Today I wanted to chat with you about food waste and ways I combat that in the kitchen and in the world. The United States wastes approximately 133 billion pounds of food each year. On top of that 1 in 5 fruits and vegetables don’t meet the cosmetic standards of grocery stores across the nation. The fruits and veggies are still perfectly fine to consume. In most cases, it means an avocado might be too small, or a carrot is crooked. These harsh cosmetic standards mean that 20% of edible produce is thrown away before it even makes it to our grocery store, further contributing to food waste. There is an incredible program called Imperfect Produce that delivers these cosmetically challenged fruits and veggies right to your door at a heavy discount! I’ve been using Imperfect for around 8 months and I absolutely love it! It pushes me to cook with and consume more fresh produce. Everything is super customizable and the fact that I can skip another run to the grocery store isn’t bad either. If you’re interested in trying it out click here to get $10 off your first order.

This weeks recipe is a crockpot meal, because it’s winter and who doesn’t love amazing smells wafting through your whole house on a cold and gloomy Sunday? Two weeks ago in my imperfect box, I got 3 russet potatoes and 2 yellow onions that I hadn’t used yet. This week I got 2 bunches of carrots, I had chicken breasts in the freezer, and I had opened a bottle of white wine a couple days ago that was not good to drink but perfect to cook with! And we’re off!

Ingredients:

• 2 small yellow onions
• 6 carrots
• 3 russet potatoes
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 cup of balsamic vinegar
• A tablespoon of peppercorns (optional)
• Garlic salt
• Salt and pepper

The amazing thing about this recipe? You can adapt it any way you want to! Don’t have yellow onions? Use red, the flavor is amazing anyway! No carrots? Use celery. Only have Yukon potatoes? It’s cooking, I don’t make the rules! You do! No wine or balsamic? Use Chutney or chicken stock! The possibilities are literally endless.

Directions:

1. Dice onions, peel and chop carrots, cut potatoes into chunks. Add to the bottom of the crockpot. Season with garlic salt and pepper.
2. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breast and add to the crockpot.
3. Pour 1 cup of white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc but you can use anything, it doesn’t matter) and 1 cup of balsamic vinegar over the top of the chicken.
4. Sprinkle peppercorns into the crockpot (totally optional)
5. Cook on low for 6 hours, serve and enjoy!