One of my primary resolutions for 2010 will be to more consistently follow the Swedish cooking proverb, "Man tager vad man haver"- to take what I already have on hand, using leftover ingredients to create new dishes in the interest of making sure that nothing goes to waste.
Fortunately, I've found that using leftover ingredients often results in the creation of secondary recipes that are even better than the original dish. A great example is this moist glogg cake, bursting with the dried fruit, citrus, and almonds that I used to flavor my holiday glogg.
Let's raise a glass to second helpings!
Glogg cake image ©2009 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.
Comments
I don’t think I’ve ever heard that proverb, but apparently my Swedish dad raised me well–I live by it! I always substitute either things I have on hand or things that are about to go bad into recipes. Occasionally the results aren’t so good, but like you said, a lot of times they end up even better while adding variety to your recipe book.
So do I, Shanna! Between raising a family and working, my time is limited – and so it’s both a time-saver and more economical to use the ingredients in my cupboards (often substituting one ingredient for another) rather than to run out for every little thing. Creative cooking at its best, just like our Scandinavian grandmothers did!