Vegetable Stock

Vegetable stock is a great way of using up the stuff that you would normally discard and for the odd bits of vegetable that are sitting in the storage bins under the sink, clean well washed vegetable peel and trimmings. Having said that you can go out and buy all fresh vegetables and even some fruit to make some interestingly flavoured stocks.
With that in mind and if you have a reasonable freezer you can start to collect the oddments and turn them into stock rather than discarding directly to the compost heap or garbage bag.
So gather up your scraps and your left overs in the freezer and when you have enough to make a pot of stock then off we go.
Do not use cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower as they will overpower your stock

Some excellent vegetables (and vegetable scraps) to use are: onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, celery, mushrooms, peas, corn (empty corn cobs can also add lots of flavor to veg. stock), parsley, green beans, beets (also give a great colour), bell peppers, scallions, green onions, shallots, fresh basil or other herbs, and the list goes on.......... with the exception of Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower
You can also add to your stock some fruit for a sweeter flavour, fruits you can use are apples, pears, papaya, plantain and pineapple to name a few.
Whole Black peppercorns and the usual bay leaf or two also impart a good flavour.

You will need
A large heavy saucepan
Chopping Board
Knife
Washed Vegetables and peelings
Fine Strainer
Cheese Cloth

Chop up all of your vegetables into bite sized chunks or smaller and put into the saucepan. whatever height in the saucepan your vegetables come up to you can bring the water 50% higher. Too much water and you end up with an insipid stock unless you spend more time reducing it!
Bring the water to the boil and then turn down to a low heat put the lid on the saucepan and gently simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Put the cheese cloth into the strainer and pour the liquid into a bowl through the strainer. Squeeze out the remaining fluids (flavour) from the vegetables through the cheese cloth, discard the solids and hey presto you have your vegetable stock

Once the stock is made freeze it in ice cube trays or small portion sized containers. Then bag up from the Ice cube trays so that you can always have them handy and ready for use.

The stock is a great base for your soups, stews, casseroles, gravy and also for cooking rice and pastas, it just gives them another dimension with all of that extra flavour.

Instead of frying you can also sautee in stock which is a great way of saving on calories and reducing fat in your food.