Soup's On!

This post is not exactly about soup.  It's about what you need for most soups: stock. It's surprising how many commercially made stocks have potato or tomato in them...so, I make my own!  Mine is the vegetable stock recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Slow Cooker cookbook (which is strangely, one of the few recipes in the cookbook not made in a slow cooker).  A very similar recipe is found on the Williams-Sonoma website here.  Basically after prepping all your veg (leeks, yellow onions, carrots, celery, button mushrooms), you throw it in your stockpot and add parsley, thyme and peppercorns.  Add 2L of water and boil!  Sounds simple, and it is, but I tend to walk away and not realize the pot's contents are boiling until it's all over the cooktop.  That's my cooking style: burnt and crusty.  So, if you cook like me, you turn down the heat, clean up the cooktop and simmer for about an hour.  I let it cool down until I can easily strain the solids out without burning myself because, well, I that's what I tend to do.  Depending on whether I use the stock right away or freeze it, I package it appropriately, and VOILA!  I have the magical base for plenty of soups and stews in honour of the cooler weather that is now upon us.  Stay warm everyone...  Well, er, with my bad circulation, eat warm!