BONE BROTH RECIPE - SLOW COOKER RECIPE - IMMUNITY BUILDING SUPER DRINK
Simple and fast bone broth recipe using common ingredients to build your health, immunity, and use odds and ends of quality ingredients that you might otherwise discard. Saves your health and respects our planet!
Bone broth is one of those things that we have been meaning to write about for quite some time. Ever since we started purchasing grass-fed cow shares, we have been more committed to using all parts of the animal. Our favorite way to use the bones from the cow is to make slow-cooker bone broth. The benefits of bone broth are extensive - a quick google search can outline them for you with greater clarity than I can provide you, but trust me, it is great for strengthening immune system function, which is more important than ever.
Additionally, making bone broth serves as a way to create a base for homemade soups and stews, as well as provides a use for “scrap” pieces of meat, organic veggies and other things that you feel bad about wasting or composting. It reduces waste and improves our personal and planet health - double win!
Making bone broth is simple, easy, and inexpensive. We find the easiest thing to do is make in in a crock pot. You’ll need:
SLOW COOKER BONE BROTH:
Soup Bones or any type of bones, preferably from a grass fed animal
Water
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sea Salt (optional)
Pepper (optional)
Garlic (optional)
Grass Fed Beef Neck Bones
Quarter your onion
Use the odds/ends of celery
Chop a carrot
Add a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar - you want the one “with the mother” (aka, unfiltered with all the good stuff).
Once everything is chopped and assembled, simply place the ingredients in the crock pot, fill with water, and cook on low for 24 hours. You can choose to add salt, pepper and garlic - sometimes I wait to do this until I use the broth so I can adjust the seasonings as I see fit for the purpose I am using the broth for - up to you!The vinegar will help extract the nutrient value from the bones and helps to ensure the maximal health benefit from the broth.
After your time is up, simply drain, discard solids, and pour into glass jars. The fat will rise to the top and create a seal. The broth can be kept with this seal for up to 6 months as long as the seal is not punctured. Too easy!
Super easy and super smart way to use pieces of leftover quality ingredients - plus, a huge bonus for your health. It’s awesome! A tip: We will save odds and ends of veggies in a freezer bag until we are ready to use them - that way we always have the items ready when we have bones to use.
Hope it works for you - enjoy!!
-The Benander Crew
GLUTEN-FREE SOUTHERN BUTTERMILK BISCUITS - THE REAL DEAL!
FINALLY- a gluten-free biscuit that is easy and delicious - plus a twist for Strawberry Shortcake too!
Ok. We are mostly gluten free around here and that is mostly awesome….mostly. There are just some things that don’t really cut it being gluten free and most homemade bread products land in that category. We hate to even THINK about the amount of time, money, and energy we put into trying to master a great bread product that is also gluten free. We can nail most every other baked good, but true bread products have kicked our tails!
However, we FINALLY cracked the code on gluten free biscuits! Success! It makes sense in that it is not a yeast based dough and gluten free yeast doughs struggle to rise due to the lack of gluten protein. That stated, a lot of trials for biscuits have still been too crumbly, dense or dry.
We think the magic to these is making sure you follow the technique and also ensure that you use buttermilk - if you are dairy free, you could sub the butter for oil and the buttermilk for almond milk base, but I make no promises on the outcome! Adding the dairy to the buttermilk smooths the grittiness that is often found with gluten free products, so it really makes these work!
Also, like with any gluten free product, your flour blend can change the texture. We used VITACOST baking flour which already has xantham gum in it. If your blend includes xantham gum already, you should be good to go. If not, make sure to add about 1 tsp to the recipe.
Additionally, it is a great base - you can add a twist and use them for strawberry shortcakes too! Are you ready for that? Ummmm…yum.
Alright, let’s cut to the chase! Happy baking!
GLUTEN-FREE SOUTHERN BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
2 c. gluten-free flour blend
1/2 t. salt
1 T. baking powder (prefer aluminum free)
2 T. sugar
1 c. chilled buttermilk (can use 1 T. lemon juice and 1 c. milk - sit for 10 min first)
1 egg, whisked
6 T. cold butter (if you only have unsalted butter, then increase salt to 3/4 tsp)
Preheat convection oven to 425 degrees or regular oven to 450 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Slowly cut in cold butter (can use a food processor with dough blade) until the butter is pea like texture. Separate the buttermilk into two parts. To the first part, add the egg and then slowly pulse in the egg/buttermilk mixture. As the dough starts coming together, slowly start pulsing in more of the buttermilk until you have a sticky dough. You may or may not use all the rest of the buttermilk. Gluten-free flour is a thirsty flour and sometimes it will soak up more or less, depending on your blend. You don’t want a soupy dough.
