Veggie Broth

My Grandma Stella recently gave me a slow cooker, and I've been dying to use it. So when my mom mentioned that she had made her own veggie broth, I knew I had found a way to use my newly acquired appliance!

Over the past few weeks, I have been saving scraps of veggies - the end of a head of lettuce, the stumps of carrots and onions, pieces of sweet potato, and so on - and keeping them in the freezer. Finally I had enough to make broth.

I simply put all of the veggies into my slow cooker, covered them with water, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. I also added a crushed garlic clove.

I set the dial to high and checked it periodically. It's been three hours and it's still going. I've been adjusting the seasoning as necessary.

I can't really give you an appropriate cooking time... It depends on how many veggies you have and what kind... But just keep an eye on it and keep tasting - you'll know when it's right!!

Alternately, if you don't have a slow cooker, you can do it in a pot on the stove. It will cook faster that way. Bring it to a boil and reduce to a simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Once it's done, you can freeze it into an ice cube tray or measure it into 1 or 2 cup portions and freeze it in a plastic container.