Bone Broth

Since we picked up our side of beef last weekend, I have a freezer full of yummy, grass-fed beef.

I also have about 6 bags of bones!  Ewwww.  Kind of gross, but kind of wonderful.

Since one of my kids got sick last week (I forget which one; they're all in different stages of different illnesses now.  Nice, huh?  We can't just have one virus go through the entire family; we have to have 3 or 4!  But I digress...), I immediately felt the urge to make some healthy beef broth...

...so I went to the freezer, careful not to let a frozen roast fall out and break my toes, and dragged out a big ol' bag of leg bones.  I know, you love it.

The first step is to roast the bones in the oven, which I did for an hour or so at 350, turning them once.  The smell is amazing and makes everyone hungry.  After they're nicely roasted, lots of fat has oozed out, which I strained and saved in a mason jar for future use.

Then I tossed the bones into my big stockpot full of water with some carrots, onions, herbs, salt and a little vinegar to help bring out the nutrients.  I let it simmer all day until I remembered the most important part!

I had forgotten to add the heart!

Yep.  Threw it right in there, barely glancing at it to see what it looked like.  I knew it wasn't a kidney or liver, so it had to be the heart.  blech.  But I was taking a page out of Kelly's book, and using it in a way we wouldn't find offensive.

At the end of the day, I strained the broth and poured it into containers for freezing.  The bones and the heart and the veggies all went in the trash.  No one took me up on my offer to try the heart.

I'm looking forward to making my wintry vegetable soup with this wonderful broth instead of using the ultra-pricey, less nutritious stuff in the store.

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