Living in the city I can not have a compost bin (that I would really truly love to have) because I have no yard to put it in. And because of this I put a lot of vegetable 'parts' (aka scraps) to waste. I recently decided that I should save them and put them to good use by turning them into stock. Now this does not help to remove them from the trash and turn them into compost but it does give them another job before making it to my garbage can. (At least its one part of Reduce, REUSE, Recycle)

So here are a few simple steps you can follow to create your own vegetable stock and I promise it is sooooooo much better than anything you will get at the store.
1. Save any old vegetable parts in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer until you have a least 3 cups. I saved carrot shaving, broccoli stems, garlic pieces (not the outside skin but just leftover pieces I didn't use), celery ends, onion ends (minus the skin), zucchini, pepper pieces, parsley stems and thyme stems.

2. Place them in a large soup pot.

2. Add cold water. Enough to JUST cover all the veggies.

4. Add bay leaf and peppercorns. I do not add salt to my stock (just as with butter) I prefer it unsalted so when I add it to a dish I have full control over the salt. However, if you are set on salting it, add it here.

5. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hrs.

6. Strain and discard veggies.

7. Let cool and place stock in a jar (or any container). This can be frozen and thawed in the fridge when ready to use. I go threw this A LOT so I keep mine in the fridge.

Isn't that color just beautiful? And wasn't that so simple? I hope you are nodding your head yes!

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