Recipe: Vegan Shepherd’s Pie (and a confession)

I have something very important to own up to here today.

Are you ready for it?

I don’t understand the full-on pumpkin obsession that is happening right now.

I just don’t.

As a foodie, a blogger, and a huge fan of fall, I feel a little bad about this.  I mean, anyone who has browsed through a blogroll lately, walked past a bakery or coffee shop, or even taken a trip to the grocery store has surely seen the pumpkin explosion that is taking over the food world.

Pumpkin is a big deal, y’all.  And, I just don’t get it.

It’s fine, I guess.  It’s alright. It’s O.K.   But, honestly, it’s not a flavor that I get excited about.  I think my pumpkin gene never fully developed.  I get excited about other fall flavors, namely apple, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon.  I go nuts for steaming bowls of soup, rich broths, and earthy aromas.  I’m crazy about casseroles, root vegetables, and pots of warm chili.  But, pumpkin?

Eh.

I could take it or leave it.

I realize I probably just lost a lot of cred with you all, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I felt it needed to be said.

In that vain, I hope you enjoy this dish.  It is perfect for a chilly autumn evening, eaten in a setting where you feel comfortable and cozy, in the company of those you’re most at home with.  And with nary a pumpkin in sight.

For those who are disappointed with me and think I’m missing out, don’t worry . . . I’ll probably cave in and bake some pumpkin bread soon.

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Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Tweaked just a smidge from the wonderful Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

•  2 lbs potatoes (I used red), cubed (peeled or unpeeled – it’s up to you)
• ½ cup soy milk creamer
• 1 tblspn Earth Balance (or oil or butter)
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cups green beans, chopped into ½ inch pieces (I used frozen)
• 2 cups packed spinach, chopped
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tblspn Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (could sub soy sauce or tamari)
• 1 tblspn red miso
• 1 tblspn fresh thyme (or 1 tspn dried)
• 1 tblspn fresh rosemary, minced (or 1 tspn dried)
• 1 tspn fresh oregano (or ½ tspn dried)
• ¼ tspn dried, ground sage
• 1 1/2 tblspns corn starch
• 2 tblspns water
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare the potatoes by boiling them in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 15 minutes.  When tender, drain and toss into a large bowl (if using a hand mixer/masher) or the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add soy milk and Earth Balance and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper.  Mix/mash until soft and creamy.  Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, spray a large cast iron skillet or large sauté pan with cooking spray and warm over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and cook until they are soft and begin to brown.  Add the garlic, carrots, celery, and mushrooms to the skillet and cook, stirring regularly, about 5 minutes longer.
3. Next, add the vegetable broth, Bragg’s, miso, kidney beans, green beans, and herbs.  Bring the broth up to a low boil and then reduce heat.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender and cooked through.
4. Add the spinach to the skillet and mix well.  Let the spinach wilt over the heat for 2-3 minutes.  Finally, mix together the corn starch with the 2 tablespoons water until smooth and stir into the skillet.  Cook for a few minutes longer, until the sauce has thickened up a bit.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Remove from heat and turn on your broiler to high.  If you used a cast iron skillet, leave the vegetables in the skillet at this point and spoon the mashed potatoes evenly onto the top.  If you used another sauté pan, transfer the vegetables into an oven-safe baking dish and then continue on by spooning the mashed potatoes onto the top.    Place skillet or dish under the broiler for approximately 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Recipe: Vegetable Marinara Pasta Bake with Popped Amaranth Top Crust

I don’t know that I’ve ever really declared this here on my blog, but I’m pretty much a geek in a lot of ways.

I’m a running geek who eagerly awaits her issues of Runner’s World and Running Times each month – then immersing myself in training methods, splits, and gear.

I’m a pop culture geek who can spend days philosophizing about the socially important messages and critiques in a single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and who counts the regeneration of The Doctor as a significant stressor in her life.

I’m a HUGE literary geek.  Tired of being around me?  Just shove me in a bookstore or library and I’ll be entirely happy on my own until I realize I haven’t eaten in days.

