It is New Years Eve and we will soon be saying goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018. 2017 brought us some things to remember and some we would just as soon forget. Figit Spinners, Athleisure and 80’s nostalgia fashion, goat yoga, and voice enabled tech seems to be taking over. Cacti was probably the motif of the year and gin cocktails have been all the rage. For the things that we don’t want the passage of time to blur out of our thoughts, now is the time to organize our pictures, cards, trip journals, and anything else that we have collected over the past year. There are a lot of ways to do this. Some folks are great at digitally organizing their pictures and such. Others like to keep mementos and photo albums around so that they can pick them up to look at from time to time. I like to do both. Sometimes I use an internet-based image publishing service to put together photo books and to capture other details from theme parties that I have done. Other times, I enjoy getting out my papers, inks, and embellishments to create a little work of art. Either way, I am especially glad that I have done this over the years. They are great for reference, plus they always make me smile when I visit these wonderful memories.
Moving from scrap books and on to food scraps.
I have been saving beef bones in the freezer and I now have a little over four pounds of them. Just enough to make a wonderful beef stock for my French Onion Soup.
This is the perfect time of year to make this because it is very cold in Spokane. Since this needs to cook for 24 hours on the stovetop, I cook it part-way, cover it, and store it outside in the grill. Next day, I bring it back inside to finish cooking. (One of the perks living in the Pacific Northwest.)
Beef Broth
Ingredients
- 4 pounds beef bones
- 2 medium unpeeled carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 medium leeks, ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 1 garlic head, cut in half crosswise
- 2-3 stalks celery with leaves, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place bones, carrots, leeks, onion, and garlic on a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes. Turn bones and vegetables and continue to roast until deeply browned, about 20 more minutes.
- Fill a large stockpot with 12 cups water, (I use filtered). Add celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and vinegar. Scrape the roasted bones and vegetables into the pot along with any juices collected in the pan. Add water to cover bones and vegetables, if needed
- Cover the pot and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook with lid slightly ajar, for up to 24 hours, (but no less than 8). the longer you simmer it, the better it will be. Add more water as needed. (Do not leave on stovetop unattended.)
- Remove the pot from the heat and let cool slightly. Strain broth using a fine-mesh sieve and discard bones and vegetables. Let continue to cool until barely warm, then refrigerate in smaller containers overnight. Remove solidified fat from the top of the chilled broth.
Broth can be stored for up to 6 months in the freezer or about 5 days in the refrigerator.
