BONE BROTH

It’s a perfect day for soup, tea, hot chocolate and all things cozy! Bone broth is pretty cozy you know. You may be asking yourself, what’s bone broth? GREAT QUESTION! It’s the result of lots of bones and veggies simmered together to make the best part of a soup, the broth. Its great to drink by itself, or I like to use it in recipes in place of chicken or beef stock.

Not only is it yummy, but it has great health benefits. It’s filled with minerals, helps relieve the body of toxins and is especially great for people experiencing digestion issues (i.e. constipation, leaky gut). I started making it after listening to one of Dr. Terry Wahls webinars about how her diet consists of a daily serving of bone broth, and how its helped her on her path of recovery from multiple sclerosis. I began doing research and decided to try it out. So far my husband and I really enjoy it. It’s great for when you’re feeling a bit under the weather, or when you simply want something warm and nourishing.

The best part is, its pretty cheap and easy to make! For about 2 pounds of 100% grass fed beef bones I pay between $5-$7 depending on where I get them from. Than, I use veggies that I normally already have in the fridge, especially if they are already kinda sad looking. I throw everything into a pot and simmer away!

I admit sometimes I get lazy and just decide to take the easy way out by buying the premade stuff from the store.  However recently I noticed ALL the ingredient labels for broth say “chicken flavor” or “beef flavor”. What the heck does that even mean? Sounds scary to me! So I decided to avoid store bought broth as much as possible, and simply make it at home. That way I know EXACTLY what is in it.

I know there are a lot of bone broth recipes out there, but since I use it quite a bit now I figured I’d post my recipe for it.

Bone Broth

Yields 9 cups

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Beef Bones (I used marrow bones)
• 3-4 carrots cut in thirds
• 2 stalks celery cut in thirds
• 1 medium onion quartered
• 7 cloves garlic unpeeled~ smashed or cut in half
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 20 cups of water

1. Take the first 7 ingredients and put them all in a stockpot or dutch oven. (I used my 5.5 quart dutch oven)
2. Now take only 12 cups of your water and pour it into your pot and let it simmer for 3 hours. Stirring it once in a while just to make sure nothing is sticking.
3. After 3 hours you will notice the water will have decreased, add 4 more cups of water to the pot.
4. Let broth cook for 3 more hours and add 4 more cups of water at the 6th hour of cooking.
5. Cook for 1 more hour (making it a total cooking time of 7 hours)
6. Let the broth cool. Take out the bones and carrots, and strain the broth through a sieve into a clean bowl. I strained mine about 4 times to make sure I had a nice clean broth with no bone pieces floating in it.
7. Place the broth in the fridge overnight. In the morning you should have fat discs floating on top. Just skim them off.
8. Now you can save your broth in the fridge for a few days OR freeze them in ice cube trays like I do, and use them whenever you need.

See! That wasn’t so hard or scary. Just dump everything into a pot and let it cook, and add water a few times. I have actually read that you can cook the broth for days if you like. Just keep adding water. Unfortunately I don’t have patience for that 

I like freezing the broth in ice cube trays because it’s easier to use for recipes and individual servings.

My ice cube tray holds about 2 tbsp. liquid in each cube, and 8 cubes is equal to 1 cup. I store the cubes in a zip lock bag, whenever I need some I just defrost it on the stove or in the microwave. Easy peezy!

And now you have yummy broth for whenever you feel sick, or a recipe calls for it.