And, of course, I’m a kitchen geek.  I get excited about kitchen gadgets and culinary ephemera.  An orderly mise en place sets my world on fire and learning a new cooking technique is an exciting adventure.

So when I learned about how amaranth (a nutritious, tasty, and gluten free grain that I can safely eat!) can be popped like popcorn on the stovetop, I KNEW it was something I had to try.  I got excited about this.  Like REALLY excited.

My excitement only grew throughout the process of popping the amaranth and making this dish.  I ended up with amaranth all over my kitchen because I got a little over excited and didn’t cover it well at first, but it was worth it.  This was fun and totally delighted my inner-culinary geek who marveled at watching this mighty little grain go!

If you’re hesitant to try this technique or just don’t have access to amaranth, you can certainly make this dish with a traditional breadcrumb topping or no topping at all.  But, if you’re feeling adventurous – find some amaranth and get ready to have some fun in your kitchen – just keep a broom handy for the errant traveling seeds you’ll find later!

**Note: As is the case with so many meals, feel free to customize this dish with your favorite vegetables or what you have on hand.  I like this combination of mushrooms, onion, pepper, and spinach for the complimentary mix of tastes, colors, and nutritional benefits, but you could certainly swap other veggies to suit your needs.

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Vegetable Marinara Bake with Popped Amaranth Top Crust

A Move Eat Create Original Recipe 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 16 oz gluten free penne (or pasta of choice)
• ¼ cup amaranth
• 3 tblspns vegan Parmesan cheese
• 1 tblspn chopped fresh basil
• 1 ½ tblspn olive oil, divided
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 ½ cup chopped cremini mushrooms
• ¼ tspn ground fennel
• ½ tspn crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tblspn nutritional yeast
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
• 25-26 oz jar of marinara sauce (or equivalent of homemade)
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare an 11 x 7 baking pan by coating with cooking spray.
2. Cook pasta noodles to just al dente, according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.
3. Prepare the ingredients that will be the topping for the pasta bake.  To pop the amaranth, warm a dry pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop.  When heated, add 1 tablespoon of amaranth at a time to the pan.  If you have one, cover with a splatter screen.  The amaranth will begin to pop like popcorn.  Agitate the amaranth in the pan until most has popped.  Transfer popped amaranth to a bowl and repeat until all amaranth has been popped.  Be especially careful, as the amaranth can burn if it is not kept almost constantly agitated by shaking the pan or stirring.  The amaranth will pop quickly.  Once all amaranth has been popped, add vegan Parmesan, chopped basil, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to it and mix well to combine and coat ingredients with the olive oil.  Set aside.
4. Heat remaining ½ tablespoon oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and pepper, along with a pinch of salt, and sauté for about 5 minutes, until vegetables are softened.
5. Add chopped mushrooms and cook another 3-4 minutes.
6. Add fennel, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, and chopped spinach to pan.  Mix well and cook just 1-2 minutes until spinach starts to wilt.  Turn off heat and add cooked pasta noodles to the pan, stirring well to combine all ingredients.
7. Line bottom of prepared baking pan with a light layer of the marinara sauce.  Pour noodles and vegetables on top of sauce and spread evenly.  Pour remaining marinara sauce onto top of noodle/vegetable mixture evenly.  Finally, sprinkle prepared topping across the entire casserole.
8. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degree.  Uncover and continue to bake for 10 more minutes.  Serve with additional salt, pepper, and vegan Parmesan to taste.

Foodie Firsts: From Contract to Recurring Status (And the Wonder of Garlic Spears)

Foodie Firsts is a Move Eat Create weekly feature focusing on my adventures in the world of food.  Over the course of a few short years, I have transformed from a picky, fearful eater to a curious and open-minded foodie.  In a commitment to continue to expand my culinary experiences, I have started Foodie Firsts.  Each week I will commit to trying something new and sharing that experience with you.  My endeavors may include experimenting with cooking techniques I’ve never tried before, testing a single new ingredient, or drawing upon my creativity to combine foods in ways I never imagined.  Whatever it is, I will eat (or maybe drink) it and share it all with you.  You can decide for yourself whether you, too, would like to try.  Let’s be bold and eat good food!

