If you have ever read my blog, you know that I am against waste. I have gone over how I feel when I watch home improvement shows and they go in and start smashing everything. Even things that could be saved and donated or even sold instead of ending up in our landfills. But the truth is that we waste everything in our lives. We have become such a wasteful society.

In our attempt to keep up with the Jones’, we are spending beyond our means to keep up with this idea that we have succeeded in life. Who are the Jones’ anyway? I have never wanted to be them nor have I ever cared what others thought of me. Anyway, in our pursuit to be the best of everyone we are forgetting what is really important in life. Family. Friends. Love. Health.

There was a time when we did everything we could to make sure that we didn’t throw anything out. Or maybe that was a poor people thing? Do you think that if everyone struggled to put food on the table, we would have less food waste? I wonder…

The point is that we need to become more vigilant about waste. This earth is a place that we need to take care of. For the kids. We won’t be here when the waste becomes a problem but our kids will be. And our kids children and so on. Here are some websites that address food waste specifically. The first one details just how bad North America is contributing to the food waste problem, which is a Global problem guys and the second one discusses how we can help do our part in helping to make a difference in food waste.

CBC – Food Waste

David Suzuki – Help End Food Waste

Now we come to the part where you will love me for posting. I have an Aunt who loves to bake. I also have an Aunt who grew up with a Mother who never let things go to waste. It just wasn’t done in their time. The war took Fathers away for years and that left Mothers behind struggling to keep the house aloft. Nothing was wasted. So now we have a recipe from my Aunt Paul that was born from some oranges that were going to turN bad.

Take it away Aunt Paul…

Morning Lisa,

I decided to make something with some oranges that we may have lost otherwise and it turned out amazingly delicious and healthy.

In my grandmother’s days and my mom’s we wasted nothing.                            

Pre-heat your oven to 325 and grease and flour a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

3 oranges + 3 tablespoons graded orange zest

3/4 cup of orange juice

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Stir in nuts/seeds and orange zest. In a small bowl, beat the soft butter until very smooth add sugar beat for 5 minutes, add the eggs beat well. Now add the yogurt beat well, add orange juice and vanilla beat well. Stir into dry ingredients until well mixed. Bake and enjoy the delicate flavours of the oranges come out of this amazing loaf with added crunch of the nuts/seeds.

Happy baking!