Welcome to our first How To Series. We decided to introduce this series as a weekly feature mostly because as amateur cooks we often say to ourselves, “How the heck do we…..”

Thus as we learn we will share our knowledge.

This week’s How To Series is on making vegetable stock.

You don’t have to buy it at the store, in fact making it at home can save you money!
Plus, it makes your house smell like you labored away all day in the kitchen when in fact you hardly spent any time in their at all.

What you will need:
A big pot
Carrots
Onions
Celery
Garlic
Bay Leaves
Other herbs and spices can be used as well (I used Cumin and Peppercorns)

What to do:

1. Chop your onions. Not too small now, keep them pretty darn big!

2. Chop your carrots! Again, don’t worry about making them too small. They will get mushy and break up if you do. Chop your celery. Remove the big outer leaves as they are bitter. But, for a nice celery taste you can keep in the tender inner leaves.

3. Put everything into a big pot and COVER with water. Now, add a full garlic clove. No need to chop it up! (I did not have one today, so I used pre-chopped garlic).

4. Add some spices. I used bay leaves, peppercorns, and cumin.

5. Boil for two minutes rapidly and then turn your stove to simmer. Let this simmer for one hour! When this is complete drain the stock into a dish and set your veggies aside.

You have just made vegetable stock! You may salt to taste. You can either use the stock immediately or freeze it.

What can you do with the leftover veggies? Many things.
Here is one idea:
Flavor them, cut them up some, and add them to cous-cous for a lovely side dish!