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So there is this thing in television that happens when someone goes from contract status to recurring status.  It means that instead of being featured regularly, the character just sort of pops up now and then, whenever the storyline dictates it or just enough to make sure the other characters haven’t forgotten they’re around.

And by television I mean daytime soap operas.

Don’t ask me how I know so much about daytime soap operas.  I will plead the fifth in order to preserve my semi-intellectual reputation.

(But if you ever want to talk about General Hospital, you know where to find me.)

The point is that this column is going from contract to recurring status.  I wanted to kick it off with a weekly edition and have found it to be incredibly fun and a terrific motivator to keep pushing myself culinarily speaking, but rather than continue it as a weekly feature, I’ll be posting Foodie Firsts a bit more sporadically, mixed in with my other regular posts.  A large part of this is due to my continued dietary changes (the whole gluten is poisoning me thing) and spending a good deal of my cooking time sorting that issue out.

But, as the last regular Thursday edition, I did want to mention roasted garlic spears.  Because as I learned last week, roasted garlic spears are freaking incredible.

For someone who pretty strongly believes a savory meal can never have too much garlic, I can’t believe I haven’t tried them before.  I hadn’t intended to do a full post on them, so I didn’t take any pictures of them cooked, I just snapped a few raw because they were so pretty to look at it.

I roasted my garlic spears for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven after drizzling them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper.  So simple.  So easy.  So delicious.

I ate them just like that, picking them up with my fingers and biting right in.  The amount of flavor in these spears is impressive and the crispy texture sublime.  The garlic does not overwhelm the tastebuds, as it softens and sweetens through the roasting process, leaving a perfectly palatable and beautiful side dish.

Garlic spears are only in season for a short time, but they are certainly peaking right now.  If you find a batch at your market, snatch it up (or snatch a few up) and roast away.

This is the find of the season for my little kitchen – maybe it can be yours, too.

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Yellow Curry Vegetable Stuffed Burritos

Its Virtual Vegan Potluck time, people!

A whole day where the blogging world is flooded with a variety of delicious vegan recipes is one of the best days ever.  This is my first time participating and I am thrilled to be able to share this recipe.

I put quite a lot of thought into what I would contribute to the potluck.  I knew that I wanted to create something different from recipes I’ve featured on the blog in the past and I also knew I wanted something that would really represent who I am as a foodie.  It would be a tall order to find the perfect representation of my food tastes, as I like a lot of different things for a variety of reasons, but I do feel that in many ways, this meal does it.  It is full of veggies, packs layers of flavor, includes potatoes (one of the foods I find most satisfying to eat), allows for some flexibility and personal twists to be made, and it gets rolled up in a tortilla.

I love anything that can be rolled up in a tortilla.  Tortillas make life better.  Period.

I stand by that broad, sweeping claim. (I ❤ tortillas.)

I made my own curry powder for this, which I highly recommend.  It can seem daunting when you look at the long list of ingredients, but the process itself is straightforward.  If you have access to a bulk spice and herb shop, consider paying them a visit.  You certainly can use a pre-mixed curry powder, too, if blending your own powder isn’t your thing.

You’ll also notice that I cook the potatoes separately from the other ingredients.  There is a reason for this extra step, my friends, and that is to give the potatoes a slightly crisp outside, which will lend to textural variety in the burrito itself.  You could cook the potatoes differently.  You could do so.  BUT, you would lose the slightly crunchy, delicious potato magic that happens when you roast them in this way and who wants to lose that?

I served my burritos with a side of snap peas sautéed up with some Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, garlic, ginger, a dash of sesame oil, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  I also took leftover burritos for lunch (as I tend to do with leftovers) and they held up nicely.  I would venture to say that the curry flavors may have even deepened upon sitting overnight.

I hope you try them.  I hope you love them.  And, I hope you find lots of goodies visiting all the Virtual Vegan Potluck dishes!

