Waste Not, Want Not

Chef Anna helped me with a good ol' Mom Finch recipe (ol' recipe, not ol' Mom Finch) -- stuffed tomatoes.  Okay, so, it's my derivative of such, as I no longer stuff tomatoes, but rather, stir extra tomatoes into the stuffing and then bake in a pan to maximize the crunchy surface area.  Otherwise, it's her recipe.  A delightful taste sensation that is classically Finch (actually going back to my Mom's Miller Family upbringing in the coal-mining hills of Pennsylvania) -- inexpensive ingredients!  Sauteed celery and onion (w/ salt, pepper, and sage) are mixed into broken pieces of bread along with tomatoes and bacon pieces.  I call it "Bacon Tomato Stuffing."  YUM!


Of course, this savvy, pragmatic Haitian gal trumped me on the frugal factor.  After cutting up the watermelon (yeah, I know it's not the right time of year for that, either, but it sounded good, and Anna had been asking for it for two weeks), I was prepared to dump the rinds into the trash.  But, oh, no -- "Mom!  Will you save the skins for me?  I want to eat them."  Intrigued and a little concerned, I pointed to the green of the rinds and asked, "Eat this?"  She laughed at me, knowing I'd missed the obvious fact that there was yet a thin layer of red fruit flesh that could be bitten off or dug out with a spoon.  And after the main part of dinner, she did just that.  [Photo shows the food I almost wasted -- yep, that's BEFORE she (and Baylor) took their spoons to it.]