Bone Broth: An easy way to stretch your money while adding nutrition and flavor.

Potions Class....

There is something about stirring a large pot full of ambiguous looking bones and scraps that makes me feel ... witchy. In a good way! I stir that junks counterclockwise and reminisce about cloaks, wands, bezoars and widdershins. Fantasy fiction aside though, bone broth can be a great way to stretch your dollars and put more nutrition per bite into your meals. I have heard tell that the apple cider vinegar does an awesome "leaching of the bones" which pulls the nutrients out of them and into the broth. And how this is so good for your immune system it used to be the only thing prescribed by doctors for a cold.... Chicken soup. Because it was assumed that this dish would be prepared with proper bone broth and not from a can that looks strangely similar to some of my favorite pop art. 

Bone Broth
makes 3-4 quarts

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs bones (fresh or leftover)
3-4 cups saved veggie peelings. (onion, carrot & potato skins etc)
12 pepper corns
a bay leaf (if you have it)
3 Tbsp apple cider vingar

Method:   

Throw all the above ingredients in a large soup pot. Cover them/fill the pot with water. Let this sit for an hour or so to thaw if your ingredients were starting frozen. Bring just to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer and let this sit partially covered for a few hours. Then use a colander to strain out the bones and veggies and save your broth in a jar or pitcher. You can skim the top if you want to take your fats out. If you aren't going to use this broth within a week I would suggest saving it in the freezer. It's probably best to use from frozen within 3 months of preparation. There are a couple great methods for freezing broth. Individual freezer bags work well if you use a few cups at once... ice cube trays work well also. Though I would suggest a few hours freezing and then moving your broth cubes into a freezer bag to keep them fresh.