[cookinmaven]

When I was a student I used to make "Potato peel stock" and then made soup, Here's what I did.
1. Scrub and peel 2 potatoes. Put peels in a pot, submerge taters in cold water.
2. Peel the outer paper skin off two onions and discard. Peel the inner peel & toss that in the stockpot as well.
3. Scrub a carrot. Cut off the very top part ("shoulder") peel the carrot & toss peels & shoulder in the pot.
4. Scrub a stalk of elery. Cut off the bottom white part and the leaves and put those in the pot.

Add 1 1/2 - 2 quarts of water to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer for 30 min.
While soup is simmering, dice the onions, carrot & celery to the same size. Do not dice the potato until just ready to cook it, or it will discolor.
Drain the veggie peels out of the broth, return broth to pot and add the diced veggies and season with salt & pepper. At this point you can add any herbs you like (1 bay leaf, & 1 t. dry thyme for example). You can also add a fresh tomato or two, or a can of diced tomatoes, or a can of crushed tomatoes. If you add tomatoes, sweet basil is a nice touch. A diced zucchini is also good. To make it more substantial you can also add a can of garbanzo or kidney beans, depending on the budget. Low cal, low fat and HEALTHY.