Kitchen Scrap Stock

I have been encouraging my kids to eat better these days. Every Monday, I prepare two pounds of carrots and a bunch of celery into easy to eat veggie sticks. When the hunger monsters start circling the kitchen then they get directed to the veggie stash or the fruit basket.

This Monday I had an epiphany.

Those leftover scraps were mounded up in a random container on my counter and I was wishing for a compost bin. I hate the thought of wasting food at all. However, a compost bin is not likely to happen thanks to all of the neighborhood strays who would love to play in it and spread the mess around my yard.

I looked at the veggie scraps in the pot that I had grabbed out of sheer laziness.

"That could be stock!" I thought and I ran to google just to verify. Sure enough! 

 It could be done!!

Yet another FROOGLE moment, frugal tips that I found through Google!

Back to the kitchen I went.




I added an onion, a tablespoon of minced garlic,

 

 some dried thyme, a lot of dried parsley, a bit of celery seed,

 and a light drizzle of olive oil and two bay leaves.

I cooked the veggies on low heat until soft and yummy smelling fragrant. Then I added 6 quarts of water and let it simmer for a few hours.

 I do caution you though. If you make this, the vultures will start to circle and ask what's for dinner. "It smells like good food out here, Mama!" They will sniff and look into the pot hoping for something marvelous and they will make rather entertaining faces when they realize that it's just kitchen scrap soup. I poured my stock into jars and put them in the fridge to use the next time I make rice or soup.

I love the convenience of this stock. With meat based stocks there is a lot of skimming and reskimming. I just poured my stock into jars through a sieve that I stuck on top of my canning funnel. No mess, no fuss, and best of all NO WASTE! :) I now have a baggie in the fridge to gather any scraps that we have for the next stock day.