Homemade Vegetable Broth

I've always suffered from headaches throughout my life. Recently, they've been more frequent and intense, to the point where I would be left miserable all day even after I caved and popped a Tylenol (or smelled essential oils or did yoga or drank water or anything else, I tried everything). I couldn't figure out the source for the longest time. Was I gluten intolerant? Allergic to tree nuts? Then finally, it hit me. Almost every time I've gotten a headache I've eaten something high in sodium and preservatives beforehand. The main reason it took me a while to figure that out was because the foods I was eating, like bread and pasta sauce, weren't what you think of as stereotypically high sodium foods. Granted, I also enjoy Asian noodle dishes drowning soy sauce, but otherwise my diet was pretty void of obvious salt-rich foods. Once I limited the foods I thought were giving me troubles I noticed immediate improvement. Unfortunately, the foods I based my diet on were the same that gave me headaches. So I've had to quickly find alternatives.

Enter this broth recipe. There's nothing better than a cup of soup on a rainy day, except maybe a cup of fresh soup with homemade broth. What's better is this broth recipe can be made low sodium (or I guess completely sodium free if you're into that sort of thing) and contains no preservatives or weird additives. As long as you know how to chop vegetables and boil water, it's super easy to make.

To make this as frugal and budget-friendly as possible save your veggie scraps, like carrot peelings and celery ends throughout the week in a container or bag and freeze them until you need them. If you save up enough scraps, you might not even need to chop extra vegetables strictly for the broth. Dried herbs work just as well as fresh ones, so don't stress out if you can't find or afford the fresh stuff. 

The vegetables I outlined here are just what I used and can be referred to as a guideline for whatever kind of soup you're going for. Adding in extras like mushrooms, ginger, zucchini, or tomatoes can make it more interesting. 

If you guys try this be sure to let me know what you all think in the comments here or on my instagram, @tofuandsprouts!

You Will Need:

Scraps of onions, celery, carrot, sweet potato, and other veggies from throughout the week
1 chopped onion
3 stalks chopped celery
2 chopped carrots
4 cloves roasted or fresh garlic
1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1/2 tbsp oregano
1/2 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp chives
Bay leaf, optional
Other herbs of your choice
Sea salt
Splash of Bragg's liquid aminos
2 tbsp white miso paste

To Make:

1. Chop all the veggies and add to the bottom of the soup pot with some oil or water. If you're using oil, saute until the vegetables start to stick a little to the bottom of the pot. Don't let them burn but let them form a coating. This will enhance the flavors like crazy!
2. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour
3. After an hour, add in herbs, miso and salt and continue to simmer for another hour
4. Taste test often and continue to add anything you think the soup needs, adjust quantities of vegetables and time spent simmering if needed
5. Once you’re satisfied, strain veggies from broth and you’re done! It's actually that easy to make a flavorful, mineral-rich homemade broth.