Making Beef Broth or Simple Steps to Be a Bad Hindu

Drinking mineral-rich broth daily (or with every meal) is a wonderful way to improve your digestion.  A good bone broth will be loaded with fat, gelatin, and marrow, all prized for their healing properties.  Broth can be made from any bones, but I find beef to be the most healing for me (ironic because I'm Hindu).  About 4 months ago, I was unable to properly digest any nut.  Now pecans are no problem.  My husband has always had a problem with dairy, shellfish, and beef.  No more.  I attribute all this healing to a daily breakfast of beef soup (and a 6'3" 189 lb dose of loving).

This is just one of many methods for reference and inspiration...

Start with bones that have a little meat still on them and are cut to expose the marrow.  Some roast the bones before boiling.  I used 5 lbs of bones into an 8L pot.

Add a foot or two if you can find them. It's one of the most gelatinous parts of the animal.  I added one foot, about 3 lbs.  Handling a foot may be the grossest part of this process, but when it cooks down it becomes this huge gelatinous mass of goodness.  That's a whole lot less traumatic than handling a head.  Supposedly the head is also a treasure to eat.  I feel bad enough eating all this beef!  The last thing I need is a head staring back at me.

Cover bones with water (cold is best) and squeeze the juice of two lemons into the water to increase mineral extraction.

Let sit for 1 hour for acids to soak into bones.

Bring to a boil.  Scum will rise to the top.  Remove this with a spoon.

Once boiling, lower to a slow simmer and cook for 24-72 hours. I keep my pot covered when using my 8L pot.  For my 16L pot, I keep it uncovered to let the water boil off.  Depending on the size of your pot, you may have to add water.  Try to keep the bones covered with enough water during the simmer or else you'll end up with just fat (which isn't a bad thing if you need to stock up on some).

Remove from heat and let cool so the bones can be picked out. Remember to remove as much of the marrow as you can from the bones and savor it then if you like.  I throw the marrow back into the broth.  Some folks like to strain the broth to remove the gelatin and marrow and also separate the fat.  The GAPS diet recommends keeping these in because they are essential for healing.

Glorious fat and gelatin with beautiful globs of marrow.

Next post: Beef and Onion Soup

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Making Labneh with Olive Oil Gold

During our trip to Italy last summer, we of course had to bring home some "real" Italian extra virgin olive oil and sundried tomatoes.  Most extra virgin olive oil in the states isn't actually extra virgin olive oil.  Some are made of soybean oil with flavor additives.  Companies don't have to tell you this because the US is not a part of the International Olive Oil Council.  Check this out if you're as curious about it as I was.   Blows your mind?  Wait until you hear about honey.

For the labneh (yogurt cheese Middle Eastern style) I followed this method using 24-hour fermented yogurt made with half and half.  I formed the yocheese into little balls and let them dry on the counter for a few hours.  I then put them into a container with some olive oil, red pepper flakes, dried basil, and sundried tomatoes.  After marinating for a few days, we had schmeared labneh on roasted lamb and veggies.  So good!

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40 weeks in and I'm not dead yet

It's been a hellacious few months, to say the least. Today marks the 40th week since I declared my freedom from the Neolithic agents of disease (see right column of things I don't eat) that were causing so much of my bowel distress. It took a bit of experimentation and lots of wasted food hurling from my mouth and into the toilet to realize what works for me, but I'm better now for it. No high cholesterol, heart attacks, or whatever everyone was scared of.  During the last 40 weeks, I've cheated an estimated 10 weeks, causing me to be sick for about twice that amount of time. On February 11th I said enough and finally gave up the sugar for good. It's my crack and we all know how whack crack can be. The grains, starches, and oils were no problem. Sugar, however, was a different situation. It told me I wouldn't be able to live without it. For days it showed me that I couldn't keep anything down without a taste of its sweetness. I told myself this would soon pass. And now 7 weeks later, I really can do without it. Yeah, I would really like that slice of 1000 calorie cheesecake, but it's really not worth the holes in my esophagus and looking like a toothless Appalachian because of the puking.

I'm back and will be posting again soon...

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