. There is so much that can be said about the subject, and I simply love reading and talking about it. I especially love talking about it when I find a way of eliminating waste, no matter how big or small, time consuming or insignificant. In my home, most times, it is in the kitchen. My kitchen is the heart of my domain, and I love to cook. Therefore, I'm always looking to recycle and/or reuse things. Recently I was cooking a roast loin and wanted to season it differently. About a week ago, I was cleaning out the pantry, where there were boxes of half filled cereal boxes, and pratically empty cracker boxes, etc. I do not like waste. Anyway, in the cracker boxes were several crackers left and crumbs. I had Ritz Saltines, and Keebler Wheat Thins, flavored, Chives and can't remember what other flavor. There was at the botton of the Saltines box about a cup worth of crumbs. A lot of people use corn flakes and/or crackers crumbled to put into meatloaf. Well, I had the crumbs, three saltines and four cracked Wheat Thins crackers in a bowl and need to extended it, so it would be enough for something. I remember I had half of a medium-sized bermuda onion in a container in the frig. I chopped up the onion with the crumbs, saltines and thins in a chopper and made a nice crumbly mix. I stored it in a sealed tight container in the frig. Days later, I took out the container, used the mix as a topping to cover the pork loin, wrapped the pork loin in plastic wrap and put it in the frig. This was in the am. That evening I cooked the pork loin and it cooked so tender and delicious! So I reused these items in another way. Most people would just throw them away, either because it's not enough or too small. Sometimes all you need to do is put your mind to it, and you'd be suprised at what you can come up with. If you can't think of anything, ask. Most folks have wonderful ideas!