Homemade Bone Broth....and a little house news

Ok, ok.....I know you've been waiting with bated breath (as have I!!) to know and see what that beautiful wood was being used for that I posted about in my last post.  Well, I can finally show you!  YAY!!!  It's done enough to get a picture, although the photos don't quite do it justice.

Here is our new almost completed dining room ceiling!!!

We've still got to complete the beams going to the sides, but I think this is just beautiful!  I huge shout out goes to Uncle Joe, Mike's Dad George, and to Mike!  They have worked themselves ragged to make our vision a reality!  I can't wait to see it fully completed!!  

.............So between the time I started this post and now, the ceiling was completed!  Here's the finished product!!!............Loooooove!

Anyway, I was planning on posting my way of making bone broth and my friend just happened to text me and ask me about it.  So, it turned out to be perfect timing.  A few things to know about bone broth.  Collagen/gelatin is very good for you.  It helps your nails, your hair, your skin, it helps seal a leaky gut (especially good for babies), and helps heal a damaged gut caused by food allergies or sensitivities.  I use it in many, many recipes (if the recipe calls for water or wine even, you can replace it with your broth if you'd like and it gives it great flavor!), I mix it in my baby's food, and we drink it warmed up in a coffee cup (it's surprisingly good this way).

This recipe is more of a "how to" rather than a measured out recipe because it's really going to be good pretty much no matter what you do to it.  So, I'll give you a guide as to what I do and you can tweak it and go from there.  

Homemade Bone Broth

4-6 lbs chicken, beef, and/or pork bones (you can use chicken feet, neck, marrow bones, steak bones, etc....you can separate them by animal or you can mix.  whatever you prefer)

1Tbsp apple cider vinegar 

2 carrots (you can even use baby carrots if that's all you've got) 

1 large onion

4-6 cloves of garlic

2 stalks of celery (leave on the tops...lots of good flavor)

salt and pepper to taste

a bunch of fresh herbs (I like either cilantro or thyme, or you could do a mixture like sage, rosemary, and thyme, etc)

So first of all you want your bones.  I like to use a mix of chicken and beef bones.  We generally purchase a half of a cow that has been butchered, so I have a ton of beef bones and then I save all my chicken bones from when I buy a whole chicken on sale or if I happen to buy bone-in chicken.  I cook whatever meat it is, take the meat off of the bones, and put the bones in the freezer until I am ready to use them.  You get a lot of extra flavor when the bones have been cooked.....it's especially delicious when you have cooked steak on the grill.  If you have fresh soup bones from the butcher, then you will want to sprinkle them with salt and pepper and roast them on 350 degrees for about  30 minutes before you start your broth.

Ok, so then I take the bones I want to use, put them in a large stock pot (do not use a cast iron pot for this.....we will be adding apple cider vinegar and it will be too acidic for your cast iron pot and will make your broth taste like metal.....stainless is probably your best bet here), and fill the pot 3/4 of the way full with water and turn the burner onto high.  Add the apple cider vinegar.

Then chop the carrots, onion, celery into large hunks and throw into the pot.  Then smash your garlic cloves, remove the peel, and add to the pot.  Add about a tsp of salt and about 1/2 a tsp pepper and bring to a boil.  Once you have a good rolling boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours (check your marrow bones and make sure the marrow has come out...the longer the better).




When you have about 10-15 minutes left, add your fresh herbs.  If you add these too early, the flavor can cook out, so you want to make sure you don't cook them too long.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  When you are happy with your flavor, get another large pot and set your colander in it.  Pour the broth in the colander and strain out the bones and the veggies.   Then, I take the broth and run it through a fine mesh strainer a few times to make sure I get all the little pieces out.  Serve immediately, use in a recipe, can it, or cool and store in the fridge or freezer.  Enjoy!