Nourishing + Immune Boosting Bone Broth

Y'all I don't know if I love anything more than I love Bone Broth. Let me explain.

Bone broth is seriously good for anything; Chicken Soup for the Soul if you will (they were really onto something).

Your veggies like celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and carrots are full of vitamins and nutrients for the cells . Bones & skin contain calcium, collagen, and amino acids for wound healing, immune support, and tissue repair AND you can add in lots of medicinal herbs that are immunomodulators and have a heavy mineral content.

Bone broth is a great place to get lots of bang for your buck! Like your most perfect nourishing, immune-boosting multivitamin.

It's truly liquid gold in a mug- the adult equivalent to breast milk if you will....too far?

Ways to Use Bone Broth.

• I prefer to sip on bone broth every day during cold and flu season and if I get sick (which is rare- knock on wood) it becomes my sole source of nutrients because it is easy to digest but still has lots of healing qualities.

  
  

• You can sip it plain or use it to make other stews, soups, rice dishes, risottos, or wherever a stock is called for. I just made honeynut squash soup and used bone broth as the base, yumm!

  
  

• This is a magical way to get tons of nutrients into your kiddos during cold and flu season and keep their bodies resilient. Whip up a chicken noodle soup using bone broth, and smile on the inside knowing they are being loaded with good medicine.

  
  

• Outside of cold and flu season, I love bone broth to help support autoimmunity, leaky gut picture, IBS, and GI dysfunction, post food poisoning to rebuild an inflammatory gut lining with that good dose of collagen and immunomodulating herbs.

  
  

• It can also be wonderful post-surgery or post-partum when the body just took a serious hit and needs nutrients to recover. You can whip some up for a friend or family member in need- it is truly the greatest gift of all. 

  
  

• If you are a vegetarian you can skip the bones, in that case, I like to add in more mushrooms. Remember, if you skip the bones you won't get the collagen but can still get all the other wonderful qualities.

When in doubt, make some broth. I promise you will not regret it.

Gather Bone Broth Ingredients

Gather your Ingredients ** Organic when possible, if we are trying to heal, we don't want added pesticides that are inflammatory**

• Organic Pasture Raised Chicken - Can use a whole chicken to use the meat after. Can also get chicken bones or beef bones without the meat. I also like chicken feet because they are cheaper and have lots of collagen

• Veggies - Carrots, Celery, Onions, Rutabaga, Parsnips, Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard - What do you have in your fridge or garden that you need to get rid of?

• Garlic - lots of garlic

• Culinary Herbs - Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Sage

• Immunomodulating Herbs - Astragalus or Reishi

• Mineral Dense Herbs -Milky Oats, Nettles, Chickweed

• Vulnerary Herbs (wound healing for the gut) - Calendula, Plantain leaves

• Organic Olive oil, Celtic Sea Salt, Black Pepper to taste

**You don't need all of these. What do you have in your kitchen, fridge, garden?

Preparing Your Bone Broth

• Get in the right headspace to make your broth with love. No angry cooking.

• Sautee your veggies in organic olive oil with sea salt until they are soft and flavorful

• Fill your stock pot with water

• Add in whole chicken or bones

• If using a whole chicken, cook for about an hour until temperature of chicken is 165. Remove the chicken and shred the meat for later use. Return the carcass to the pot

• Add in your blend of herbs - go heavy on the culinary herbs here, they have wonderful antimicrobial properties

  • I add about 1 cup of nettles, 1 cup of milky oats, 1/2 cup of astragalus, 1/2 cup of calendula, and 2-3 strips of reishi but it is definitely not exact - it's intuition.

• Simmer on low until it is reduced. At least 4 hours, but I have left mine overnight on low as well. Just don't forget about it as it will burn your pot

• Strain the broth into glass jars

• Compost the herbs and veggies or toss them

• Keep your broth in the fridge or freeze for a later date (if freezing leave at least an inch of air space to not shatter your glass jars)

Sip daily or cook with it + Enjoy with healing vibes in mind

A real pro-tip: I make hot cocoa in the winter using 1/2 bone broth + 1/2 milk for the base. Straight up nourishing goodness.