Triple Crocks

Just outside my door are three slow-cookers.  One of which I got for Christmas! I don't prefer the smell of chicken in the morning so they are outside.

We are gearing up for another batch cooking day!! **trumpets sound**loud gong**

It is 11pm and in the two oval crocks are frozen solid chickens, about 4 pounds each.  The round crock will be making beef bone broth.  All are set on low.

I will unplug them in the morning, let them cool, debone then refrigerate the chicken and toss the bones back in one crock.  Add some feet, a splash of vinegar, and cover with filtered (non-clorinated, non-fluoridated) water.

The chicken broth will brew all day.  Tomorrow night before bed I will drain the broth then cover the bones again with a splash of vinegar and water and get a second batch of broth from the same bones.  I will do a similar thing with the beef bones.  This way I can get double the broth from my bones.

As a side note - I've been using the bones twice lately to make broth.  The key is to just cover the bones with water.  You will know when you've reached the end of the life of the bones when you can squish the bones between your fingers.  You read that right: squish bones between your fingers. This means many minerals have been extracted out of the bones and into the broth.

Last week I asked my seven-year-old son if he thought he could squish a chicken leg bone between his fingers.  "No way" was his response.  I handed him a bone that had made two rounds of broth.  It crumbled like a cracker between his fingers.

He was amazed.

I explained the reason he could do that was because the bones had given their precious minerals to the broth for our bodies to use.   I asked if he wanted to grow up with strong bones or crumbly bones?  Frequently eating broth-based soups would strengthen his bones.

It was a convincing object lesson.

-Julie

Does anyone else find it ironic that a fire extinguisher just happened to be near the outlet?