Beef Bone Broth…Who Knew?!

While collecting recipes this past week, I finally decided to give bone broth a try. I’ve seen quite a few people on Instagram share photos of their crockpots loaded with bones, veggies and water, but I had no idea what the benefits of this broth were and why they were doing this. Then I decided to consult my good friend Google, since he always has the answers (he’s such a know it all…it’s a little obnoxious sometimes).

If like me, you are not aware of the benefits of consuming bone broth, please take a moment to READ THIS you’ll thank me after you do.

If you ARE familiar with bone broth, well….WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ABOUT HOW AWESOME AND EASY IT IS?!

This is the recipe that I used for mine. I already have a chicken carcass in the freezer and plan on making a batch of chicken bone broth after I roast another chicken next week.

Slow Cooker Beef Bone Broth
Recipes from NomNomPaleo
Makes about 4 quarts

Ingredients:
2 carrots, chopped medium
2 celery stalks, chopped medium
1 medium onion, chopped medium7 garlic cloves, smashed
3.5 lb of beef bones (I used beef marrow bones)
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
water

Directions:
1. Add the vegetables to the bottom of your slow cooker. Then place the beef bones on top.
2. Tuck the bay leaves between the bones, sprinkle with salt and then drizzle the bones with the apple cider vinegar.
3. Add enough water to cover everything.
4. Set your slow cooker to cook on low for 10 hours. (After speaking to some friends, I set mine for a second time and cooked it for 20 hours. After reading the above article, I’ll be cooking it even longer next time.)
5. When the broth is done, pour it through a fine strainer and discard the solids. (we gave our dog one of the bones as a treat)
6. Portion into tupperwares and place in the fridge. If your bones were fatty, you can skim off some of the fat after it separates and sets in the fridge. The broth will turn into a beef gelatin, so don’t be alarmed.

The broth will keep in the fridge for a few days or if you freeze it, it’ll last for several months.

So far I’ve tried heating up the broth and drinking it like a tea and I’ve also sauteed some veggies and then heated the broth with them to make a quick, healthy, lunchtime soup. From now one, I’ll be using this in place of boxed stock for all of my recipes as well. Why should I spend my hard earned pennies on boxed stock that isn’t as good for me as the liquid from the Gods?!

On a side note, Mike and I also started P90X3 last night, so keep an eye out for a review of it once we complete week 1!

Have you tried bone broth? If so, I’d love to hear anything different you do in your recipe. If you’re new to this, are you considering making it since reading this post?