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Yellow Curry Vegetable Stuffed Burritos 

Makes 10 burritos

Ingredients:

For the curry powder:

• ½ tblspn coriander seed
• 1/2 tblpsn white peppercorns
• 1 tspn yellow mustard seed
• 1 tspn cumin seed
• ¼ tspn fennel seed
• 1 tblspn ground turmeric
• 1 tspn red pepper flakes
• 1 tspn ground ginger
• ¼ tspn ground fenugreek
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 4 curry leaves, minced (optional)

For the burritos:

• 1 cup yellow onion (about ½ large onion), diced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 medium head of cauliflower, chopped small
• 2 large russet potatoes, chopped into ½ inch cubes
• 1 ½ tblspn olive or canola oil, divided
• 2 tblspns curry powder (above recipe or pre-mixed), plus more for sprinkling on potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tblspn fresh ginger, minced
• 3 tblspns vegetarian fish oil (if you can’t find this ingredient, vegetable stock may be substituted)
• 10 soft burrito-sized tortillas
• Salt and pepper
• Fistful cilantro, chopped

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment.
2. To make the curry powder, place first 5 ingredients (all the seeds) into a dry skillet over medium-high heat.  Toast the spices, shaking and stirring seeds often, until they start to pop and become fragrant.  Remove from heat and grind into a fine powder.  I used a coffee grinder for this, but you can use a mortar and pestle if needed.  When ground, add all other curry ingredients and stir together to combine well.  Set aside.
3. Place chopped potatoes into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the oil and a hearty sprinkling of curry powder, salt, and pepper.  Toss to combine and coat potatoes well.  Spread potatoes out onto parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer.  Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 25 minutes, flipping once halfway through.  Remove from oven and set aside.
4. While potatoes are cooking, make the rest of the filling.  Heat ½ tablespoon oil over medium heat in a large non-stick sauté pan or cast iron skillet.  Add onions and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes, until starting to soften.
5. Add bell pepper, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, and 2 tablespoons of the curry powder to the pan, stir so all ingredients are coated with the curry powder, and sauté for 3-4 minutes this way.
6. To finish cooking the vegetables, add the vegetarian fish oil to the pan, stir, and cover.  Cook, covered, for 5 minutes over medium heat.  You may want to stir once or twice during this time to prevent any items from burning, but keep covered when not stirring.
7. Turn off heat and add cooked potatoes to the pan with the rest of the vegetables.  Combine well.
8. To make burritos, fill each tortilla with ¾ cup – 1 cup of the filling, sprinkle with cilantro, and roll up.

*** Note:  If you want to keep burritos warm while you eat an appetizer or finish any side dish preparations, you can place rolled burritos onto a baking sheet and into an oven heated to 200 degrees until ready to serve.

Click here to see the tasty dish that preceded mine in the Potluck (@ vegan miam): 

Click here to check out the next goodie in the line up (@ Honk If You’re Vegan): 

 

Why Wednesdays? – Why I Eat . . . Plants! – #3

A Note About This Feature:  Why Wednesdays is a Move Eat Create weekly feature determined to turn the mid-week doldrums upside down and celebrate things I love to do and blog about.  Currently, the focus is on food, cooking, and eating.

 

In 2012, I became a vegetarian.  Before some of you read that and hurriedly click off to another page, worried that I am here to convert you, let me preface this post by saying that I am not going to tell you why you,too, should become a vegetarian or why you should not eat meat or anything like that.  I’m simply going to talk about plants – why I eat them and why, just maybe, you should, too (even if you eat meat, also!).

I can’t even count the number of times in my life that I said something like, “I would love to be a vegetarian, but I just don’t think I could do it.  I just couldn’t give up [insert various meaty food here].”  The reality is that I just wasn’t ready.  Not only did I not have the proper incentive or motivation to do so until recently, but I didn’t have the creativity and adventurousness with food, either.  As I started to change my eating habits to follow a much healthier lifestyle, I started to naturally eat less meat, mainly because I wanted to eat more plants.  I took very, very small steps at first.  I traded quarter-pounders for turkey subs and eventually all veggie ones.  I started beginning each lunch and dinner with a bowl full of salad.  Homemade pizzas were topped with plenty of peppers, onions, and tomato slices, rather than pepperoni.  I added a piece of fruit to every breakfast and lunch that I ate.  And so along I went, making small shifts here and there.

