It rained again (!) most of this past weekend!! We spent a lot of time inside, but I also got a lot of cooking done!
I made a potato and leek soup, a raw "tuna" salad for lunches during the week, a big salad, and vegetable broth (with my vegetable scraps from the past month or so). This broth is so easy, fast, and cheap(!) compared to any dried bullion that you would buy at the grocery store. It's flavorful and has no preservatives, no coloring, no animal products, and no extreme amount of salt. To get ready to make the broth, I take all the vegetable peelings and cuttings (except for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) and put them in a large Ziploc bag and freeze. Every night, I just add more peelings to the bag - which is nice because I am completely using alllll parts of the veggies that I use, which is just more value for my grocery dollar - and when the bag is full, it's time to make broth!
Vegetable Broth
Scraps from vegetable peelings and cuttings
Enough hot water to fill a 6 quart stockpot (with veggies already in the pot)
3 or 4 whole garlic cloves
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 dried bay leaves
20 peppercorns
1 tsp. each dried parsley, oregano, and thyme
Bring the water and veggie peelings to a rapid boil. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer the broth for about one hour. Turn the heat off, take the lid off and let cool for approximately 1/2 to 1 hour. Strain broth into containers (and ice cube trays) and freeze for later use.
I also taught Miss No-No how to make "Ants on a Log". Which was funny because she's only had them once before!! But, she never MADE them herself before and she really enjoyed it. She likes to do things in the kitchen, which, of course, makes me happy. Creating brings me a lot of joy, and I hope that she can find joy in some creative endeavors as well!
Who would have known that almond butter, celery, and raisins could be soooo much fun?? :)
We also went for sushi (vegan!) on Friday night and frozen yogurt on Sunday ~ she had never had either of those either! So it was a weekend of firsts for her.
Thanks for your comments on my last post about the Indian-Inspired soup. I really enjoyed making - and eating - that one!
When it's cold outside, if you stay inside, what kinds of things do you do? What keeps you busy?
Are you letting your little ones cook / make treats for themselves yet? What do you trust them to do?
More later! :)
