Vegetable Stock Becomes Hummus

Making vegetable stock is easy and can form the flavor base for other cooking projects.  I like to save vegetable cuttings (potato skins, onion parts, carrot greens and the like) in a bin in the freezer, then make vegetable stock every week or two. You can use most vegetable remains, so long as you don't add any brassicas (think cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, etc).  A good rule of thumb is that if it tastes bitter when eaten raw, keep it out of your stock.

Just dump the frozen vegetable bits into a crock pot and cover with water. Throw in a bay leaf, maybe a clove or garlic or some black pepper if you want.  Cook overnight or even for 24 hours.

The stock makes a great cooking liquid.  I like to use it for beans, because I can just strain out the vegetable pieces and add dried beans and use the crock pot again without having to clean it.  This time I cooked chickpeas.

But once you make a bunch of chickpeas, it's only a matter of time before someone turns them into humus!