Bored, Poor, Lazy, Beans, *BROTH, Blam!

Here are some helpful hints pertaining to the delicious things in life. You know when you go to the grocery store and buy those cans of chicken, beef, or vegetable stock?  Ever read the contents? Often its weird crap you can’t pronounce, and SALT. Don’t get me wrong I believe wholeheartedly that salt is an amazing culinary must; after all it’s a flavor enhancer. But, it scares me sometimes to know how much “sodium” (or even sugar for that matter) is in packaged foods… uh... amongst all the other crap!

From the girl who loves all foods, packaged, fried, greasy and all, here’s a simple way to help you feel better about all the CRAP you sneak into the kitchen when no one’s looking.

Make your own Vegetable stock!  (Exciting, I know….)

So, even though making chicken, and beef stock is amazing… if you’re in a pinch or don’t have the money you can make your own Veggie Stock. All you gotta do is save some of the scraps from when you’re chopping veggies. ----okay it’s a little weird when you think on it I know, but I like to think, “This is what my grandmother used to do and she didn’t feel like a pack rat, she felt like she was saving a penny”---- So now, we can feel like we are saving a penny in this recession AND BEING HEALTHIER! Something to make up for the fact that you just ate an entire box of honey buns….

Onward! So, when you’re making a dish with any of these items; save for boiling, or freeze please! :

Celery –remove the outer layer with a potato peeler (no strings in your meal!) and save the shavings for a baggie in the freezer.

Carrots-put the peels in the freezer baggie.

Onion-peels in the freezer baggie, roots n’ all

Garlic-peels, maybe one or two whole, peeling on, and smashed... freezer baggie!

You can add anything really:

What are you gonna do with all that extra fresh rosemary for that fancy Valentines meal you made? You can dry it, hanging upside down if you’re extra thrifty---take a sprig or two put it in the freezer baggie

Parsley Sprigs- sure why not, freezer baggie!

Anything “Seasoning Veggie” can go in, but If I were you I’d make sure to note what might be more potent amongst it all to make sure I’m not overpowering my stock with one flavor. Example: 1 large sprig of rosemary is all you need…

(You can either store in a freezer baggie like i mentioned before to use when you're ready to boil it up for stock, or hey if you're ready now just set aside)

Boil it up in a large pot with water for as long as you like (at least half an hour), and when you feel it has boiled all the goodness out you should have a loverly golden pot of liquid. Discard the solids. Save the liquid use or freeze for later!

I had some lentils in the cabinet, frozen veg stock, and left over celery, carrots, and onions from another meal so I just put it all in the pot. Quick and Easy.