Before I knew it, meat was starting to comprise an increasingly small amount of my daily food intake and fruits and veggies were piling up on my plates.   This was coinciding nicely with my increased activity levels, extra energy, loss of excess weight, less instances of colds, allergies, and other ills, and overall increase in general good vibes.  And, once that ball got rolling, it was hard to stop.  Who needs chicken burritos when I can make delicious bean and zucchini ones?!  Why take up room in my belly with fatty bacon when I can have a delicious, fresh, ripe bowl of fruit?!  Some may scoff, but few flavors can match the pure deliciousness of a nicely ripened piece of fruit.

Plus, I should note that I have had a roommate this whole time who happens to be vegetarian.  Sometimes I wanted to ensure I made a meal everyone could have, so meat got left out and vegetables took its place.  Other times, I had a meat-centric dish, but was intrigued by what my friend was eating and wanted to give it a try.  My surprise at how many delicious preparations there were for vegetables (and grains and legumes) was constant.

Over time, I craved plants.  Roasted carrots, please!  Minestrone soup? Yes and thank you!  Aloo gobi (Indian cauliflower and potatoes)?  Oh goodness, I will take seconds!  And, please do not even think about having me go a day without a big, green, leafy salad.  Perish the thought!

I was starting to adore plants.  Then one day, I realized I hadn’t touched a piece of meat in a couple of months.  Just like that, I was done with it.  It had become that easy.  And it felt wonderful, because when I used to say “I would love to be a vegetarian, but . . . “ I had actually meant that first part.  In order to eat a hamburger, I often had to actively work to shut out the reality of what it was.  Finally, my behaviors matched my values and intentions.  I love it when that happens!

Now, further helping me along this path was the incredible amount of learning I did about the health benefits of plants.  Seriously.  Many of you probably have no idea – I sure didn’t.  I mean, we all know on some level that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but huge amounts of information about the extent of this hangs out in the dark corners of the library, the deepest of web page domains, and the highest numbers on the television dial.  This information just doesn’t get shared widely.  If you’re not seeking it out, you won’t ever learn most of it.

Case in point:  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.  This book changed my life.  I mean really, truly changed my life.  It’s not a book about one small research project or a ‘miracle diet’ or anything of that sort.  It is a well-explained, meticulously documented summary of years and years of expansive research on the benefits of plant-based diets.  The information in it is invaluable and I cannot recommend this book enough.  When I was reading it, I must have bugged Mr. Move Eat Create about fifty times with the phrases “Did you know?” and “I had no idea!” and “Why are we not taught this in school or by our doctors?”

That last one is critically important and is worthy of a blog post in its own right.  Why aren’t we taught this in school or by our doctors?  Why don’t doctors ask about our daily habits?  Why don’t we learn in school about the correlations between plant-heavy diets and longer life spans, less heart disease, less diabetes, LESS CANCER?  Yes, cancer –  that horrible, nasty disease that we just seem to accept as inevitable to us all.

I eat plants for a number of reasons these days.  I feel better.  I get sick less often.  I have more energy.  My blood pressure has lowered.  I reduce negative environmental impacts of food production.  They TASTE GOOD.  I’ve mentioned before another blog/website that I love: No Meat Athlete.  Well, Matt Frazier over at that blog has a catchphrase:  Runs on Plants.

That’s me these days.  I’m Shannon and I run on plants.

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Previous Entries in This Series:

#2 – Why I Eat . . . With Reverence

#1 –   Why I Eat  . . . Thoughtfully

How To Make Homemade Vegetable Stock (and A Few Thoughts On Sustainability)

It’s difficult to put into words what it is exactly about making vegetable stock that makes me feel so satisfied.  But of all the things I have cooked, baked, assembled, or concocted, the process and product of homemade vegetable stock illicit in me a feeling of contentment that is uniquely its own.

