Easy DIY Vegetable Broth

Over the last few years, I’ve been getting closer and closer to near-o waste. Not quite zero, but almost there. Vegetable broth was one of the easiest switch ever! Not only did it cut down on vegetable scrap waste, it cut down on the waste produced by buying tetra packs of vegetable broth.

It is so simple! It took me forever to get this onto the blog, but today is the day.

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The key to this broth is your collection of vegetable scraps. I collect these over time and keep them in my freezer. It’s simple: onion ends, carrot peels, celery ends, you name it. I make sure to clean everything well before peeling or adding. Sometimes I’ll add vegetables that are starting to wilt to my collection if I won’t be able to use them in time. I stick these scraps in a jar or in a baggie and keep them in the freezer until I am ready for them.

I whip up this broth in my Instant Pot, but it’s just as easy to do it on the stovetop or in your slow cooker as well.

Once the broth is made, it will stay good in your fridge for a few days or in the freezer for 6 months. I prefer the latter, by the way. Just requires some planning when you’re ready to use it. If I want to use it, I’ll stick it into the fridge overnight and it’s ready for me the next day!

I really enjoy being able to make my own pantry staples and knowing exactly what goes into what we eat!

Some recipes that use vegetable broth:

• Easy Enchilada Sauce

• Vegan Corn Chowder

• Poor Man’s Lentil Soup

• Spinach & Artichoke Flatbread

Easy DIY Vegetable Broth

What you need:

• Large onion, in large chunks with papery skin still on

• 3 carrots, scrubbed, skins still on

• 3 stalks celery, scrubbed, leaves still on

• 8 cloves garlic, crushed

• 2-3 cups veggie scraps

• 1 TBSP parsley (dried or fresh)

• 1 TBSP thyme (dried or fresh)

• 6 springs fresh rosemary (optional)

• 3 bay leaves

• 2 tsp sea salt

• 10 cups water

Instant Pot Instructions

Add everything to the instant pot insert. Set on manual high pressure for 30 minutes and release steam manually. (Continued below in bold print)

Stovetop Instructions

Add everything to a large stockpot and allow to simmer at least 1 hour. (Continued below in bold print)

Slow Cooker Instructions

Add everything to the pot insert and cook on high for at least 5 hours. (Continued below in bold print)

Allow broth to cool. Once cooled, run through a fine sieve and store in large jars or containers.

PS: Another great way to use food scraps like citrus is making an all-purpose cleaner!

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What kinds of pantry staples do you make from scratch? How do you cut down on food waste?

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Untraditional Simple Syrup

Summer for me means a lot of fresh lemonade and iced tea. I remember the days of powdered mixes in a can that you mixed with water and at the end of the drink there would be little granules at the bottom - and it would get sweeter as you got to the bottom. I know I’m not the only one who was annoyed with that.

Besides canned and powdered mixes being full of chemicals and dyes and sugars that are not the best options during the summer, it is incredibly easy to make your own drinks that contain less ingredients and taste just as great - if not better!

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A couple of things makes my simple syrup untraditional, the first being that instead of white refined sugar, I use raw organic cane sugar. The reason I use raw organic cane sugar is not necessarily for health reasons (gasp!). First off, I find white sugar a little bland. It’s just sweet and there is no depth of flavor. Maybe it’s just a personal preference, so feel free to use white if that is what you so wish. Organic cane sugar just means that the sugar cane used for the sugar was grown organically and is produced without any synthetic pesticides and herbicides. Which is nice to know. Not only does this decrease the amount of pesticides you are potentially intaking, but it is a step towards lowering the pesticide load on the environment.

In conclusion, there really isn’t a difference nutritionally between the two sugars, and you should be careful to not intake too much of a good thing anyway ;-)

The other thing that makes my simple syrup untraditional is the ratio of water and sugar that I use. Usually, there is a 1:1 ratio. I, however, use 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. It’s a small difference, but still a difference nonetheless. I’ve been curbing my sweet tooth, I guess. Don’t worry. It is definitely still sweet enough!

This simple syrup is perfect for lemonade and sweet tea and anything else you may want sweetened - without the granules in the bottom of your glass!

The best part? It’s quick and easy to whip up! And even easier to store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks!

Simple Syrup

what you need:

• 2 cups water

• 1 cup raw cane sugar

what to do:

1) Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to boil

2) Simmer for about 3 minutes, until syrup is clear

3) Allow to cool down before using in the drink of your choice

4) Store in an airtight container (a mason jar works well) in the refrigerator for about 3-4 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

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What are your go-to summer drinks? Have you ever made a simple syrup before?

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How To Cook [Garbanzo] Beans - Using a Pot, Instant Pot, or Slow Cooker

I love the versatility of garbanzo beans (also known as chick peas)! You can put them in a salad, roast them in the oven to make a quick snack, have them in a bowl or even crush them to make a spread or burgers. Beans of any sort are great to keep in the pantry, and if you are trying to save money on groceries, a fantastic way to do that is to buy beans dry! They keep a long time, and they are easy to prepare and freeze if you want to keep them on hand. Plus, if you have concerns about the sodium content in canned beans, dried is the way to go! Canned or not, you definitely need beans in your diet, so I decided to do a quick "how to" post to help you out. 

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This how-to really applies to any bean and there are several ways to cook them. 