Put some parchment paper on the counter and dust with flour. Dump your dough on the counter, and fold on itself twice (if a little more flour is needed, that is fine). Press into a 7-8 inch round - Do NOT roll out the dough with a roller - you will lose the rise and air pockets we’ve created. Cut 2 inch circles, pressing straight down and lifting them up. Place into a greased cast iron skillet and bake for about 15-20 min. Remove when the tops are golden brown and then brush tops with butter.
TRY to resist eating them…but good luck!
Need ideas? We love:
Making Spicy chicken Sandwiches with them
Adding sausage patties or bacon and eggs
Adding Kerrygold Irish butter and smiling!
Making strawberry jam spreading in on thick! We just went strawberry picking, so we are making strawberry everything!
Making them into strawberry shortcakes - you can sweeten them up with doubling the sugar in the recipe, and then brushing the tops with a little milk and raw cane sugar on the top before baking. They might not rise quite as high, but they are a little sweeter and OH MAN!!
Hope it works for you - enjoy!!
-The Benander Crew
BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD RECIPE - OPTION FOR GLUTEN FREE
One of my most requested recipes and also works great gluten free!
Happy Sunday!
ummm…..sweet smelling banana chocolate chip bread…..ummm
There is nothing much better than the smell of warm bread in the oven. The tantalizing smell draws my sleepy kids from their bed, and even my groggy husband down earlier in the morning. The promise of warm yumminess is just too much to pass up in the morning.
After my co-worker asked me for this recipe, I realized that I am often asked for many of my favorite recipes. I thought it might be fun to start posting some of them on the blog. That way I have a quick reference for the recipes and even more people can enjoy them!
Now many of you that know me well, know that I am very health conscious. That is true. I am by no means going to mascarade around pretending that this banana chocolate chip bread is good for you! However, with that said, I also believe that treats are fun and even sometimes important in helping balance the world of health. There is something wonderfully celebratory about a treat, and I am a firm believer that we can all participate in that - even if it’s only a bite.
This bread is wonderfully versatile. I adapted it from a zucchini bread recipe that I love (maybe I will post that another time) and I think the results are fabulous. We are mostly gluten free at our home, and this bread works beautifully with that option as well. Annika, my oldest daughter, tends to prefer this before school, so I have even added protein powder to it for some “holding power” and improved health benefit (without detection from my family so shhhhhhh).
Let’s talk about the nutmeg. Originally, I was not a nutmeg fan, but once I discovered fresh nutmeg, my thoughts were changed. I actually discovered fresh nutmeg at a restaurant that had included it in a pasta recipe. It gave it just a little enhancement of flavor that was lovely and distinct. I find that fresh nutmeg is much more subtle than pre-ground nutmeg. I use my awesome microplane zester to add just a bit to the recipe and it makes a big difference. You can find those here:
As far as the chocolate chips, you can adjust them to tolerance. This recipe was actually supposed to have more sugar in the original version, but since bananas and the chocolate chips are naturally sweet, I reduced the sugar. I try to minimize the additional sugar with the chocolate chips, but of course, you can always add more if you enjoy it a bit more chocolaty. Also, I use mini chocolate chips because they are lighter and suspend in the batter better; they don’t all sink to the bottom. If I am feeling artsy, I will sprinkle a few more on the top of the batter before it hits the oven.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. We love it and bake it often. Give me your feedback and let me know how it turned out for you. I hope it becomes a staple treat in your home!
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Makes 2 full loaves)
3 cups flour (regular or gluten free blend)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup oil
5 ripening bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground nutmeg (about five or six runs with the zester)
Chocolate chips to taste (about 1/2 cup for us)
Combine bananas, eggs, sugar, and oil. Beat well. Combine the dry ingredients and then mix into the wet batter. Prepare two greased loaf pans and add batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, checking with a toothpick to make sure it come out dry from the center of the bread. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pans and then remove. For improved stability and less crumbles, try to resist cutting it until it has cooled a bit more…..but good luck :)
“Nothing says home like the smell of baking”
Did you try it? I’d love to know!
