Soup Season, Scraps, and Shenanigans
How to Turn Kitchen Leftovers into Fall Magic
When the air turns crisp (or, in Florida, slightly less humid), it’s officially soup season at Cedars Café and that means one thing: it’s time to raid the scrap bin.
Yes, you read that right.
Around here, the magic isn’t just in the broth, it’s in what everyone else throws away.
The Secret to Flavor Is in the Scraps
You’ve heard of bone broth. Now meet scrap stock.
It’s our zero-waste kitchen hero, built from the odds and ends that usually end up in the trash — onion skins, garlic peels, carrot tops, celery ends, fennel fronds, leek greens, and those “almost too soft” herbs hiding in the back of your fridge.
All of it goes into the pot, simmered low and slow with a splash of Cedars Café Olive Oil for richness and that subtle Lebanese depth.
Here’s the thing: the flavor lives in the outer layers, the skins, peels, and trimmings. They carry the essential oils, the tannins, the color. The stuff we toss? It’s the good stuff.
Waste Less, Flavor More
At Cedars, we keep a “stock bin” a simple labeled container in the freezer where we toss clean vegetable scraps all week.
Once it’s full, we dump it into a big pot, add water, a pinch of salt, maybe a few peppercorns, and let it do its thing for an hour or two.
What you get is liquid gold, the kind of broth that makes even Tuesday night pasta taste like a hug.
And here’s the kicker: it costs nothing.
Just awareness, intention, and a little kitchen curiosity.
Seasonal Shenanigans: Fall Soup You Can Feel Good About
Once you’ve got that stock, try this:
Sweet Potato & Lentil Soup with Charred Lemon and Garlic Oil
Ingredients
2 tbsp Cedars Café Olive Oil (plus extra to finish)
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
1 large sweet potato, cubed
6 cups scrap stock (or vegetable broth)
1 lemon (half charred, half zested)
Salt, cumin, and smoked paprika to taste
Directions
Sauté onion and carrot in olive oil until soft.
Add lentils, sweet potato, and scrap stock. Bring to a simmer for 20–25 minutes, until everything’s tender.
Char half a lemon cut-side down in a pan.
Blend the soup (or mash with a spoon for texture). Add lemon juice, zest, and spices.
Drizzle with a little more olive oil, because that’s where the soul lives.
Serve with crusty bread or pita chips. It’s comforting, sustainable, and completely shenanigan-approved.
Why It Matters
Every time you make a scrap stock, a zero-waste broth, or a recipe like this, you’re saying no to waste and yes to flavor, creativity, and intention.
You’re cooking the way our ancestors did,full circle, nothing wasted, everything celebrated.
And that’s what Sustainable Shenanigans is all about.
It’s not perfection. It’s progress — one lemon peel, olive pit, and soup scrap at a time.
Stay tuned for next week’s post:
“The Olive Pit Experiment — Turning Waste into Fuel, Soap, and Stories.”
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