Did I just say “bone broth”? Yes, and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you soon will because it is making all the rounds in nutrition circles as a new super food.

Here’s a few benefits behind the buzz:

Reduce inflammation
Joint damage and autoimmune illnesses are often the result of inflammation. “Bone broth contains chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine, the compounds sold as supplements to reduce inflammation, arthritis, and joint pain,” Hartwig says.

Increase mineral intake
Melissa Hartwig, co-founder of the Whole30 challenge and New York Times bestselling author of It Starts With Food, told Yahoo Health. “Homemade bone broth is chock full of nutrients missing or under-represented in today’s modern diet.” The basic soup is more nutrition rich than a pill you buy off the shelf: “It’s an excellent source of minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium, in forms that your body can easily absorb.”

Fix a leaky gut
Dr. Amy Myers, autoimmune specialist and author of The Autoimmune Solution, recommendsbone broth to patients with Leaky Gut Syndrome. “The gelatin in bone broth protects and heals the mucosal lining of the digestive tract and helps aid in the digestion of nutrients.”

I’ve also heard it’s good for keeping your hair and nails healthy. So, if it’s that good and not too difficult, why not give it try? 

This week I tried a batch in the crock pot. I didn’t have any bones but I got some chicken breasts and and chicken legs and used them. (A whole chicken would of course work and some people visit the butcher and take whatever he’s got left! Always got for free range organic chicken of course.)

A little ways in, I pulled all the meat off the bones and set aside some vegetables and broth for chicken soup. Then I put all the bones back in and kept them going much much longer (almost a day and half). In the end the bones were falling apart and mushy. Meaning I hopefully extracted all the good stuff from the bones that I could!

Here’s the small batch recipe. Put all of this in a crock pot:

2 organic chicken breasts

4 organic chicken legs

2 cup of carrots (take out with chicken meat)

4 celery stalks (take out with chicken meat)

1 onion

5 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons sea salt

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg brand)

Fill up the crock pot with filtered water so all the veggies and meat is submerged. That’s about 2 quarts of water in a smaller crock pot. If you are using a normal pot then you add what it takes to cover everything.

Heat it up on high to get it to boil. Once it starts to boil you turn it down low so it stays at a simmer. After about 20 mins I skimmed off any floating white scum or particles. Those are impurities you don’t want in your broth. If you see more again you can re-skim.

Ok, so after the chicken is all done cooking and it all looks yummy, in about 1 1/2 hours, I took out 2/3 of the veggies and all the dark meat. I used this for an awesome hearty soup. I left in as much stock as I could and added more water after to keep it about 4 cups to simmer in.

I also removed all the chicken breasts and made it into chicken salad.

Back in the went all the bones!

Ok, after you take out all the meat and return the bones is your last chance to add water. Depending on how much broth you stole for your soup you may want to add more. I added about one quart more and only took a pint. You want to make sure you have enough water to simmer for 24 hrs without running dry. It will run low and that’s ok. You will probably end up with over 1

quart of stock in the end. Keep it simmering on low.

In the end I was left with a quart of bone broth! 

You can drink it or use it in more soups. Super good for your gut and also balances out your blood sugars. So cool that food does this stuff!

Next week I want to make Beef Bone Broth. Yep! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy Living!

Sheila