Free (sort of) veggie broth!

Way back in March, I promised some postings about veg*n and cheap eating.  Since then the current events of the year (politics) have dominated my online life but now I'll return to the eating part like I promised!

Anyway, my parents used to trim up carrots, radishes, and celery for a "relish tray" which they kept in a Tupperware.....well, box is the only way to describe it.  Anyhoo, they (I assume) always just tossed the carrot peels and ends and the celery bits (you know the ones I'm talking about:  those dried ends where the celery ribs were cut to fit into the bags at the store, plus the--pardon my French--the white part of the ribs down at the butt end of the whole stalk) and celery leaves in the trash.  A while back, I realized that the veggie broth that I wish I could buy at the store, but didn't because it was so expensive, could easily be done at home with those veggie bits!

So, here we go!

Now, I know we all use carrots and onions in our cooking (right??), so when you trim them up, just save the ends and peels and stray bits in a gallon freezer bag plus any other veggie bits that are used during the week.  (One big caveat, though:  DON'T use anything from the cabbage family!  That's broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kohl rabi, etc.  They produce a bitterness that just ruins things).  I've used radish ends, daikon bits, turnips (when they aren't waxed, which is rare where I am), and other veggies I happen to have used that week.
There are some prep hints though:
Carrots:  I use organic ones that are a dollar per pound at a local store, scrub 'em.
Onion: don't use the skins from yellow onions; they'll darken the broth and give a rather "dark" flavor.  I usually use white onions anyway.  Red onions in broth don't usually work unless you're making a beef or lamb dish anyway.  I usually peel away the outermost layer of the onion (it's usually a lot tougher than the inner layers) and use that as well.
Celery:  Wash the bottom ends of the ribs!!  And by all means, use the leaves!  That's the best part.
Garlic:  peels, ends, the mush left after you put a clove thru the garlic press, and I usually smash an extra clove or two for each pot of stock.
Lettuce:  Yep, lettuce!  Specifically the bottom of Romaine lettuce heads.  Just chop it off and toss it in the pot.
Fennel:  don't use this.  Licorice soup just doesn't sound appetizing!
Turnips:  I usually only use turnips in beef stew, so don't have much in the way of trimmings for a pot of stock, but it works fine if you only have 1 or 2 turnips' worth of peels and ends in a pot.
That's pretty much it, that I can think of.  By far, my veggie broth is usually just onion/carrot/celery with garlic.

Just toss everything in a pot with a couple bay leaves and some salt and pepper, and cover with filtered water.  Boil/simmer for 30-45 minutes and strain (the strainings are great for compost!)  I have a 4 quart slow cooker and just fill it with water till it reaches the brim.  After you strain the veggies out, run the broth thru a couple layers of cheese cloth or an ultra-fine strainer, and it's ready to use in your recipes.  I usually add enough water to make an even four quarts of broth and store it in pint containers in the freezer.

For chicken broth, it's pretty much the same recipe, except you add in the carcass of a chicken, of course.  I usually get a rotisserie chicken 2-3 times a month, and when I do, I just take the meat off the bones and put the bones, and skin, etc in with the veggies.   Yes, you'll have to skim the fat off if you're doing fat-free (refrigerating the stock works easiest; the fat just lifts off), but that's a small price you pay for some great tasting chicken soup!