Go veggies, go!

I think ultimately it comes down to frugality and sustainability.  I am always looking for ways to save money where I can, especially in the kitchen.  Saving money in one aspect of food costs allows me to splurge occasionally on indulgent, but amazing ingredients at other times (vanilla beans come to mind, for instance).  So making my own vegetable stock is a very budget friendly endeavor.

But even more than financial savings, making my own vegetable stock feels like such a simple way to practice sustainability – a concept which is very important to me.  We use a lot of vegetables in my home and instead of tossing out stems and stumps, all of the veggie odds and ends get tossed into a Ziplock freezer bag.  Every few weeks, I pull out that bag and put those forlorn vegetable scraps to good use.  It is an immensely satisfying process to take something otherwise destined to be unused and discarded and rather to make something wonderful out of it.  And, homemade vegetable stock is a wonderful thing!  It has so many uses.  You can use it in the obvious places – soups, stews, and sauces.  But you can also use it in place of water as the cooking liquid for rice, quinoa, beans, and other grains and legumes.  It adds a nice subtle flavor and richness to these items.  You can even use it as a substitute for some of the oil in dips and spreads, such as hummus (don’t replace all the oil, but about half can be substituted with great results).

So, if you’re a tosser-outer of vegetable scraps, consider brewing up your own stock from time to time.  Your budget, your ‘green’ nature, and your meals will love it!

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Homemade Vegetable Stock Tips & Method

Common Ingredients:

You can use just about any vegetable – just know that their natural flavor profiles will subtly flavor the stock.  So, if you want a sweeter stock use items such as bell peppers, carrots, and other root vegetables.  If you want a spicier stock, think of items like radishes.  I generally go for a balanced flavor profile and my most commonly used vegetable scraps include carrot tops and leaves, bell pepper caps, broccoli stems, onion wedges and celery bits.

Fresh versus Frozen:

As I mentioned, I freeze my vegetable bits so that they don’t rot before use.   You can also use fresh vegetables, too, and I do this when I have them to spare.  When I make a batch, I often go through my vegetables on hand.  If I know that there is a lone carrot or a random stump of cauliflower that isn’t going to get used before it turns bad, I’ll surely throw it in the pot with my frozen pieces.  Just remember to never use vegetables that have turned bad or spoiled – they will harm the flavor or your stock.

To Season or Not to Season?

There are differing opinions about whether to salt and season a stock or not.  My general modus operandi is to salt the stock sparingly, just to help bring out some of the flavors of the vegetables, but not so much that it will later overwhelm whatever dish I use it in.  I have in the past added sprigs of parsley and thyme to my stock and that has been a very nice addition as well.  Ultimately, you get to be creative with your flavor development here.  Make the stock’s flavor as subtle or as bold as you wish!

Cooking Time/Method

It’s very simple.  Begin by tossing your vegetables into a large stockpot.   I usually add quite a bit, covering the bottom of my pot in a layer or two of vegetables.  Then fill pot with water to about an inch or two below the top.  If you are adding salt or other seasonings, do so now. Bring water to a boil over high heat and then reduce to a low simmer, covered.  Let simmer for 1 – 1 ½ hours.  Don’t cook longer than this, as the vegetables can leach out all their flavor and may turn bitter if overcooked.

Straining & Storage

When the stock is done cooking, scoop out the large chunks of vegetables and discard.  Then, pour stock through a strainer and cheese cloth to get out all small bits that may have broken down into the liquid.  I think a cheese cloth in addition to a strainer is essential to this process – it will really catch all the small particles floating around in there.  Finally, scoop your desired amount of stock into storage containers and freeze or refrigerate.  I use inexpensive food storage containers (i.e. Gladware) and store my stock in 1 cup servings.  They stack nicely in the back of my freezer.  When ready to use, simply defrost as many cups as you need.  Of course there is no need to freeze if you use the stock within 2-3 days of making – just refrigerate it.  The frozen stock can be stored for several months before using, though it is unlikely it will last that long if you cook regularly!