This Thanksgiving marks a full year that I have been making my own broth.  It all started with the bird from last Thanksgiving.  I took off most of the skin and put the bones and joints and turkey stuffs in my crock pot.  I added some vegetables and some peppercorns and let it simmer for twenty hours…and thus a new lifestyle was born!

I use the broth for everything, soups, stews, mashed potatoes, gravy…

We drink it.  I drank it a lot during chemo.  The broth is full of minerals and gelatin and it’s good for you.

I always roast first (we have roast chicken about once a week for dinner) and then I simmer the bones for broth.

My boys hate the smell of the cooking crock pot.  I admit, our house often smells of “old people”.  They boys don’t have much to do with the broth on it’s own.

Last night, we had a simple dinner of pan roasted salmon, green beans and quinoa.  I had some quinoa in bulk and wasn’t sure how to prepare it, then I shrugged my shoulders, got my ladle and dipped into the crock pot to get some already simmering broth.  I brought it to a full boil on the stove, added the quinoa and some salt and pepper to taste.  It turned out nicely.

My youngest is not a fan of eating.  He never has been much of an eater.  I was really worried when at 18 months of age he weighed eighteen pounds.  I was buying him milkshakes to try to fatten him up.  Our doctor said not to worry, that he would probably just be naturally lean.  She’s right.  He just had a physical though and while he is in the 90th percentile for height, he is in the 40th percentile for weight which makes him almost off the curve on the combined scale.  So finally, even the pediatrician said something to him about his eating.

Thing is, the kid likes fruit, vegetables, candy and hot dogs and that’s about it.  However, last night he said, “Mom, if you make dinner like this every night, I will eat it.

Salmon, quinoa and green beans.

Before my diagnosis, I wasn’t that concerned about the meat in our house being organic.  I tried when I could but organic is pricey.  Since my diagnosis, we are eating a lot less meat so I almost always buy organic.

Another bonus to making my own broth is that it is much more environmentally friendly than buying it from the store.  I am not throwing away cans or those weird paper containers.  I bought some freezable containers and store extra broth in the freezer.

Also, have you actually read the label on commercial broth?  Even the organic kind can often be filled with soybean oil and fillers.

The crock pot makes it easy to do it yourself and you know what is going into it.  This current batch was turkey bones, a couple of carrots and a leek.  I fill the pot with water and it’s good to go.

I just have to remember to air out the house when it is done.