Chicken Bone Broth

I've been making my way through the Nourishing Traditions cookbook and a traditional food that has nourished people for centuries has been bone broth. Broth made from the nutrients found in veggies and bones of healthy animals.

Chicken soup is good for the body and soul and by making it yourself you know you aren't purchasing a chemical mix of tons of msg and other additives.

I found this recipe on the Nourished Kitchen blog. I've been perpetually making broth for many weeks now. It's so simple and can be the base of many soups and casseroles as well as a great body warming drink to consume by itself.

Broth is so great because as you heat the water and bones and veggies all together, the nutrients from the contents seep into the water, making the water a liquid, easy to assimilate, form of vitamins for your body. Helpful for the winter months as we don't get as much vitamin D from sun exposure. Here is some more info on the healthfulness of bone broth.

I freeze cubes in my baby food silicone freezer thingys and voila! 2oz portions of homemade broth whenever I need it!

You can use a raw whole chicken (Costco has organic chicken for $2.99 per pound) OR... what I have been doing... you can roast your chicken in the oven to make the meat super flavorful and yummy and then use the leftover bones and frame of the chicken for the broth, since the nutrients you are trying to get to are in the bones. My friend Carly just posted her fav recipe and it was a huge hit in our house this week... Even reese ate it. Which is amazing... YAY!


Nourished Kitchen's Perpetual soup

ingredients

• 1 whole organic 
chicken (or the frame of a roasted chicken) 

• 2 
sweet bay leaves

• 1 tbsp 
black peppercorns

• any  
vegetable scraps you have on hand

• filtered water

1. Place one whole chicken or the frame of a roasted chicken into your slow cooker with sweet bay, black peppercorns and any vegetable scraps you have on hand. Cover with filtered water and cook on low for one week.

1. After twenty-four hours, you may begin using the broth. As you need broth or stock, simply dip a ladle or measuring cup into the slow cooker to remove the amount of stock you need. Pour it through a fine-mesh sieve or, preferably, a reusable coffee filter which will help to clarify the broth. Replace the broth you remove from the slow cooker with an equivalent amount of filtered water. If you’re using a whole, fresh chicken, you may also remove chicken meat from the slow cooker as desired for stir-fries, in soups or in 

1. At the end of the week, strain off any remaining broth and discard or compost the bones. The bones from your chicken should crumble when pressed between your thumb and forefinger. Their softness is an indication that much of the nourishment from the bones – minerals, amino acids – have leached from the bones and into the broth you’ve enjoyed all week long. Wash the insert of your slow cooker and start again.

instructions