No Fuss Stock

Okay, so I have found that a lot of the ready-made stocks contain sugar, yeast, gluten and lots of salt. I have used a couple of gluten free brands in the past but have never found a brand that I was completely happy with. Plus, the ones that don’t contain these ingredients tend to be quite pricey for the little amount you get. So that is why I try to make my own when I can.

Just recently, I decided to start making it in my slow cooker! Why did I not think of this sooner?! I fill the slow cooker with the ingredients I want, add water, turn it on to low, put the lid on and go about my day! I can chuck everything in the slow cooker in about 5 minutes in the morning before going to work and then I come home from work, strain it, portion it out, label and freeze it! Done! I just grab a container of stock out the freezer whenever I need it now. Very little fuss and my freezer is stacked with home-made stock! Yay me!

The base of this stock recipe is just vegetables and herbs for a basic vegetable stock. However when wanting to make a chicken stock I add chicken pieces (wings, legs, or whole chopped up chicken) if I’m making beef I add beef bones and stewing meat. I keep the base the same and just add what I need to make different ingredients to add depth of flavour to my meals.

No Fuss Stock 

As mentioned above, this recipe is for a basic vegetable stock but just add chicken pieces (wings, legs or whole chopped up chicken) or beef bones and stewing meat if you’re wanting to make a chicken or beef stock. Easy as that!

Gluten Free,  Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Yeast Free, Paleo, Vegan (Obviously if you add meat to this stock it will no longer be vegan) 

Ingredients

– 2 large carrots
– 2 parsnip
– 5-6 celery stalks
– 1 onion
– 2 small potatoes
– 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme
– 1 small bunch of fresh parsley
– 1 bay leaf
– 10 whole peppercorns
– filtered water

Method
1. Peel onion and roughly chop. Put in the slow cooker dish.

2. Wash all vegetables. Roughly chop all other vegetables and add to the onion. (I don’t peel any of my vegetables as the skin adds a depth of flavour to the stock.)

3. Add the herbs and peppercorns and then pour filtered water up to the top of the slow cooker dish and put lid on.

4. Turn the slow cooker on low setting and allow to cook for a couple of hours or more.

5. Remove all the vegetables using a slotted spoon. Using a cheese cloth, strain the stock into a large bowl.

6. Portion out the stock into containers using a ladle and freeze. (Or you can refrigerate the stock for up to 3 days.)

I find that I normally get around 10 cups of stock from my slow cooker.

Enjoy!