Thank You Pinterest!

So, I've been collecting berries, since they've been on sale at the grocery stores recently, to freeze so that I have a nice amount stored for when I begin my breakfast/green smoothie adventure. I saw a picture on Pinterest about using a straw to hull strawberries. I tried it....thinking there was no way it would work, especially on those odd shaped strawberries with like 2 bumps and stuff. But, it did!! 

Here's the strawberry "guts" and leaves.

It was so easy!! Just popped the straw up through the middle and done! 

Then, I sliced them in half and put them on a cookie sheet to freeze overnight. Tomorrow I'll put them in labelled ziplocs to store! :) 

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Ok, I know I said I was doing this post a few weeks ago...but I lost my pictures. Anyway, I was reading and found out that for any recipes that call for chicken or beef broth you can easily substitute in vegetable broth without losing any flavor. It's an easy way to add more vegetables, vitamins, and nutrients to your diet!!

However, the vegetable broth from the store I found to be really expensive for something so simple. Also, I did some research and found out that most vegetable broth you buy at the store is made from rotten vegetable scraps...gross!! So, this inspired me to look into making my own...how hard could it be?? Here's what I did...

Ingredients
Must have for base/minimalist broth:
-3 Tbsp olive oil
-2 large onions roughly chopped
-1 bunch of celery washed, roughly chopped
-1 bunch of carrots washed, roughly chopped, unpeeled (or even baby carrots, about 1 lb)
-3 whole cloves garlic
-1 bay leaf
-15 whole peppercorns
-1 Tbsp salt
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-1 gallon water

Other stuff you can add:
-Parsnips
-Tomatoes (pieces, diced, canned, fresh, or even paste/sauce)
-Broccoli
-Sweet Potato
-Potato
-Leeks
-Mushrooms
-Peppers
-Turnips
-Lettuce, Spinach, or any other greens
-Zucchini
-Cucumber
-Fennel
-Fresh Parsley
-Fresh Rosemary
-Any other veggie scraps really..

1. Basically, put 1 gallon of cold water in a large stockpot. Then, keep adding stuff until you feel satisfied. As long as it's clean and it fits you're good to go!
2. Heat until it's boiling and then reduce heat, cover & cook for about an hour or so. It will smell amazing!!
3. Taste and adjust/add any other seasonings you might like.
4. Uncover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes to an hour to concentrate the flavors.
5. Then, take it off the heat and let cool for a little bit.
6. Next, I placed some cheesecloth over a nice pourable pitcher, and began straining/squeezing all the juices out.
7. Finally I poured it all into ice cube trays and let them freeze over night. Then, popped them into ziplocs. Be sure to write on the ziplocs how much an ice cube is worth...mine are about 1/4 cup a cube.

Here's my vegetable broth ice cubes. (I forgot to take a "before" picture)

Here's my cubes in the ziploc! 

Thought this was interesting...

Hunan Chow Mein

Serves: 6
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
-1 medium onion, chopped
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 tablespoons of peanut oil
-2 tablespoons of soy sauce
-1 teaspoon dried mustard
-2 stalks of celery, sliced diagonally
-2 cups of bok choy, chopped
-1 red bell pepper, sliced
-8 oz can water chesnuts, sliced
-1 cup vegetable stock
-1 cup mushrooms, sliced
-4 cups white rice, cooked

1. Cook onion & garlic in oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until onions begin to soften (about 3 minutes).
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients (except the rice).
3. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until all the veggies are almost tender, but still a little crispy (about 5 minutes).
4. Serve over rice!

This was really yummy! Dean added a little extra soy sauce to his, but to me it had enough flavor. I tried to take a picture, but by the time we finished eating and I went over to take a picture (I do this, because Dean always saves one serving for him to take to work the next day for lunch) the "rest" had already been eaten!! Oh well, I guess I'll get a picture next time. But, either way this definitely turned out better than my experimentation with Thai food earlier in the week which wasn't even worth documenting...

Anyway, try this one!! It's delicioussss!! Feel free to add or take out any veggies and substitute for your favorites! Just make sure you get all your veggie food groups!! :)