Waste not. Want not.

Every once and a while I read something that horrifies me. It doesn't have to be something dramatic or disgusting. Just, for whatever reason, the stark reality of it sticks with me. Most recently, it was this article on wasting food that did it to me. Actually, the article itself is really useful in identifying ways to not waste food - some of which I am already a huge fan of, like making pickles, cooking & freezing, and playing Iron Chef in your own kitchen. But it was specifically this line that left me reeling: "27 percent of all food we bring into the house ends up in the trash." Over a QUARTER of the food that we buy gets thrown away. When you think that, every year, tens of millions of kids die of hunger, that is simply reprehensible.

Let me be clear... this is not meant to be preachy or mightier than thou. I waste a lot of food. Craploads of it, if I am being honest. I am 100% part of that 27% statistic. So, reading this article really had me thinking about some simple things I could do better. Which is why, in a recent visit to my (amazing!) farmers' market, I got a little stressed out over beets. That's right, I said beets.

I make - if I do say so myself - this fantastic salad with chicken, bleu cheese, and roasted beets, which I

planned to make for dinner this week. While walking around the farmers' market, I saw this gorgeous bunch of beets. Lovely, ruby-colored little things that I knew would be perfect for my salad. There was only one problem. Those tiny beets were attached to long, leafy greens. All I could think looking at them was, more than three quarters of this food is destined straight for the trash.

Fighting my natural "the-world-is-over-I-can-never-eat-again-everything-is-awful" instinctual reaction, I had a moment of clarity which went something like, "why don't I make something with the beet greens." Grand epiphany it was not, but it got me through the beet-buying experience with a lighter heart. Oh, and here's the good news - I went home, used my favorite food sites to search for inspiration, and found a few recipes ideas that looked well worth trying.

I ended up making Pasta with Beet Greens with Raisins and Almonds, a variation on a Cooking Light recipe. As a general rule, if you're making something you've never made before, pasta is a really good place to start. It's super forgiving and is almost always tasty, even if not fabulous. Luckily, this ended up being fabulous.

So, start with a half pound of pasta, cooking al dente. I was a little shy on the full half pound of pasta, but I added plenty of other delicious and fatty things to this as I went along, so it wasn't even missed. As you can see from this pic, I am a pretty big fan of a kitchen scale. Weighing food is a great way to be fairly accurate with your cooking and also to keep your portions in control.

Next up, the recipe calls for raisins. Now, I personally love raisins in almost all dishes, but I know some folks might be stopping here and thinking, "raisins and pasta? No, gracias." Trust me, this is a good combo - the sweet chewy raisins are a good foil in the dish for the bitter greens and the crunchy almonds. Use about a quarter cup - or about a box and a half of the small snack boxes (leaving a few for a pre-meal treat for you!). I actually prefer golden raisins, but alas, only the purple raisins are organic in my grocery store. Sigh. Reconstitute the raisins in some hot water.

Chop up your beet greens, about two to three cups (as always, feel free to substitute in any dark green, such as spinach, kale, or chard). Heat some oil in a pan and toss in the greens, followed by a few cloves of chopped garlic. If you hit the garlic in the pan first, it will probably burn - the greens create a good buffer. Sprinkle to taste with salt and pepper. After just a minute or two, your greens will have wilted a lot and you can toss in a handful of almonds (or any nut you like). Give a toss and let the nuts toast in the pan for another minute or two.

I had a few slices of bacon on hand that I precooked, chopped, and threw in for a little more depth of flavor in the dish. Obviously, to keep it totally veg, you could skip this and the results would still be really good. Next add in the drained raisins. Lastly, add in the cooked pasta and toss it around until fully coated with the greens mix and a bit of oil (feel free to add a tablespoon more if you feel like it needs it - I did). Cook a minute or so, until fully heated through.

And... you're done! Easy, right? Plate the pasta and top with a little parmesan, if you like. Eat up and feel good about having used something that could have become part of your food waste. Instead, you'll have made it into a great, healthy meal. What more could you want?

Grab a knife and take a deep breath...

When you love food, Thanksgiving is pretty much the ultimate. It is a holiday dedicated to eating... what more could you want. However, mix in some family dynamics, traffic from hell, and battling the crowds in the grocery store and it can add up to equal parts stress and joy. So at the end of a long, crazy weekend, we arrived home and I needed a way to unwind. For me, cooking was just the outlet I needed.

While I was looking forward to cooking up a storm, I was in no mood to tackle grocery shopping. As always, my motto in the kitchen is to work with what you have and tonight was no different.

A night of cooking for stress relief calls for some comfort food... Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta.

To start with, you'll need to cube up a medium butternut squash. Now, there are no two ways around this - cutting up a butternut squash is a total pain in the butt (and prospectively dangerous - every time I do it, I imagine chopping off a digit). Everyone does this task a little differently... some peel it beforehand, but I have no patience for that.

I chop mine in half, then slice the neck in half again, and run a knife down the sides. The base is a little trickier. Cut off the very bottom so that it sits flat, and keep cutting the sections in half until they're manageable. Run a knife along the inner flesh to remove the seeds and innards and then also run it along the outside to remove the skin. Cut all of the larger pieces into small chunks.

Get the squash cubes into a 425 degree oven on a baking sheet coated with a little olive oil. Sprinkle the cubes with a mix of salt, pepper (I used a blend of red and black), and thyme (or, any woody herb). Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tender.

While the squash is baking, get together the rest of the ingredients. First, fry up a few slices of bacon. For any regular blog readers, you'll notice that I use bacon a lot. Not only is it quite possibly the most delish food of all time, it's a great way to get the flavor and texture of meat in a dish, but you only need a little bit. I try and eat meat-free as much as possible, so using a little bacon is a way to meet in the middle.

I addition, you'll want to cook a half pound of pasta. Good grief, how embarrassing is this photo? I didn't have enough of either type of pasta, so I just combined them. While I wouldn't do this if I was making this dish for guests, it got the job done and - as I say so often - I just used what I had.

Once the bacon comes out of the pan, chop it up, and saute a cup or so of thinly sliced onions or shallots in the pan drippings. Could they be more gorgeous in the pan?

When the squash is done, toss it together with the bacon and onions.

All good comfort foods need cheese and this one is no different. The sauce starts with a good pinch of salt and a quarter cup of flour in a dry pan. You'll want to toast the flour on medium heat for just minute - this really just removes the raw taste from the flour. Slowly whisk in two cups of milk, bringing it up to a boil. Cook for a minute or so, until the milk mix is thickened a touch. If you like the science part of cooking, this step is for you - it always amazes me to see how flour and milk magically make sauce.

Turn the heat off and mix in your cheeses. For real, add whatever you have on hand - just make it about three-quarters to a full cup of cheese. Tonight I had a cheddar blend and a soft style cheese called quark. The sauce will be thick enough to coat a spoon.

Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce... in case you're wondering, at this point, you've pretty much made homemade mac and cheese - delicious on its own! But, I promise that it will get even more delicious with the squash-bacon-onion mix in there.

Spread the pasta into a baking dish, coated with a little oil or cooking spray. Oh, and then top it with more cheese... I mentioned that this was about stress-relief, right?? Again, this can be anything you have on hand - I used parmesan. Get it in the oven for about ten minutes, or until the top cheese melts.

Having a pan of steamy deliciousness come out of the oven was my antidote for all the weekend's stresses.

Grab a fork and say ahh.