Foody Friday: making broth

Whenever I make a chicken, turkey legs, or bone-in roast, I also make some broth for later use. It's a money-saving trick that takes less effort than opening a teeny tiny Campbell's can.

My broth after an over-night cooking.

If I plan to cook some broth-worthy meat, a few days before I'll be cooking it I start saving my veggie scraps: carrot and parsnip tops, ends of green beans, tops of onions, celery leaves, even kale stems. I just throw them all in a bag in the fridge.
After cooking the meat, I save bones and scraps and toss them in the crockpot. If you cooked your meat in the crockpot, you don't even half to wash it first. This week I cooked turkey legs, and we ate some, but the rest I saved for use in turkey tetrazzini. After deboning the legs, I just put the bones in the crockpot along with all my veggie scraps (note - you may add the skin for flavor, but it will add a lot of fat to the broth). I add water up to the top, and season a little.
For turkey or chicken broth, I add salt, pepper, and perhaps sage, thyme, or majoram, plus some coriander seed.
For pork, I add whole mustard seed, salt, tiny bit of crushed red pepper, and a dash of nutmeg.
For beef, I add salt and pepper, rosemary, and a dash of worcestershire sauce.

Put the crockpot on low, cook overnight. In the morning turn it off and remove the lid to let it cool while you go for a run. When you get back, drain it through a colander into storage jars. I use jars that hold about 2 cans' worth, or as much as I'd use in a recipe. If you plan to freeze the broth, use freezer-safe jars. Let cool in the fridge and skim any fat off the top when it has hardened. At this point you can taste and correct seasoning. Incidentally, if you like vegetable broth, you can just keep a container for scraps in the fridge at all times, and when it fills up, make a broth.