If you’ve been hanging out here for any length of time, you’d quickly realize that we enjoy making as much as we can homemade around here. From homemade milk, to DIY vitamins and immune boosters, nothing really beats a product of your own hard work in the kitchen.

With the birth of baby #2 sitting at just about 4 months away now, this year has already been heavily focused on finances and discovering new ways to get more bang for our buck. Being paleo, I find myself in the kitchen 2 or 3 times every day and, with the number of fresh produce that we eat, the scraps really add up. Eventually I found that I hated throwing away all those vegetable ends which were perfectly fine and had tons of nutrients, but undesirable in a main dish.

So anytime I was cutting vegetables, instead of tossing the scraps into the trash, I stored them in a plastic baggy in the fridge. Over the course of about a week, I had acquired approximately 1 pound of scraps: onion ends and skin, asparagus bottoms, celery ends, carrot skins, leftover sprigs of cilantro and parsley, bell pepper and zucchini ends. Other ingredients that could really shine in a broth are tomatoes, turnips, leeks, chard, corn cobs, potatoes, and mushrooms.

What You Need:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb vegetable scraps
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 cups water
• (optional) Seasonings like fennel, sage, thyme, and marjoram
• salt & pepper to taste

What To Do:

1. Heat olive oil in the bottom of a pot over medium-high heat, and add garlic. Cook until browned.
2. Add vegetable scraps
3. Add water and seasonings
4. Bring to a boil
5. Reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer for 45 minutes
6. Remove from heat and allow to cool
7. Pour through a cheesecloth covered strainer into another pot or large bowl
8. Squeeze vegetables in cheesecloth to get the most broth

It really is that easy, and so flavorful you won’t want to go back to the store-bought kind! This recipe typically yields about 3-3.5 large(24 oz) mason jars full of broth. It can be stored in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for long-term storage. Enjoy!

Until next time,
Savannah