Casey
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD BIRTHDAY PARTY
Ideas galore for your a fabulous woodland party!
Happy Sunday!
This morning I awoke coming to terms with the end of summer and reflecting on the more "lazy days of summer" (can you tell school and all the schedule chaos has started?). While daydreaming, I was fondly remembering the summer picnic baskets from Elise's 4th Birthday Party. She wanted to have a Little Red Riding Hood party and we loved the idea. Armed with a lot of ideas and fun styles, we created a fun little backyard party for her friends. My amazing Mom sewed costumes for the kids and they got to play games of chase, trying to get to Grandmother's house without losing the contents of their basket....or being caught by a wolf!
I remember it rained up until an hour before the party that day. It was a mad dash to get everything up and ready, but it added to the race theme! The food was so fun and the kids had a great time. Enjoy this fun photo montage of the day and hopefully you can get some ideas for your next party. I did not spend time editing the photos, so please ignore the imperfections and focus on the fun.
“Into the woods she went, basket in hand and wearing a little red riding hood.”
Hope you enjoyed the photos; have a great Sunday!
- Casey
VALENTINE'S DAY COOKIE EXCHANGE
Celebrate your love of friendship with an easy party featuring cookies!
Cookies make me smile. Do they make you smile? It's even hard to say the word "cookie" without a least a little grin squeezing its way in.
There are so many reasons to love cookies. I think my love of cookies started while growing up with a mother that made everything (I think I mean EVERYTHING) from scratch. I was one of seven kids and we were always allowed to help in the kitchen. It is no accident that we all learned to love cookies. My mom was known for her "famous chocolate chip cookies" and the neighborhood kids seemed to always be aware when there was a batch in the oven. People were always impressed that she had not produced them from a refrigerated roll of dough, but rather had taken the time to create them on her own.
Of course, my love of baking grew from that kitchen and continued on through high school, college, and now into my adult life. The tradition continues as I have two daughters that are pretty passionate about baking. My oldest, Annika, has visions of her own bakery some day. At times it is difficult to keep up with the ingredients in our home as the girls burn through them crafting their new creations and testing their own recipes.
The obvious benefits of baking are the delicious outcomes and beautiful treats, but I believe that baking offers us much more. Baking brought me closer with my family growing up and it is bringing my children closer to me now. We spend time together dreaming of ideas, working as a team to narrow our vision, and then executing our plan to achieve an outcome we've all agreed upon. The teamwork that results is a pretty incredible benefit from such a simple task. There are even other studies to show that baking has health benefits such as relieving stress and lowering blood pressure (that is baking part anyway, the whole "eating the cookies" thing at the end might offset that a bit :)
Baking brings people together in another way: sharing the fruits of your labor. One of our family's favorite things are holiday parties where we share our baked goods with family and friends. Traditionally, we always tried to do this at Christmas, making lots of treats for family and friends. Unfortunately, Christmas can get busy and parties are so numerous that everyone seems to be rushed, making it difficult to squeeze in another event. My kids love to decorate cookies, and Christmas is no exception. Although we still decorate Christmas cookies, it often gets difficult to share them with everyone during the rush of the holidays, and it leaves you feeling like your hard work is a bit lost.
Because of this chaos, we started focusing our main baking efforts to Valentine's Day. February is a slower month with less obligations and events, allowing us more time to enjoy the process. Plus, Valentine's Day is all about love and we love baking, cookies, and friends. What better way to celebrate than to host a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange? Though we don't do the party every year, we definitely make plenty of cookies for the season either way. We have found that people have more time to pour themselves into the process and enjoy their time together during Valentine's Day because they don't have ten other parties to attend during the same season.
You don't have to host the party on the actual day of Valentine's Day, but sometime around the month of February. If you are unfamiliar with a cookie exchange, allow me to educate you on how the party works. It's pretty simple.
- Create your guest list and confirm the attendants.
- Each guest is to make a dozen cookies (or half dozen - just decide the number based on what you think is appropriate for the size of your guest list) for each member on the list. (ex: if you have 5 total guests, then each of you will make 5 dozen cookies).
- Everyone brings their cookies to the party and you exchange the cookies.
- Everyone leaves with five dozen cookies, all of different types!
