Stewed Beef and Homemade Broth

This was an experiment of mine, which was a little terrifying at first but turned out well in the end.  My attempts at saving money this month have been pretty great (a more flushed out post is to come once we've completed this Whole30), and I tried to go a step further by using beef neck bones.  

Here's what I had to work with:

• 6 beef neck bones (approx. 3 lbs)
• 3 celery stalks
• 1/3 large red onion
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 4 cups water

I added the celery, onion, and garlic to the slow cooker first, placed in the neck bones seasoned with the herbs above, and then filled the crock with water.  I then covered and turned the slow cooker to low.  At first, the smell was very sweet, and I was terrified I had just wasted all these ingredients, so I left it to cook overnight.

I planned on turning it off at 2:30 today (started at 6:00 the night before, for a total of 21 and one half hours) but we took longer running errands than expected.  It finally got turned off at 4:00, and thank goodness I waited as long as I did.  For a total of 22 hours, the meat is tender and juicy, and the broth is quite flavorful.  Heather and I agree that it will probably need some salt once we use it for cooking, but for now we have most of it in the freezer.

The meat will serve over lettuce or as a snack with scrambled eggs.  When all is said and done, this was not a bad way to spend a day and 8 dollars.