Recipe: Bone Broth

Bone broth is super easy to make! Apparently, it is one of the most healthful foods out there, too. I have been making mine with turkey carcasses left over from Thanksgiving but it can be made with chicken, beef, etc.

The recipe is pretty loose and it is better to make the bone broth from what you have on hand, than not at all. 

I chop my veggies smaller than they need to be because I plan in eating them with some of the broth. You'll especially want to do this if you are going to be making soup with the vegetables included. 

You just throw it all in the crockpot, fill it up with water, and turn it on. 

Yummy soup!

Ingredients:

2 carrots (I use a handful or two of minis)

1 medium onion

2 celeries

3-4 sprigs fresh parsley 

1-2 sprigs fresh thyme

1-2 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

Water

Put the bones/carcass in the crockpot. Roughly chop the carrots and celery and then slice and quarter the onion. Throw the veggies and garlic in the crockpot. Pull the leaves of the herbs right off into the pot. Add the bay leaf, vinegar, and any salt and pepper you might want (I usually add just a bit of pepper and wait to add the rest later).  Fill the crockpot with water leaving about 1-1/2 inch space at the top so it doesn't boil over. Turn it on low. Leave for 8-10 hours turning carcass every couple of hours.  (Warning: Your house will smell delicious!!!)

When it is done cooking, strain the broth with a fine wire strainer into a pitcher then pour the broth into your storage containers. Refrigerate until cold, scoop off the layer of fat, then seal and store in the freezer.

-The first time I made bone broth, I only used onion, carrots, celery, and parsley and it was still great!!

What do you put in your bone broth to make it delicious?




References:
100 Days of Real Food, Primally Inspired, Weed'em & Reap, Chow

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Recipe: Easy Homemade Broccoli Cheese Sauce

I whipped this together the other night when I needed a quick dinner before book club. I had some left over broccoli from making Cheesy Cream of Broccoli Soup with Bacon and some left over heavy cream and cheeses from a Baked Ziti recipe I'll be posting soon. 

This pic is actually the leftover sauce that I ate tonight :)

This is a super easy sauce that whips up really quickly and is so good that I literally kept eating it with a spoon while I waited for my baked potatoes to finish cooking. Enjoy!

Start by chopping up the broccoli, boiling the broccoli steaming water, and melting the butter.  Finish chopping the broccoli and get it steaming before you add the flour to the butter, otherwise, you will be trying to stir your roux and chop broccoli and then add cream before the roux browns too much and then be stirring the white sauce so it doesn't burn while still trying to chop broccoli and your broccoli steaming water will be trying to boil out of the pan (no punctuation crazy sentence to reflect the real life craziness).  No good.

3 Cups???

 At this point the thought came to me that Talon, my 3 year old, hadn't gone to the bathroom for a while.  So in the midst of everything else, I ran into my bedroom where he was playing Sonic and found that he had peed right on my bed.  Awesome :| 

Phew, no lumps!

Once it is mixed together, you'll want to taste it...a bunch.  We like ours a little thick, but this would be the point to add milk a little at a time to the consistency you prefer.

Talon's baked potato with the cheese sauce.  He liked it!

 Ingredients:

3 Cups broccoli, chopped small

1/2 Cup water

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons flour

1 1/2 Cups heavy cream

1 Cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 Cup mozerella cheese, shredded

1/2 Cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Milk for consistency

 Start by chopping the broccoli into smaller pieces (little chopped stems work perfectly in this sauce).  Bring the water and sea salt to a boil in a medium/small pot with a lid.  Add the broccoli and stir until the water returns to a boil then turn the heat to low and cover.  Cook for 5 minutes and test softness.  (You could use frozen broccoli and follow the cooking directions on the package.)  Melt the butter in a medium/large pot.  Add the flour and stir until combined.  Bring temperature to medium high then add the cream and stir until it starts to bubble and thicken.  Turn the heat off and stir in the cheese.  Add the broccoli and any remaining cooking water to the sauce and stir it in.  This will make a fairly thick sauce so feel free, at this point, to add milk a bit at a time, if you would like your sauce a little more thin.  -Serves 4.

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Recipe: Tropical Quinoa Chicken Salad

This is an easy meal that uses ingredients I commonly have around the house. I invented it one day when my fridge was empty and so was my belly. Hope you like it!!

When I was working full time, I rarely used the crockpot but have been using it more frequently now that I am home. I like using the crockpot for this recipe because I can start the chicken at lunch time and then work on it during nap time. I also like to shred the chicken vs cube it because I think it works better with the quinoa. You, however, can cook and prepare your chicken however you darn well please.

I cook my quinoa in the rice cooker and use only 1.25 cups of liquid per the 1.5 cups of dry quinoa because soggy quinoa is no bueno. To sweeten the quinoa and to give it more of a tropical taste, you can substitute coconut milk for some of the water. When I have it on hand, I use about .5 cup coconut milk and .75 cup water.

When draining the pineapple and oranges, I leave the tiniest bit of juice in the can to mix in with the salad. Make sure you fold the oranges in gently after everything else is mixed in or else you will end up with mangled oranges...like mine. When I am feeling ambitious, I toast coconut flakes in the oven to sprinkle over the top (didn't happen last night).  

Yum!

Tropical Quinoa Chicken Salad

2 Cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 1/2 Cups dry quinoa, cooked

1/2 Cup coconut milk (optional)

2 Cups grapes, halved

2 Cans pineapple, drained

1/2 Cup poppyseed dressing

2 Cans mandarin oranges, drained

Possible delicious add ins:

Toasted coconut flakes

Red bell pepper, chopped

Chives, chopped

Sliced almonds

Let me know what you think, especially if you try a variation. I'll also keep you posted with any variations that I try. 

Update on 10/19/2013

I added a red bell pepper and it was AWESOME! Highly recommended. 

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