Paleo bone broth -- get yer minerals on; special bonus easy version

If you have even dabbled at all in the land of paleo eating, you have undoubtedly come across references to the wonders of bone broth. It is a wonderful, ancestral way to get calcium and minerals in an easily-absorbed, real-food form, not by means of a vitamin/supplement pill that is going to pass through your system without bestowing its benefits on you.

And recipes for it abound. Type "paleo bone broth" into yer Google Machine and the damn GM nearly melts down with joy as it spits out lists of ingredients and cooking methods. Diane at Balanced Bites has a good 'un. So does that über-amusing gal at
Nom Nom Paleo. She is the one who today posted what may just be The Best April Fools Joke Ever.

So why bother with another bone-broth recipe, you might ask? Just one reason: mine is even easier than theirs. Not better, not more delicious, just easier.

And, let's be serious and consider something: this Is bone broth we are talking about here. Not rocket science. Not a bacon, dark-chocolate, balsamic reduction. Not a carefully assembled strategy for gently sautéing the innards of an emu.

It's just bone broth, and I'm already really fucking busy. I bet you might be too. So let's go....

Ingredients:

Water (filtered/clean is (durrrrrrr) better)
Garlic (a lot of it)
Bones (a couple really good beef marrow bones are usually my weapon of choice.... Frozen is fine, and easy, by the way)

Do this:

--Nearly fill your crockpot with water.
--Mince the garlic.
--Put the bones and garlic into the water. Turn the crockpot on high and bring the whole thing to a boil. If the bones were frozen, this could take a while (durrrrr, again).
--Then turn the crockpot to low.
--Let it cook for 24 hours.

Yes. 24 hours.

--Pour the contents into another pot, through a strainer. A pretty wide one is fine.
--Now do that again, through a pretty narrow strainer to get all the bits out.
--Store in freezeable containers (I like a whole lot of ice-cube trays for this job).
--Freeze.

Boom.

I find the mind-numbing simplicity of this recipe to be beneficial for one other reason beyond the obvious timesaver angle: all I do with this stuff is put some of the frozen cubes in a mug, heat it in the microwave and drink it. It doesn't have to be special or even something you would want to cook something else in, or turn into a soup. The minerals are coming from the bones, not all the other ingredients that you might add.

Or you can take a little more time and make one of the other recipes. They are a little less econo/punk-rock, and probably even a hair (or more) delicious than mine. Me? I am sticking with this one.

Enjoy.



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