Days that involve roasted bone marrow are days that I hope my faulty hippocampus remembers. Because they are the best days. Seriously, I have the worst memory out of anyone I know, and it has been severely compromised further since I had Grace. I can feed her, put her in her playpen, then 5 minutes later wonder if I fed her or not. We have been getting better sleep since I nightweaned a month ago, but I’m still drowsy a lot of the day. My adrenals are run down – I don’t know how you get through the first year of keeping a human alive without tanking your adrenals. Enter nutrient-rich foods like bone marrow.
I do have some tried and true methods for keeping me as alert, functioning & as capable as possible that do not involve caffeine though.
— My adrenals prefer a higher fat diet, but my nursing supply needs it’s carbs, so I switch between higher fat days and higher carb days to keep things balanced.
— Getting a daily dose of organ meat, even if it’s just a lil bite of Grace’s liverwurst, really does wonders for my energy.
— I also feel revived if I go sit out in the sun for an hour while she naps in the middle of the day, sleep until 7 am (I have been getting up at 6am to work out, but I’m going to cut back the number of days I do that to only 2-3 a week), and eat more frequently than I would if I weren’t breastfeeding.
— Being more diligent about either ingesting or topically applying magnesium – I usually see results almost instantly with supplementation.
— Coconut water helps balance my electrolytes and helps me stay hydrated when water seems to not cut it.
One of the easiest ways for me to get my energy in these days is with these Mission Heirloom Yucan Crunch crackers!
You can find them on Amazon and they qualify for free shipping! They are paleo & AIP which means free of grains & just 1 ingredient (yuca)!
I keep a 4-pack of Yucan Crunch wrapped tightly in my pantry & it lasts me at least 6 weeks like that. You can toast your crunch, or you can eat it par-baked the way it comes. My favorite way to toast it is in a 300 degree oven brushed with garlic-infused olive oil until lightly browned (I don’t use a timer – just keep a close eye on it). Most days I just eat it par-baked with something delicious smeared on top like smashed avocado, liver pate or smoked fish.
But I’ve had a package of grass-fed marrow bones sitting in our deep freeze for a month, and bone marrow is one of Grace’s favorite foods (and one of her first foods) so I wanted to come up with a unique way of eating it that we both could share. She doesn’t eat the crackers of course – I just spoon teaspoon size balls on her tray and she picks them up and licks it off her fingers.
This Sweet Bone Marrow Spread is made by combining freshly roasted bone marrow with baked sweet potato and coconut oil. It doesn’t have the super creamy texture of butter, but you could achieve that by just blending your roasted bone marrow with a whole avocado and refrigerating it until firm rather than using sweet potato here.
Instead, it is more of a smear to top crackers or use as some of the most nutrient dense baby food on the planet. The sweetness of this Bone Marrow spread will make it more palatable to babies as well (although Grace used to eat gloopy bone marrow by the handful at 6 months old, she no longer prefers it by itself).
If you think bone marrow sounds too fancy for you to make, it’s not! It really is just one of those high-priced items on steak menus that can easily be made at home, and snuck into your purse in a small glass container, and then quickly lumped onto your steak when the waiter walks away. Budget tips.
You can share this Bone Marrow Spread with your kids or hoard it all for yourself!
Sweet Bone Marrow Spread
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1/2 cup 1x
Ingredients
- 2 marrow bones, about 6–8 inches long
- 2/3 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- for serving: flaked sea salt and ground cinnamon (optional but sea salt is recommended)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roast marrow bones for 20 minutes or until the bones are browned and some of the fat is bubbling. Let rest until cool enough to handle.
- Use the long handle of a spoon to scoop all the marrow and fat out of the bones into the bowl of a food processor. Combine with sweet potato and coconut oil until very smooth.
- Refrigerate until firm for the best texture. Serve on Yucan Crunch or other crispy vehicle of choice with flaked salt and cinnamon sprinkled. For babies, you can serve warm on a spoon or cold.
6 Responses
Hi! Can you tell me what are marrow bones?
Yes they are large beef bones you can find at many markets. Look for grassfed marrow bones or ask your butcher if he has any he can set aside for you.
I just wanted to tell you how much I loved this. I didn’t grow up eating organ meats but last year I decided to try it out. To say it was a flop was a huge understatement. I’ve been nervous to try anything since then but this recipe is really amazing. It’s creamy, smooth, delicious, and rich. It tastes like it has so much butter in it, which being AIP, I really miss. Thank you for this recipe and reigniting my hope in offal meats and my drive to try more recipes to get these nutrients into my “food path.”
Congrats on getting some organ meat in! It’s hard if you don’t love bitter tastes. I have found USWM Liverwurst to very palatable when fried. I also consider eating whole seafood to be organ meat – so oysters, mussels, sardines, etc.
Do you use the bones to make a broth after you remove the cooked marrow??
Yes you certainly can!