Kale-Lentil-Squash Chili / Homemade Vegetable Stock

My pal Lee recently posted about making her own vegetable stock.  I immediately started storing veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer.

In just a few days my bag was stuffed with carrot ends; onion scraps and peel;  cucumber and zucchini peel and pieces leftover after spiralizing them; half an orange bell pepper that was ready to turn; an entire jalapeno also ready to turn; the big stem from a bunch of broccoli + a few broccoli florets; kale stems and a few leftover leaves.

I tossed all of the frozen veggies into the crock pot, with a little olive oil.  I added half an onion, chopped; 3 cloves of garlic, diced; 4 sprigs of dry thyme (that I dehydrated); iodized sea salt; black pepper corns; two bay leaves.

I poured filtered water over the veggies, until they were just covered, and turned the crock pot to low. After a few hours I pulled out the jalapeno and sliced it up and tossed it back in, seeds and all.

There was a lot of chatter on my Facebook page with suggestions and ideas about making vegetable stock and I’m so glad!  I had planned to let the stock simmer for eight hours but then read several warnings about using cabbage family (broccoli) veggies in a stock–some warned that it could be bitter and/or become the overpowering flavor–so I stopped cooking the stock at six hours.

I poured the stock and veggies into a large bowl through a cheese cloth.  I squeezed the excess broth out of the veggies through the cloth and tossed the veggies (you can compost them).

Look at that colorful stock!  I gallon bag of frozen vegetables = 8 cups of delicious vegetable stock!

It was incredibly flavorful and it definitely had a kick from the jalapeno. Perfect for a chili.  I started dreaming up a recipe for my first chili made out of my very own homemade vegetable stock.  Simultaneously I was reading blogs and the January Iron Chef Challenge blog post from Vegan MoFo popped up in my reader.  This month’s secret ingredient:  squash!  So I added squash to the chili recipe I was creating.

I love this chili!  I always finish up my soups and stews in the pressure cooker with lemon or lime juice. I often find that with that fresh acidity, I don’t need much salt. That was the case with this chili, most likely because of the added salt to the vegetable stock.  Speaking of that, here are a few recipe notes:

• Note that the only added spice I used was cumin.  Remember, my vegetable stock has some real zip to it. If you’re using store-bought stock/broth, and or a homemade without jalapeno, you’ll want to add some zip to your chili–consider chili powder, Sriracha or jalapeno.
• I lightly salted my homemade vegetable stock so I did not need to add much salt.  Your mileage may vary.
• I used black peppercorns in the homemade vegetable stock so I did not need to add much ground black pepper.
• I used bay leaf in my stock — if you’re using store-bought broth/stock, add one or two leaves to the chili.

I am so glad that I have discovered how easy it is to make my own vegetable stock!  Sure it’s easy to pick up prepared broth at the store, but most of what I tossed into the crock pot would have been tossed into the trash. That’s  reason enough to make my own stock. No more waste!

Do you make your own vegetable stock/broth?  Share your recipe / links!