Saturday, December 19, 2015

The Bone Collector



I've since written an addendum to this post, which can be found here

In my home I am jokingly referred to as "The Bone Collector".  

You see, a while back we stopped buying boneless skinless chicken breast for our meals, which is what we almost always ate.  We used to buy our organic chicken in bulk at Costco, which was almost always boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Then they switched to carrying Foster Farms as their brand of organic chicken.  And it was a unanimous decision in our home that we needed to find a new source for our organic chicken.  

We went to the health food stores near us--we have 3 large ones to choose from.  But the organic boneless skinless chicken breasts were outrageously expensive at these stores.  So we made the decision to start using other chicken parts.......this was a struggle for me at first, but I've gotten used to it & I have to say that it's so much better!  As they say, "hindsight is 20/20", & it's so true!!  Boneless skinless chicken breasts are so lacking flavor & they dry out so easily.  Now I do wish I could sometimes buy organic chicken breasts with bone in & skin on, but no one near me sells that, so I mostly buy bone in skin on chicken thighs or whole chickens.  And about once a week we eat a whole cornish hen as well.  

Not long after we started buying chicken with bones I realized I should be saving the bones.....for making broth.  So I started saving them in a bag in the freezer & when I get 1.5 pounds of bones I make broth.  It does seem to take us a while to get 1.5 pounds saved up......in early November I was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter, contemplating how I could get more bones.....and then it hit me that Thanksgiving was going to yield me a whole bunch of bones!!!  I was so excited when that revelation hit me!

It's now almost Christmas & I have just finished off the last of the turkey broth that I was able to make with turkey bones from Thanksgiving.  When I have bone broth on hand I drink a cup of it in the morning & I mix my Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides in it.  (When I don't have any bone broth on hand I drink a hot cup of tea instead, mixing the collagen into it.)  

There are so many health benefits from consuming home made bone broth--I could go on all day.  But the primary benefit I am most interested in is gut healing & wellness.  Like I said previously, if you have any issues with gluten you most likely have some gut damage that does need to be healed. 

So here's my recipe that I've devised for making bone broth.  I prefer to make it in my slow cooker.

BONE BROTH RECIPE

6-8 Cups filtered water 
1.5 pounds bones
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1/2 onion, halved
2 carrots, cut into thirds
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 stalks celery, cut into thirds
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons sea salt or himalayan pink salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 bunch fresh parsley

*Place the water & vinegar & bones in the slower cooker & let it sit for 30 minutes or so (this step allows for more collagen to be pulled out, making for healthier broth)
*Turn the slow cooker on to "HIGH" for 2 hours
*Then add all the rest of the ingredients at this time, except for the parsley
*Cook on LOW for 12 hours OR on HIGH for 6 hours
*Turn off, add the parsley, cover, & let sit for 30 minutes
*Then strain well--I always pick out the veggies & bones with tongs & slotted spoon & then strain twice--a rough strain & then a fine strain.

I like to store mine in mason jars.  

Enjoy :) 



2 comments:

  1. I love my bone broth too! I roast them first for about an hour at 425°. This browns them up and produces a beautiful dark broth. Peace, Pam (pamisuki from instagram)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing, I'll have to try roasting them first!

      Delete