Homemade Vegetable Stock

First up on back to blogging is getting back to cooking. I love to cook. With cooler weather I love to make soups. I have found that in some recipes, not limited to soups, I prefer to use vegetable stock rather than chicken stock or water. I became disgruntled with vegetable stock once I went gluten free and corn free. That combo is hard to find in a vegetable stock! Not to mention, have you opened a can or box of vegetable stock or broth lately? Boring!!! No flavor and no appeal.

It got me thinking...... why can't I make my own vegetable stock? It can't be that hard! I started saving my scraps from cutting up vegetables and fruits. That means onion peels and ends, carrot tops, pepper tops and seeds, apple cores, celery pieces, kale stalks, winter squash rinds....... anything that I would usually feed to my chickens or that you might put on your compost pile(minus the coffee grounds, of course!). I find that a few of the green elements are essential. The kale or collard stalks or leaves add a very rich flavor. I keep a gallon ziplock bag in the fridge and add to it over a week or so.

Put all of this into a large pot, fill it almost to the brim with water, throw in a bay leaf or two and cook it for a long time. Your kitchen will smell like Mama just came over with the best vegetable soup that ever touched your tongue. The aroma will make you salivate. Perfect to put on the stove on a chilly fall afternoon.

You want to cook it until it looks like mush. Then let it cool. Slowly dip off the beautiful liquid into containers to freeze. When you get to just vegetables, pour them into a colander over a pan. Let the stock settle out and then dip out the rest. I usually leave a little bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl, because no matter how hard I wash my veggies there is always some silt or sediment in the bottom that I don't want in my soups!

Here is a look at the mushy cooked vegetables. They can now be thrown on the compost heap or fed to your chickens.

And the stock ready to go into the freezer. I find that from a 1 gallon ziplock of vegetable scraps and a decent size stock pot I usually get about 4 quarts of stock. I seal it in quart freezer bags after cooling and lay them flat in the freezer. That way I can stack them later.  

Yummy!! Look at the color of that stock! I love doing this. I have control over the ingredients. I have the ingredients anyway. I know exactly what is in my stock. I do not add salt. I add that when I cook the main dish later. There are no additives or preservatives. Try it. I think you will never buy vegetable stock again!

My Sweet Tooth Kicked In

My sweet tooth kicked in and now I want some chocolate. What is a gluten free, sugar free, dairy free girl to do? Well, there is always some Coconut Bliss to be had. I never get tired of ice cream and Coconut Bliss fits my bill every time. But my birthday rolled around and I wanted something cake like. I wanted chocolate. I hadn't really had anything cake like since starting my healthy eating plan. I am not a girl that LOVES frosting, so I didn't need a traditional cake. I searched recipe sites far and wide. I dreamed of the chocolate ganache that I had at Sunflower Cafe. I found nothing close to it.

Then I remembered a brownie recipe that I found, guess where? At Elana's Pantry of course. You can find it here.

I LOVE these brownies. I hadn't made them before for a few reasons. 1) it makes a big pan of brownies 2)the ingredients are expensive, around $10 total 3)I didn't want a huge pan of brownies in the house because I would eat them!!!

So, when my friend Jen asked if she could make something for my birthday I jumped on this recipe. I supplied the ingredients and Jen whipped them up. They are SO good. Everyone agreed. These are a hit!!

What I LOVE about these brownies 1) anyone can make them. No special ingredients needed. Everything can be found at the local grocery. Get baking for your gluten free friends!!! 2)they are high in protein and low in natural sugar. No guilt in these babies! 3) they keep well 4) I could take these to a potluck or friends house and everyone would be satisfied 5) it makes a big pan of brownies so I don't get mad when Dave eats three or four in a day

Have you had your brownies today??? Maybe you should make some.......

Pumpkin Bread That is Gluten free, Sugar free AND Delicious?

Yes, that is right!!! Thanks to my new favorite website I have made delicious pumpkin bread that meets all of my dietary requirements. It is super moist, easy, and high in protein. Are you as excited as I am?

The recipe is from Elana's Pantry. You can find it here. It is super amazing. You have to check out her recipes. I want to make so many of them. The only thing that I changed in this recipe was that I made mini loaves instead of muffins. I hate cleaning muffin tins. I also doubled the recipe since it is for only 8 muffins. I think next time I am going to add a bit more spice as well. I like my spiced breads spicy!!

I am off to make some more pumpkin bread.... Enjoy!!!

Healthy Eating Update

You may be wondering how my healthy eating is going. Just for a reminder I am gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, yeast free, and corn free. It was difficult at first figuring out how to eat, but I am pretty used to it now. I really don't get tempted often and even then, saying no is easy when you know that thing will make you feel yucky later.

Meals really aren't that hard or different. We just stick to meat and vegetables with an occasional side of rice. I can still have Dave's amazing grilled steak which gets better every time he makes it. So far I am not missing too many foods either. I will admit, Thanksgiving might be tough. I love cornbread dressing. sigh. That will be missed.

As a result of all of this healthy eating, I have become the incredible shrinking woman. Do you remember that movie? I need to look it up. Anyway, without trying to, nor did I expect it, I have dropped almost thirty pounds. This side affect of losing weight wasn't on my horizon. I was quite happy with my weight and size. I didn't look in the mirror and wish that I was smaller. Now I am faced with getting a whole new wardrobe. Almost nothing fits that did before. I think that most women would love this- losing weight and having to buy new clothes. Have I mentioned that I hate shopping? Especially when I can no longer judge what will fit me just by looking at it on the rack. To set out an outfit only to have it hang off of you when you put it on is no fun. And when you decide that you will try to wear it anyway and your friend tells you that it looks like you have a load in your pants, you decide to go shopping.

I bought my first pair of skinny jeans. What!!! Dave is thrilled of course. One bonus of all of this, I actually have normal sized calves!! My fluid retention has gone way down. I am so thrilled about that. I have shopped here and there for bits and pieces, but I need to get some more work clothes soon.

My energy levels are up and down. I had been doing pretty well, but a month of stress at work knocked me down. I am trying to get back to where I was. Oh, my creative juices are flowing again though!! I have been hand stitching up a storm and loving it!! I haven't really sewn in two years. I am so glad to have that creative energy back. Be in the look out for pictures of my creations.

Ok, now that I have written a short book, I am going to enjoy my day.... I hope that you are enjoying yours too!