The save! Do you do it?
You cook something, it is average. You think, I can’t waste this food, I can fix this. So you throw in a few more ingredients and nine times out of ten end up with something that is every bit as average as the first attempt. But you eat it. You cannot possibly waste all of that food and often you get a really good idea from the process, because if you just did this, this and this, it would have been perfect!
I am a saver, despite knowing that all it really does is create a lot more mess for me to clean up. I blame my genetics. You see my beautiful Mother is the Queen of the save.
Whenever I save one dish and end up with an equally average dish, I think of the time that my Mum made a curry soup.
Making curry soup in our house was always going to be a bit risky as my much loved Dad considers a packet of BBQ chips to be far too hot and spicy.
So, back to Mum’s soup. My Uncle had told her about some fabulous curry paste that she simply had to try. One teaspoon was all that was required for her pot of soup. “Surely that couldn’t be right?” says Mum. In went the entire sachet.
My Mum loves hot food, but this soup was beyond anything she had tried before.
As she was standing over her pot of flaming soup, her tongue burning, her best friend walked in. “Let’s dilate the curry flavour, we will use the soup as a stock for a casserole”.
Half an hour later, we now have the world’s hottest soup for entree and the world’s hottest casserole for main.
As Mum and her friend stand there, both thinking “We cannot possibly waste this food”, in walks my Dad’s best friend. “Apparently salt minimises the heat”.
A short time later we have the world’s hottest, saltiest soup for entree and the world’s hottest, saltiest casserole for main.
What to do? Mum’s turn to come up with ideas, and to be honest this is where I always end up too. “Let’s go back to where we started and make another soup”.
So the dilution continued.
Did we end up with an enjoyable meal? We did not. Was it one of the funniest afternoons we had? It most certainly was. While all of this was going on our little home was filled with love and laughter and crazy, cranky people.
Saving may seldom work, but the journey is typically a fun one.
Almond Butter Balls
- 2 tablespoons roasted almond butter
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup medjool dates, seeds removed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon concentrated natural vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- extra roasted almond butter to fill (optional)
- Place all of the ingredients except for the extra roasted almond butter to fill into your food processor and blend until very smooth and well combined. Press relatively large balls of the mixture into your hand and flatten. Dollop the centre of this now flat circle with half teaspoons of the roasted almond butter that you had reserved for filling. Press the sides together and shape into a ball. It may take one or two to get the hang of it but even the imperfect ones will be delicious. Alternatively completely skip the filling step and just roll into balls, every bit as good.
- Place in the fridge to firm up a little.
You can also fill these with our take on Nutella.
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