How to make your own homemade bone broth

Homemade bone broth is one of my favorite things about fall. I never make it during the summer, because it's just too hot. I store my bones and veggie scraps in an ice cream bucket in the freezer (okay, we end up with about 5 ice cream buckets each fall) and then when the weather cools down, it's like a homemade broth extravaganza around here.

But you can certainly just make small batches with leftovers from a chicken roast meal and that would be just fine. The process is the same, the only thing that changes is the size of pot you'll need.

In fact, we're not even going to use real measurements in this guide, my friends. You just grab your favorite pot and carry on.

You'll need:

• A pot with a lid
• Chicken bones
• Veggie scraps
• Spices you luuuuuurve
• A splash o' vinegar

So anyways, this isn't even a real tutorial because all you really have to do is put all the things in a pot and then set it on a low-ish temperature for a day.

Practically: if your stove has settings that 1-10 numbers, I'd go with a 2 or 3. If it's that low, medium low, medium, medium high nonsense, I'd go with medium low.

COVER IT!

Stir in once in a while.

Some notes:

• You want your pot to be about half full with bones and veggies and things and then filled just about to the top with water when you begin.
• You don't have to do this every time you have chicken, okay? If you want to put it off, just toss bones and veggie scraps (think pepper stems, carrot heads, and whatever kind of peels you have in a container or ziploc bag in the freezer. No big deal. You can do biiiiiiiiiig batches when you have a bunch of scraps piled up. That's what I do.
• The splash of vinegar, I've read, is supposed to help leach the minerals from the bones, making a more nutritious broth for you. I don't know if it's true, but I figure a splash of vinegar doesn't hurt flavor any, so I do it.
• Add whatever spices seem good to you here. Are you a new cook? Do salt and pepper and 1 weird thing. It might be good, it might not. You'll learn. Salt and pepper are safe. (Celery seed is good.)
• On veggie scraps: I don't know what else you cook. But say you're making tacos, and you have some onion peels and pepper heads after  chopping your veggies. Don't throw those out! Put them in your stock bucket! Celery ends are always good. Carrot heads. Herb stems.

I actually don't even do mine on the stove. I put it all in a roasting pan and stick it in the oven (covered) on 200 degrees for about 12 hours. Sometimes more like 24 hours because I'm a little flaky. It's not really a big deal. Add water if you need to.

When you're all done cooking, you just strain it, (which, yes, is kind of a pain in the butt with a roasting pan) and let it cool. There's lots of ways to store it. You can:

• Put it in jars and stick them in the fridge (they'll last for a week or two, longest if you don't skim the fat.)
• Put it in ziploc bags and freeze it.
• Can it.
• Use it right away.

The uses for homemade bone broth are endless.

Uses for Homemade Bone Broth

• Make soup, duh!
• Cook rice with it, it'll have a lot more flavor than if you'd just made it with water.
• Add it to hot dishes with a little cream in place of "cream of" canned soups.
• Use a tiny bit to saute veggies and stuff.
• Use in place of water in savory recipes to add more flavor

It's not just yummy, either. There are load of health benefits of bone broth, including:

• The minerals from the bones include calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.
• Gut-healing
• Good for hair and nails
• Good for detoxifying the liver.

What's not to love? Basically all from a food that you're making from what could be considered garbage. Do it.