In 2002, I was a few years into my private practice and I was hired to work at a local gym as their in-house nutrition counselor. Soon afterwards, we decided to offer the natural  foods cooking classes that I was already offering to my private clients from the gym as well. It was early spring and I thought that a cooking class geared towards spring cleansing was the perfect offering. I put together a cute flyer advertising the class, which I called “Blood Cleansing and Purifying Foods”. Not one person signed up! Then it hit me, as my eye caught sight of my own flyer one day, “You don’t use the word “blood” in an advertisement for a cooking class, Debbie”! Lesson learned 🙂

Putting together this post reminded me of that story from many years ago. When I told Roy that story and this recipe’s original name, “Compost Stock”, we had a good laugh. Then we laughed even harder when his best suggestion was “Zero-Waste Stock”.

Compost. Waste. Leftover Scraps.  I think I chose the “most appealing” name for a stock that you will both enjoy and feel good about making….if you can get past the name!

Leftover-Veggie-Scrap Stock
by Debbie Steinbock

Ingredients:
the washed skins, peels, cut-off ends, stems, etc. of any vegetable including: celery, carrots, green beans, zucchini, onions, garlic, ginger, beets, turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, parsley….
filtered water
sea salt, to taste

Method:

1. Be sure that all your vegetables are washed (and organic when possible).
2. Save the skins, peels, cut-off ends, stems, etc. of every vegetable you use in your everyday cooking. Place those “compost scraps” in a large gallon freezer bag.
3. Once you have collected an entire bag of frozen scraps, add them to a large stock pot, fill it with enough water to cover all the vegetables, and add sea salt to taste.
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 45-60 minutes.
5. Strain the vegetable scraps and discard any solids. What remains is a beautiful, nutritious, alkaline vegetable broth!

What makes Leftover-Veggie-Scrap Stock so fun, is it will be different every single time. My personal favorite is a stock that contains beet peels. See the beautiful ruby color pictured in the mason jar above. And the hint of natural sweetness makes Roy say it tastes like a cross between a vegetable stock and a juice.

I love that I can make a beautiful and nutritious stock from scraps that would normally go to waste! See my 5-minute leftover-chicken stock post for ideas on where to use your stock in cooking. Enjoy!