Simple!! There are no rules (unless you want to create them!) but you can open it up to cookies, treats, bars or whatever makes sense for you. During the party, you can offer other food and treats, drinks, or simple just enjoy the cookies. You can have guests pre-wrap the cookies into their pre-sorted dozens to make the exchange simple, or you can turn it into a game to select the cookies. You will be surprised how cute people decide to wrap up their treats, or how fun the games can be to choose the cookies. It's pretty simple. Just have fun with it and enjoy your time together. One additional thing we did at our last party is offer little paper hearts to our guests so that they could write "things they loved" on the hearts and then we put them up on the wall. It was fun to see what made the list - both from adults and children alike!
I hope baking and cookies bring you as many happy memories as they bring me. It's been fun to watch my children create, make mistakes, and try again. I think back to the time that I was eight years old and making my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies. My mom was in the other room folding laundry, so this was a pretty independent project (or at least in my eight year old head it was). I told my mom that I needed more salt for my cookies, but that we were out of salt. She seemed confused as she knew we had plenty of salt. Mom, being the great mom she was, simply replied, "How much salt do you need?" Confident in my measuring, I brought my one cup measuring cup 4/5 full of salt into the room where she was. I showed her my nearly filled cup, and proudly stated (again) that we needed more salt. She smiled and said, "I think you should look at the recipe again. You might be confusing the salt with the sugar." Whoops. As usual, she was right, saving my recipe from complete disaster. She helped me find my error with grace and kindness, rather than leaving me feeling inadequate and inept. To this day, I have never added a cup of salt to another recipe; lesson learned!
It is through error that we learn. I am thankful that I had a mom willing to teach me. I try to remember this when my children are baking. There will be mistakes, messes, and frustration, but through it all, we grow closer and learn to be better. Then, even if imperfect, we can share those efforts of love with people we love.
“If baking is any labor at all, it’s a labor of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation.”
I hope you will give a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange a try, or at least, jump into a new tradition of Valentine's Day cookie decorating. When we step back from life and take the time to bake, we create a lot more than cookies. We create relationships and joy that extend far beyond the kitchen. Life is busy, no doubt, but cookies always seem to slow it down a little bit and offer a moment to smile.
Do you love to bake? Did you have someone teach you? Are you teaching your kids? What are you doing to celebrate Valentine's Day? I would love to know!
- Casey
HOT CHOCOLATE BAR
Every January needs something fun and a hot chocolate bar might just be the solution
BURRRRR. January is cold. Christmas is over. Snow has closed school (again). Kids are stir crazy. Parents are starting to question their sanity. Am I alone? I hope not.
When it is cold outside, I am cold inside AND out. Since moving to the South, I will admit that I have become a bit of a cold weather wuss. I spent the first 24 years of my life in Wisconsin and you'd think I would have thick skin. However, as I explain to most people, I was cold there too.
When I found myself in North Carolina, I had trouble tolerating the heat. Although I had always lived in the cold and did not love being cold, I was not used to the opposite effect of equivalently intense heat. I had to exchange my closet of sweaters, scarves and coats for a lighter wardrobe of tanks, dresses, and shorts. Although I can appreciate any good excuse to shop, I felt a little (LITTLE) sad to be leaving the cold weather behind.
However, the longer I have lived in the South, the less hot it seems and I almost find myself craving some intense heat; I guess that's acclimation for you. With that in mind, when it gets cold here, it feels even MORE cold since I am now used to being hot. I know my family back home is laughing at me and my 15 degree cold when they consider that a warm day in January, but we have already identified that I am now an official cold weather wuss.
So what's a girl to do? When I am cold inside and out, that means it's time to warm up. For most of us parents, a good cup of coffee or tea will do the trick. However, when it comes time to warm up the whole family, nothing beats a cup of hot cocoa.
A few years ago, we implemented a January tradition in our house: The Hot Chocolate Bar. It is exactly what you think it is: A bar completely devoted to the production and consumption of hot cocoa (and additional delicious treats that go with it!). Following Christmas and all the festivities of three months of holidays, January can leave us feeling somewhat flat. I think it is mostly due to the energy and excitement, visitors, and events of all the holiday season that precedes it. While I am usually ready for life to slow back down a bit, I always feel that a little January "pick me up" is in order.
Thus, the Hot Chocoate Bar tradition was born and continues to be something to look forward to as we celebrate winter. You can make a bar as simple or complex as you want. We often rotate what goes on the bar, but the basics stay the same. To craft your own bar, you'll want the following:
- Cocoa Powder
- Dry Milk (or you can skip this and warm up milk for the bar as needed)
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla
- Marshmallows (we like all sizes!)