Step One: Sort
Check your beans for any broken fellows or other debris or stones you may find in a dry bag of beans. You will want to get all of that out.

Step Two: Rinse
Pretty self-explanatory.

Step Three: Soak
Now, soaking is optional actually! The thing about soaking is that it will cut your actual cooking time down (Saving you on gas/electricity - whatever your stove runs on), and it will also make beans less of a "musical fruit," as it allegedly helps break down some of the indigestible sugars that cause flatulence. I honestly don’t notice any difference between soaking or not. The easiest way to soak beans is overnight. Just make sure water is about 2-3 inches above them and sleep the night away. Waiting is easier then. You can also do a quick soak by putting them in a pot with water, bringing it to a boil, and then taking them off the heat and let them soak for an hour.

Step Four: Cook

Cooking Garbanzo Beans on the Stovetop

Again, make sure there is 2-3 inches of water covering your beans and bring the pot to a boil - slowly though. Bring the pot to a simmer, and stir occasionally, scraping off any foam that on the surface (you won't get too much with garbanzos). You will know your beans are done when they are tender (you can mash or poke them with a fork - or eat one like I tend to do....hehe)

Cooking Garbanzo Beans in the Slow Cooker

• 3 cups garbanzo beans

• 7 cups water

Cover and cook on high in your slow cooker for 4 hours, or on low for 8 to 9 hours - or until tender.

Cooking Garbanzo Beans in the Instant Pot (My favourite method):

• 3 cups garbanzo beans

• 7 cups water

If you are doing them from dry garbanzo beans, add the beans and water to your inner pot and set your pot to high pressure for 45 minutes. If your beans are soaked, set your pot to high pressure for 12 minutes.

Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and move steam release to venting to release the remaining pressure.

Step Five: Store
Beans will stay good in the refrigerator for several days, but I like to keep them in the freezer for easy and quick access. You can put them in little bags or freezer-friendly containers and they will stay several months in the freezer. I suppose you could can them as well, but I personally like the freedom with how many I want to use with the freezing method. I don't always use an entire cans worth.

Tip: If you want, portion them out into portions of 1.5 cups - about the amount in a can.

Yay! You are now ready to save time (with some planning, of course) and money!

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How do you cook your beans? What do you cook with them?

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Vegan Parm-Like Topping

If you ask my husband, he will confirm that I am a “spaghetti with my parmesan” type of person. I love toppings. On everything. I also love gravy. But toppings. I like them when they’re generous and basically the main thing. Fried onions? Load ‘em on! Parmesan? I like pasta with my parmesan!

But of course, when you go plant based, or take part in Veganuary, parmesan is no longer an option - or is it? Well, maybe not parmesan in the traditional, stinky-feet smelling sense anyway. I do have a really tasty alternative, however.

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The following is a true story: I spent a Christmas only college campus one year with someone who sprinkled ground nuts on their pasta and I was really excited about that. It tasted delicious. Then, a few years later, my dad started putting ground flax seed on everything to up his fibre intake. He would grind his own flax seed and keep it in a little bag. I decided to subscribe to that as well. I figured as well that since I love nutritional yeast flakes on popcorn, that I could start doing that too. Then I saw some vegan parmesan recipes floating around and it had nuts and the yeast flakes in it. I added my ground flax and some onion powder and became a happy camper.

I hesitate to call this a vegan parmesan because it tastes nothing like the smelly cheese, but it sure tastes delicious. I can’t not have this on top of my spaghetti now. It’s also delicious on green beans, and even salad! Seriously, just go to town with it, because it’s so yummy!

There is no reason to think that just because you go on a plant based diet that you will have to give up so much. Instead, you gain so much because you get to experiment with flavours and foods that you would not have normally expected to!

Vegan Parm-Like Topping

what you need:

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

• 1/2 cup raw cashews

• 1 TBSP ground flax seed

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp onion powder

what to do:

Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix until combined well.

Keep mixture in the fridge for about a month.

PRO TIP: Did you know that the tops of parmesan cheese containers fit perfectly onto a mason jar? If you have one, keep it to use for this stuff!

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Do you love toppings too?

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DIY Vegan Chicken-Style Seasoning

Growing up, we would have McKay's Chicken-Style Seasoning on occasion (especially since I was mostly vegetarian). However, the stuff is crazy expensive, in my humble opinion, and it contains ingredients not suitable for our current lifestyle such as MSG and lactose. Lactose!! I was honestly shocked when I picked up a jar to read the ingredients! 

The only solution was to make some myself. It took a few months before I got something I like, but I have finally done it. I felt that sharing it was almost a duty. I was so excited about this I could hardly wait!

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It's not as salty as the original, which I actually prefer (you can always add more), and the flavour is out of this world - well, actually it's out of my pantry, but that just makes it that much easier for YOU to make too!

I use it in pretty much everything - soups, sauces, gravies, you name it!

Vegan No Chicken-Style Seasoning

What you need:

• 1/2 C Nutritional Yeast Flakes

• 2 TBSP Sea Salt

• 4 tsp Garlic Powder

• 2 tsp Onion Powder

• 4 tsp Celery Salt

• 4 tsp Turmeric

• 4 tsp Parsley

• 1 tsp Basil

What to do:

1) Combine all ingredients and mix well - either in a mortar and pestle or food processor.

2) Store in airtight container for up to 4 months.