Let’s begin with the basics. This delicious, nutritious broth can serve as the base for many of our soups, and keeps the veggie scraps out of the garbage disposal. It freezes beautifully, too. Superior soup starts here.

The Soup Charmer’s Golden Vegetable Broth

(makes 2 quarts – double it, triple it, infinity it – go crazy!)

1 onion, large chop

1 carrot, large chop

2 stalks celery, including leaves (they are the most flavorful part!)

4-5 mushrooms, halved

3 whole garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

2 quarts water

A few whole black peppercorns

Throw everything into a pot and simmer for two hours.

Soup Charmer tip: I keep a container in the door of my freezer to throw in onion peels and ends (make sure to pitch out the dirty root ends), carrot and celery peels, mushroom stems, and those wimpy little inner garlic cloves that leave nothing once you peel them. When my container gets full, I throw it all in a pot* with a bay leaf or two, a few peppercorns, and I didn’t spend any extra money on buying or making broth! I freeze the broth in quart containers and label with the date. It will last for at least 6 months, but you will use it sooner than that, because you love soup!

*Don’t throw the container itself in the pot. It will taste nasty.