The best bone broth I have ever made

Hello friends!

We have had a week of snow and freezing rain here in SW Washington state, which means today was the first time I went anywhere in 6 days.

It was nice to get out and do some grocery shopping, but honestly, after a couple hours I was ready to be at home.

It’s my cozy little nest, and I am enjoying our quiet winter so very much.

I spent this week baking bread, doing a whole lot of laundry, making soups, a beef stroganoff, and simmering the best bone broth ever in my slow cooker.

Have you ever realized you are obsessed with something and up until that point you had thought of it as merely an interest?

I came to this realization recently when looking thru my food storage, pantry, Pinterest and Google history. I double checked the masses of cookbooks, You Tube subs and quickly realized, I would rather watch a new grocery haul online than a new blockbuster movie.

My name is Tanya, and I love food. But not just the eating of the food, but I find the geeky nutritional-value stuff really is fascinating. I will blame my beloved Grandmother for this as I learned fairly early what complex carbohydrates were and had a healthy working knowledge of amino acids, I don’t believe I was riding a bike yet.

But those hours watching her cook, research recipes and cook from her garden instilled a passion that I have only fully embraced in the last couple of years.

I love to cook, plan, and entertain, but the joy associated with these tasks regrettably had taken a back burner (get that cooking pun right there?) when life was hectic and this mama was just plain tired.

But once time permitted, I found myself menu planning, watching sales, stocking up and making as much as I can from scratch that makes sense (to me at least.)

One of my favorite things to make hands down, is bone broth in my slow cooker.

I noticed how expensive a quart of bone broth was a few years ago and decided that I would up my broth game. What I came to realize was while my broth from chicken, beef, or turkey bones was good, there were two things I had not done before.

And this, was indeed the broth game changer.

I now cook it on low in my slow cooker for at least 24 hours, and I add one tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar with the mother to the water.

Yep, that was the bone broth holy grail moment, reading and seeing how our ancestors made foods that warmed and healed our bodies.

I noticed now that my bone broth is much darker due to the vinegar assisting in pulling more collagen from the bones. And the taste?

You won’t go back to store bought or light colored broth again. Those will be forever ruined for you but you will not look back!

And if you and down for a thrifty shortcut? Keep a couple gallon freezer bags in the freezer for onion ends, celery butts, carrot peels, and of course, the beloved bones. When they are getting full, dump them into your slow cooker, cover with water, add the vinegar and excitedly wait for the quarts of cooking fairy dust that will be loaded into your fridge in a mere 24 hours.

Once the broth is done, I allow it to cool down first in the slow cooker, strain into quart size mason jars and store in my fridge. I mean the liquid gold that changed my life.

Well at least in the broth department, I am a totally new woman!

I use it in my rice cooker to boost the flavor of rice, in soups, chili, sauces, anywhere you would use broth or water when cooking.

Little changes that save quite a bit at the grocery store and pack and nutritional punch are what I am always on the search for. Let’s say a home cook buys 90% of their bread and all their pasta (like me!) but slowly introduces a couple homemade items that save their family money and boost the nutritional value of their meals?

Those little changes add up and before you know it you have a jar of seeds spouting in a dark area of your kitchen, you’re ordering unrefined mineral salt online (I know it may sound silly but check out the link- you can taste the difference), and somehow still bring home some treats your family loves to avoid anarchy in your home.

Balance, value and time investment all have to make sense. This is why I use local grocery store apps for savings but I can never seem to see the savings on a manufacturer coupon since we don’t seem to buy brand name anything.

Unless it is a better deal than the store brand, now that is a whole new blog post haha!

Well, off to strain some broth into jars and get started on dinner 🙂

Thank you as always for reading friend, your sweet messages, comments and ideas encourage me so. I am working on a simple winter wreath right now that I cannot wait to share, let’s talk soon and I hope this finds you warm, cozy, and doing the things this week that bring you joy!

xx, Tanya