Making stock.

Making your own stock is as simple as boiling water. I have recently discovered this great trick. It is a good way to use the odds and ends of vegetables leftover from other dishes and the bones from your roasted chicken, turkey and seafood.

I use ziplock bags to store ingredients until I have enough material and the time to make the stock.

For veggie stock you can use any vegetable bits, peelings and trimmings from celery, carrots, onions, potatoes, garlic, squash, mushrooms, etc... you get the idea. It's great especially if you can't compost for some reason, you still have a way of using all the old veggie matter.

For seafood stock you can use crab, lobster and shrimp shells and the remains of whole fish.

For poultry stock use the bones and leftover meat from chicken and turkey. I had some turkey meat from Thanksgiving still in my freezer, it was perfect for the stock !!

To my poultry and seafood stock I added onions, carrots, celery and herbs.

Don't forget the herbs in any stock you make, you can use fresh or dried, salt and pepper help bring out the favor too.

Place all your ingredients into your large pot and cover with water, one recipe I read suggested equal parts ingredients to water. Bring to a boil then allow to simmer an hour for vegetable stock and two for the other kinds.

Strain your stock into freezer containers. I like canning jars but use whatever works for you.
If you plan to freeze it in glass jars like I do, leave an inch of headroom and MAKE SURE TO REFRIGERATE IT BEFORE YOU FREEZE IT. I was so sad to loose some great fish stock to a cracked jar. I have learned the hard way to cool it for at least 24 hours before storing it in my freezer. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays if you like to use small amounts.

 I made three different kinds: vegetable, seafood and poultry !! While I made it in large quantities you can make one smaller pot's worth.

It would work well to put it all in your crockpot too !!

You can use your wonderful homemade stock in soups, stews, to cook rice or beans or anything else you can think of.