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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Are you saving YOUR scraps?

So, it occurred to me- the ends of veggies I don't use- why not throw in a freezer bag in the freezer and use to make vegetable stock?

Charlie adn I are hoping to homestead in about 5-10 years, depending on if he's still in the military then, and where we'll settle down, etc.  Well, growing and canning my own veggies, there are parts that won't be used, like the end stalks of broccoli, greens of carrots, ends of onions and green beans, etc.  Why not save those wonderful little "useless" things to go into the freezer to make vegetable stock out of them? 

The things you can use veggie stock for are:  canning, soup base, flavor for mashed potatoes, brine-ing chicken and turkey, etc. (which you can then use the bones to make a chicken or turkey stock!), use it for the base for roasts, and SO much more!

Save your used coffee grounds too!  I put mine into compost and it helps not only add acidity to some soils, redworms just LOVE them to eat.  Redworms make the soil very rich and when redworm compost is added to manure and soil, boy howdy you get some awesome veggies from it (to keep the cycle going!). 

hope this helps, and tell me how you save your scraps!

best tip for your oven

My friend Sarah and her family just moved into a new home.  (super excited for them!)  This tip comes from her:

Put aluminum foil in the bottom of your CLEANED oven, and when you have drips, you can just replace the foil.  easy peasy lemon squeezie!  How much elbow grease will you save by doing that? 

that's SMART!  (oh, and you can get aluminum foil at the dollar store and/or there are bazillions of coupons out there for reynolds wrap- bonus score!)