I've been throwing out lemons I could easily squeeze into my water for some added vitamin C and that delicious pork tenderloin could be packed in my husband's lunch. Each week I see more and more waste due to simple forgetfulness or lack of creativity. But the bottom line is we are watching every penny in this down economy and the wastefulness has to stop!

Friday I attempted my first dessert from scratch and it turned out to be easy and delicious. More on that in another blog. The recipe called for me to separate my eggs leaving six leftover egg whites. These were not my only leftovers, when all was said and done I also have half a tub of marscapone cheese and about ten lady fingers.

The eggs I dealt with first. I remember Alton Brown saying you could freeze them in ice cubes and then drop into a zip top bag to later use for anything from meringue to chocolate mousse. If you do not have ice cube trays, you can still freeze your egg whites in a container, just be sure to mark with a sharpie the number of egg whites in the container. If you want to use your eggs immediately, just keep them in the fridge and make a delicious egg white omelet or frittata for breakfast.

For the lady fingers, I decided to create a dessert. While digging around in the fridge I also found berries and whipped cream leftover from a dinner party and created something similar to a strawberry shortcake.

I started by drizzling chocolate sauce on the plate, to which I added the lady fingers to absorb the chocolate. I then added a layer of whipped cream so the berries would have something to adhere to. I sliced up the strawberries and dropped on blueberries wherever they fell. Finally I topped the berries with a bit of chocolate and more whipped cream.

It took less than five minutes to assemble this dessert and not only did it use leftovers, but it was one of the most delicious desserts I have ever had!

I am sure you have other ideas for berries, even eating them on their own is divine. However, if you notice your berries are about to spoil, wash and freeze them. You can use them frozen for smoothies or if you gather enough berries save them for a pie or cobbler. YUM!

The lady fingers can be frozen, but when thawed they will not be quite as good. You can also freeze the whipped cream. I found this Web site showing you how to do so. I still have my marscapone cheese. I will figure out what to do with that and will let you know.