How to use up: Celery

   I have been thinking lately of ways to make my blog more useful for people in situations like mine. Following our story is good and all, because if it has a happy ending it will be a kind of template of one way to get out of poverty. But, first, we are not assured of a happy ending, are we? None of us are. Second, barring a lottery win or major promotion for my husband, I don't see any drastic changes in income coming in the next year or two at least. So with all that in mind, I want to try to help people in the small ways I can. Since so much revolves around food when you're poor, I've decided to do some food-related posts. I have a couple of ideas, three of which are:

• Ways to use up large quantities of super cheap foods - When you shop on a tight budget, you end up buying mostly sale items because you can get more food for the same small amount of money. Sometimes that creates a problem though, because what are you going to do with eight cans of green beans?? You could eat them as is of course, which my toddler prefers, but...ew. I'm going to do celery today, and give you three magical tips to make it more amazing than you thought it could be!
• What you can make with just the food from a food bank or pantry - If you're depending on just charity food to survive, you're in pretty bad shape. My plan is to give some meal ideas that maybe people haven't thought of, because monotony and tastelessness just contributes to the depressive state low income families are in.
• As many ways as I can think of/find to eat rice and beans - They are a tight income's saving grace just because you get so much volume for little money. However, it can swiftly become preferable to go a little hungry in order to avoid choking down some more gloopy beans and dry rice....Yes, I have had to work on my cooking skills, too.

So, if any of you dears has any suggestions for foods for any of these categories, or other food related topics you think would help, please leave a comment or send me a message!

Without further adieu, 

How to use up celery, and make it awesome! 

Before we get to the ideas, I think it is so super important to give you my celery tips. Hardly anyone thinks of celery as delicious, and certainly not easy to eat (all those dang strings! Ugh!). If you all already know these tips, then I am happy for you, but if you don't (like I didn't previously) this will change how you think of celery. I guarantee it!

Tip #1: Cut the end off and tightly wrap in foil before you refrigerate it

I've heard this tip several times in my life, and never bothered. It really does make a difference in how long it keeps before wilting or molding!

Tip #2: Soak it in ice water for 15 minutes before using raw

I actually stole this from Buffalo Wild Wings when my in-laws took us out for dinner once. I could not figure out for the life of me, how their celery was so crunchy and delicious. I noticed it was really cold, and when there was a little water left in the bottom of the veggie boat, I had an aha! moment. I knew I had to try it at home. I like celery in soups and tuna salad, but as poor as we have been before, sometimes my celery still died a mushy, wilty death in the bottom of my refrigerator. Soaking the celery in ice water gives it such a satisfying snap and juiciness - yes! - that it becomes a star in whatever dish you use it raw in, instead of just an afterthought. As good as it is though, you still have to get rid of those horrible little strings.

Tip #3: Peel it. With a peeler.

I don't know why I never thought of this before, honestly. I've just always taken my knife cut the end off, and tried to pull down the strings to the very end of the stalk. This sort of works, but inevitably when you chop it up, you find yourself with the knife, peeling strings down again every few cuts. If you use a peeler on the stalk before you chop it, all the strings come off together in neat little strips. Don't peel too deep because you don't want to lose too much, but feel free to completely remove those thick, tough, darker green veins. Occasionally I will find out I missed a string or two, but they aren't nearly as bothersome when you've removed 99% of them.

Now that you have soaked your celery in ice water and peeled it, take a bite! If you don't go, 'man, that's pretty good celery' then I'll be shocked. You might even decide to have a snack of it right then, like I did. Go ahead, you've got a lot to use up remember?

For raw celery: (the way I like it best)

juices and fruit smoothies (seriously!)

tuna/chicken/egg/seafood salad

any green salad

as a snack dipped in salad dressing, peanut butter, cream cheese, hummus, or any other dip or spread

waldorf slaw

a celery salad with any other veggies and a vinaigrette

diced in homemade salsa

Celery leaf pesto: (yummy on pasta & toast)
1/8 cup pine nuts (or any other nut, especially walnuts, can't afford pine nuts!)
½ large clove of garlic, peeled
¼ cup of fresh flat leaf parsley
½ cup tender celery leaves
1/8 tsp salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (riiight...I use the dry shakeable stuff in the green can...)
zest of ½ lemon
juice of ½ lemon (if you don't have a lemon, 1/2 tsp lemon juice works fine for both)

My famous bleu cheese salad:

This is basically the BWW side, in a salad. I serve it with a recipe I came up with, Hot Wing Poutine! My seven year old DEVOURS this salad.

4 stalks celery, chilled and peeled, in thin slices

2 large carrots, chilled, peeled, diced or julienned

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 c bleu cheese salad dressing (or any other cream dressing really)

For cooked celery:

celery soup

in any soup or stew (add near the end)

vegetable stock

diced or pureed in spaghetti sauce for sweetness without sugar

mirepoix or holy trinity- savory dish starter (can freeze it for use later)

in lo mein, chow mein, or any other stir-fry (the high heat gives it really good flavor)

stuffing (not just for thanksgiving - there's often a box in our food from the food pantry)

roasted with other root vegetables

braised in beef broth

Do you know of any other ways to use up celery? Did any of this sound good enough to make you go buy some? Let me know! :)