Vegetable Stock (making something from nothing)

Trying to find a commercially-produced vegetable stock that's BTD-compliant is next to impossible. There's always something that makes it inappropriate for A's (tomatoes, usually) or AB's (wheat, corn). So I decided to make my own.

And even better, I used mostly vegetable scraps that would have otherwise been thrown in the garbage. Since this recipe makes about 2L of stock, which costs about $10 at my grocery store, that adds up to quite a significant savings.

Stock is a mixture of vegetables and herbs simmered in water to produce a flavourful broth. You can use any combination of veggies that you find palatable, but at the very least, use the following:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, rough chop
2 stalks celery, including some leaves, rough chop
2 large carrots, rough chop
1 bunch green onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, crushed
small handful fresh parsley
6 or so sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups water

I have been saving vegetable 'scraps' in a large Ziplock freezer bag (about 27cm x 27cm) for a week or two. This includes the following (they were all washed really well prior to freezing): parsnip ends, broccoli stems, carrot peelings, parsnip peelings, onion skins, onion ends, carrot ends and celery ends.

You can keep adding to your bag as time goes on. When it's full, it's time to make stock!

I was a little short on onions in my freezer bag, so after heating up some oil on medium-high in a large pot, I chopped one onion and let it heat up, then dumped the contents of my freezer bag in the pot. It's a big frozen mess but it will thaw very quickly and reduce down. All I added from the list above was the green onion, garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and of course the water and salt.

Adding salt is very important due to osmosis. Cooking chemistry time: water moves from less salty environments to more salty environments, meaning that the water inside your veggies will move to the salty water around it, forcing flavour out of the vegetables and into your stock.

Once everything is in it looks like this:

See? Mostly ends and peelings, ensuring maximum flavour is imparted from the vegetable to the liquid. Yum!

Bring the whole thing to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain the broth and then let it cool, and then freeze for storage.

The easiest dinner ever: Roasted Veggies with Goat Cheese

It's a main, a side dish, AND a salad. It's pretty and it's good for you. You need it in your life.

If you've never made roasted vegetables, you need to start immediately.

I make this two or three times a week and it's always fantastic. Vegetarian. Vegan, even, if you omit the cheese. And very filling.

Roasted Veggies with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Any combination of vegetables you like, cut to about the same size.

Need some inspiration? Here's what I like to use:

Butternut squash
Beets, peeled
Parsnips
Carrots
Broccoli
Kale (give this a rough chop and add it at the end)

Salt
Olive oil, for drizzling
Fresh herbs of your choice (thyme and rosemary do it for me)
2oz or so goat cheese, cut or crumbled into small pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Chop everything (or buy it pre-chopped. No judgment!) and mix around in a roasting pan of your choice. I have two roasting pans and use both, because one you start chopping you may as well keep going: one is Pyrex and was purchased recently; the other is aluminium and was my grandmother's. The aluminium pan roasts better, probably because it conducts heat more evenly. Word to the wise.

Anyway, don't overcrowd your pans otherwise you'll have steamed veggies and not roasted veggies.

Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pop them in the oven for about 35-40 mins. Add the kale and stir it all around, and roast for another 10 mins.

Serve hot with goat cheese on the top. Delicious!!

The AB Breakfast Omelette

I like to work out first thing in the morning. There are a few reasons for this: I haven't been awake long enough to talk myself out of going to the gym. My work hours are long and waiting until the end of the day means a very unproductive workout. And it's damn crowded in my gym after work.

Most days, I'm in the gym between 4 and 4:30am lifting big heavy weights, turbulence training, and endurance training. Not all on the same day, of course. After I'm done, I like to eat a good breakfast high in protein and unrefined carbs to refuel my body. I do this even on the days when I have to dash off to work.

To make life easier, I saute all my veggies Sunday night to get them ready for a week of breakfast-y consumption, and just keep them in the fridge. Here's what I cut up on masse:

1/2 or 1 onion, fine dice

1 sweet potato, fine dice

1 stalk of celery, fine dice

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

250 (or so) grams of mushrooms, diced

Heat some olive oil in a pan and saute the veggies, starting with the top of the list and working your way from onions to mushrooms as each layer softens. Add a pinch of kosher salt to help flavour everything and help it soften. I like to add some paprika and chili powder at the end for extra flavour.

Let this cool, then store in the fridge until needed.

So for each omelette, I scramble:

2 eggs from free-run chickens (or if I'm feeling really virtuous, I'll use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, saving the yolk for mayonnaise)
splash of water
pinch of salt

Gather the other accoutrements:

Spinach leaves
Low-fat feta cheese

Preheat a small skillet on medium and add a little olive oil. Once it's hot, add the eggs and let them cook for a minute. Add a handful or so of veggies and spread them out over 1/2 of the omelette. While everything is cooking, add a small knob of cheese (like 1 Tbsp - I just crumble it over everything with my hands) and the spinach leaves.

While everything is still a little soft, fold the side with no veggies over the veggies and flip the whole shebang over. Turn the heat to low, cover it with a lid, and cook for a few more minutes. I like mine a little gooey, and this method leaves me with a slightly raw, vegetable-y omelette.

Beats a bowl of cereal any day!