Making Broth from Leftovers
Hello beautiful people, how are you doing today? I am doing great. Winter is upon us, and the days here in Iowa are turning short and cold, but today it is a beautiful sunny day. I am currently cleaning the house while a pot of broth is simmering over our gas stove. So I thought it would be a great idea to take a little break from cleaning and tell you how I am making broth from leftovers.
There is no recipe, the broth is what it sounds like, leftovers in water left to simmer for several hours until it becomes broth. I left mine simmer for about five hours, and made a total of two gallons of broth, which I separated into smaller batches and froze them.
So, how do you make broth from leftovers and scraps? Easy, get a Ziploc bag or any freezer safe container, and label it "future soup," whenever you have some vegetables that are either leftovers from a meal or maybe a piece/amount that isn't enough to be used for a meal, or if you cut more than you needed, instead of throwing it away, save it on that container that you prepared. You can also add pieces of meat, poultry, or seafood. However big your container is determines how often you make broth, once the container is full you use it. I did add fresh onions, carrots and celery, because I didn't have saved scraps of that.
You don't have to make as much as I did, I just decided to make a lot because I use a lot of it. But if you end up with your container full again and you still have broth left from the last time, use your old broth to make new broth, and all you are doing with that is building up flavor.
As for seasoning, it depends on you. There are premixed packages of seasoning for soups and broth that you can use, or you can use your favorite herbs and aromatics. I used basil, oregano, chilli powder, garlic salt, paprika, black pepper and a package of mushroom onion soup mix. Everything was added by eye and flavor, add a little try it and decide if you want more. If you add too much, don't panic, you can dilute it down with more water, or of you know more about seasoning, herbs and spices you can neutralize the flavor with something else. I don't know enough about cooking to know that. Also, I personally don't add salt until I am using the broth for cooking because different recipes require different levels of salt, and coming back from a salty food is hard. But is you want to add salt wait until you are done simmering the broth to add the salt because you can run the risk of having a salty broth if it reduces more than you expected.
For the actual steps to how to make a broth, it's easy, add your scraps/leftovers to a stock pot or large pot, then add enough water to cover everything you added to the pot. You can add extra water, but the minimum is to cover your scraps/leftovers. Bring it to a soft boil and let it simmer uncovered for at least two hours, the longer it simmers the more flavor it will have. Some water will reduce down so make sure you always have enough water to cover the food you added. Once simmering is done, strain the broth to save the liquid and discard the solids. That's it.
Your broth can be used to substitute water on any savory recipe, as the base for soups, or to eat on its own as a warm and comforting meal. Broth is one of my favorites during the winter time because it warms you up and helps your immune system. So definitely let me know if you make this and whether you liked it or not.
Before I leave today I wanted to share two things with you. 1. I finally completed my Etsy shop, so now you can buy things I have handmade, such as paintings, journals, postcards, etc. I am not done posting all of the products I currently have so keep an eye on the next couple of days for more to come. If you want to visit my Etsy shop, you can click here. And 2. We put up our Christmas decorations last weekend and we love them, so I want to share them with you. Do you celebrate Christmas?
That is all for today, until next time, don't forget to share your love with everyone around you and do something that makes you happy.