Recipe: Homemade Vegetable Broth

Soup has become a staple in our diet. Somewhere between Singapore, Thailand, or Cambodia, we realized that every third meal we were eating was a soup. Now that we have returned home, the frequency of our soup eating has continued. Since we eat so much soup, vegetable stock has become a valuable commodity in our house. Grocery stores sell organic broth (usually without being loaded with tons of unnecessary sodium), but when you are making soup a couple times a week, it really adds up. So we started making our own vegetable broth and it might surprise you how easy it is.

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Ingredients:

5-6 cups vegetable trimmings
12 cups of water
1 tablespoon crushed pepper

As you prepare other dishes with vegetables, save the trimmings and toss them in the freezer. When you accumulate 5-6 cups worth, you are ready to make the broth. In a large pot, combine the trimmings, water, pepper and let them simmer for an hour. Strain out the trimming and let the broth cool. You must refrigerate the broth, but it can stay good for a couple weeks if you seal them in canning jars. A healthy and basically free alternative to store bought stock!