le bone broth
I'm sure you've all heard the words "bone broth" as it is a hot trend right now in the world of wellness. It seemed kinda lame (plus a little creep, cooking bones and drinking the juices??? what) and too trendy for me to explore. Yes yes, I know, bone broth has been a concept for YEARS (my mom always tells me!!). What goes around comes around, what's new is always what is old and had already been. So, I began to read random articles just over a month ago about the benefits and the purpose of the broth and I was instantly intrigued. I began asking all my nutrition-fanatic friends what they knew, seeing if it really was something that was beneficial and if it had any impact on them personally.
Another part of this journey focused in on the fact that for years I have had (so embarrassing and weird) a HUGE phobia of eating animals meat with bones visible. I don't know when this became what it is today! I was vegan for about a year and a half at the end of high school and this was the only reason. Raw meat, dead animals, eating something with bones, I have bones too. I don't know OK! It's weird and so real to me. Freaky freaky.
Health benefits and working through these irrational fears led me to this place. The place of being intentional in taking time to make this broth, to heal my mind that animals were created for us to eat as well as to be nourished by, but also putting something in my body that IS SO nutritional and satisfying.
For the last 6 weeks I have made a batch of broth every week. A sweet friend (thanks Hol! Love you <3) of mine shared her process with me and over the weeks I've made some tweaks to create my own method.
Lets begin with a few reasons
why this broth is
m a g i c a l:
- Cooking the bones this long helps the bones breakdown and release minerals that support the immune system and healing compounds like collagen, glutamine, glycine and proline.
- It is so good for your gut acting as a probiotic, so its incredibly beneficail for people with food intolerance's.
- Improves joint health. "...Bone broths contain minerals in forms that your body can easily absorb: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and others. They contain chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine, the compounds sold as pricey supplements to reduce inflammation, arthritis and joint pain".
- Boosts in detoxification.
- Increases metabolism.
AND literally so many more things, this is just a handful.
so-- my process.
Here you go,
- From your local market, gather a (preferred organic free rage) chicken (my meat choice), package of poultry herbs, carrots, an onion, garlic clove, Himalayan salt (for extra minerals! ;) )
- Cut vegetables up, and mince one clove of garlic. Wash chicken and remove any giblets.
- Put chicken in crock-pot, and put all cut up vegetables + garlic over top. Add salt and pepper. Rinse your herbs and then crush them in your hand before you put them on top of everything.
- Cook on high for 5-6 hours.
- Using gloves (to avoid burning the shnikes out of your hands), begin to de-bone the chicken. The chicken will be very soft and will likely fall apart each time you try to grab something off it. This is good. The only thing you need to remove is the actual meat. Leave the skin, bones, herbs and veggies. If you can break any of the bones at this time, do so.
- Fill the crock to the top with water, cover and put on low for 10+ hours. Totally up to you. I have cooked it for 10 hours and I have cooked it for 24 hours. Not sure how this changes the nutrient content.
- Using a fine strainer, strain the broth into a glass (preferred) container with a lid, discard remnants.
TOP 2 THINGS I DO WITH MY BROTH:
- You know when 4p rolls around and dang another cup of coffee sounds perfect..? I heat up some broth and add typically more salt and pepper but also a hefty dash of cayenne because it acts as a warm snack for me. Suppresses my snacking appetite and keeps me full and satisfied.
- SOUP!!! DELICIOUS BEAUTIFUL SOUP every week. I am soup queen. Throw all that pulled meat and any vegetable you can think of in a pot and you have soup for days in your fridge.
I cant tell you things that this stuff has done for me over night, but what I can tell you is my gut feels better than ever, my skin has cleared up a lot since I began this. I am making better choices with food consistently through my days, and I think that's because it keeps me full and helps me avoid snacking on empty carbs.
If you guys have any other questions about anything let me know! this process can be tweaked to your own liking! It is wildly simple and so worth the benefits. Its helped me so much not just in my health but also mentally with all my weird fears of handling raw things.
I would love to hear feedback from anyone who makes their own broth as well! Let me know what you think and how it works within your life.
xo liv