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Peppermint Sticks
- Treats
- Mugs
We always include little cookies or candies that go with the bar so that it is even more festive and fun. When we are ready, we warm up the water or milk, and everyone can create the cocoa to their liking. If you wanted things to be easier, you could just supply pre-made mix as well. You can buy that or you can use this recipe: 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 2 cups dried milk, and 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Kids add a dash of vanilla to their cocoa and often add a peppermint or cinnamon stick (we had already eaten our King Leo sticks before I could photograph them...off to order more!) When we really get after it, we make our own marshmallows (most because it is super fun and they are really yummy!)
I don't know if you are like me, but I use Amazon for easy ordering, and this cocoa bar is no exception. We keep ourselves well stocked with goodies and ingredients for the bar. Quality matters here since there are so few ingredients, so I recommend using higher quality ingredients such as:
“Hot Chocolate is a HUG from the inside”
I hope you can carve out a spot in your home to include a hot chocolate bar. We have found it to be a fun way to start the year and a cozy way to warm up. With the amount of snow days we've have this year, we'll be blowing throw our hot chocolate bar at twice the speed. Oh well. Most of the time, hot chocolate is even better on a snow day.
Do have a January tradition? Have you had a hot chocolate bar or station in your house? Was it fun? What did you serve? I'd love to know!
- Casey
Please note, this post contains affiliate links for products that our family uses for our hot chocolate bar.
5 TIPS FOR THE BEST FRIENDSGIVING
HOW TO MANAGE THE CROWD AND ENJOY YOUR MEAL
I love Thanksgiving. I think it is my favorite holiday. I love that it centers around family and friends, gathered together to celebrate what we are Thankful for. I also love that it doesn't focus around gifts, events, and other things that tend to create chaos in the holiday season. Don't get me wrong, I love tradition and the bustle of the holidays, but there is something sweet about Thanksgiving being solely about the food and time we share together (well, and football :)
We started having a Friendsgiving about 13 years ago. Due to the military schedule my husband was on, traveling 18 hours home just did not make sense. We found we were not the only people that were stranded on Thanksgiving. Thus, our Thanksgiving became one of the Thanksgiving Misfits so we liked to call it! People who did not go home to visit family.
Over time, it has grown to include some family members that do travel to join us for Thanksgiving, and it includes anyone we know that might not have a place to celebrate Thanksgiving. It has been one of our most enjoyable traditions. This year, we will celebrate our 14th Friendsgiving and we have learned some great tips for success. Allow me to share:
1. Cook several, smaller turkeys
I like to cook several, smaller turkeys so they don't dry out. When you are feeding a crowd, you tend to think bigger is better, but the smaller turkeys keep more moisture in because they have more bone to meat ratio...yum! It also allows you to carve them more easily and plate them in several areas for easy access.
2. Farm out the drinks
Several of our guests do travel to join us and they'd like to bring something, but cannot cook it on the road. Having those guests bring drinks is a wonderful way for them to help, without having to mess with cooking.
3. Don't Farm out the basics
I consider the basics of the meal Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Gravy, and Pumpkin Pie (you might add to this list but these are the staples). I learned the hard way that you risk a lot when you tell someone else to bring one of these items. They MIGHT change their mind and not show up with one of the staples of the meal, throwing you into a panic. When this happened to me, I vowed never again to "farm out a staple" dish. I now respond - "bring anything you'd love to have or are good at making". If you have more of the basics, it's a win!
4. Appetizers are key (but keep them simple)
Thanksgiving dinner is hard to time, especially with guests rotating in. We make a lot of easy appetizers (think dips, cheese, crackers, fruit, muffins, bars, etc) for snaking throughout the day so the meal can be made without "hangry" people in the kitchen!
5. Accept help and be Thankful for it
People want to help. They see you as a host and feel that they want to be helpful to you. Allow this and go beyond that, be thankful for it. Sometimes I get bogged down in just trying to "get it done", which does somewhat miss the point of it all. When I step back and allow the help to happen, I find I enjoy the time so much more.
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, whether it be with friends or family. It is my favorite holiday and I am thankful for the chance to share it with you.
Do you have tips for a successful Friendsgiving?
- Casey