Onto stocks....certainly not on wall street though

Stocks are one of the most important parts of any soup, braise and even grains. You can use a good chicken or vegetable stock to cook your brown rice, it will only add flavor.

A good vegetable stock has a variety of vegetables in it. Any vegetable scrap you have is perfect. Also add fresh herbs, peppercorns and bay leaves. Mushroom stems add a really nice flavor if you’ve got them lying around.

As for chicken stock I find that if you roast a chicken for dinner and save the bones that this makes the best stock. Also you are using the whole animal which is always nice on nature and the pocket book/wallet. You can also go to your local butcher and ask them for plain old chicken bones to make your stock with. You want to also add onions and any other vegetable scraps you have or even fresh ones. The best ratio is 50%onion, 25%carrot and 25%celery; however you can add any other vegetable scraps you have around, this isn’t written in stone. Also herbs are very helpful as well as some black peppers and bay leaves. Bay leaves are the most important because they are a diarrhetic and aid in cleansing your body.

Now, not everybody has time to make a stock. There are many brands in the grocery stores, but a lot of them have so many unnecessary additives! Two brands that I have found that are just simply stock are “Americas Choice” and “Wolf-gang Puck’s”