Easy Steps to Making Homemade Broth!
There is nothing like a bowl of steaming soup on a cold winter day, and the most nutritious way to make it is with your own broth. I occasionally made broth in the past, always after a turkey dinner, or even when I cooked a large chicken, but lately I’ve been on a broth making kick and love it! There are so many health benefits to eating (or drinking) your own broth, one of which is the healing influence of broth to your gut. Bone broth is easily digestible, helps heal the lining of the gut, and it contains valuable nutrients. Drinking bone broth can lower joint pain and inflammation as well as promote strong healthy bones. It is also very cost effective and simple to make, two things that are high on my list! As well, making your own broth can save you money by reducing the need for regular dietary supplement use, as it provides you with lots of important nutrients like calcium, magnesium, glucosamine, phosphorus, and arginine.
I hope that my few simple steps will inspire you to make your own broth.
Chicken Broth
I love to make chicken broth by cooking two chickens at once because I not only get a huge pot of stock for soups and other recipes, but I also get about 10 cups of chicken to throw in the freezer for later use. If you’d like to do what I do, put two chickens in a large crockpot, season them with salt and pepper, and fill the pot to half with water. Turn the crockpot on low and simmer for about 8 hours. After 8 hours, remove the chickens, let them cool, and take all the meat off the bones, tossing the bones back into the crockpot. With the bones, add a small onion, a handful of parsley, a large carrot, and a stalk of celery, thyme and any other seasonings you enjoy. Fill crockpot with water and simmer on low for 12-24 hours. That’s it! You have a large pot of delicious chicken stock that you can bottle and freeze for future use or get a few pots of soups simmering right away!
Vegetable Broth
To make vegetable broth, make sure you save all your veggie trimmings when preparing meals, adding them to a large ziplock bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, you have enough to make vegetable stock! Some ideas of vegetable scraps to save include fresh herb stems, carrot and celery ends, the tops and bottoms of peppers, dark green leek tops, well washed potato peels, etc. When your bag is full, dump the contents into a crockpot full of water, add some seasonings, turn on low and simmer for 10-12 hours or until it has reached your desired taste. Strain the broth and then use it in any of your homemade recipes.
Bone Broth
Follow the same steps for bone broth as you would for vegetable broth. As you consume different types of meat, keep the bones in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Once it is full add them to a pot of water (I love my crockpot for this) with a few veggies and seasonings, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (optional) to help draw the minerals from the bones. Simmer for 24 hours. The longer you simmer the broth, the more nutrient rich it will be. Strain, bottle, and freeze for drinking or for later use in your favorite recipes.
There you have it, a few easy steps to add homemade broth to your repertoire of cooking real food. For more suggestions check back often, or email me so you don’t miss a thing!
Connect with Lisa George, Registered Holistic Nutritionist – and take that first step to a healthier you! Contact 613-256-0506 or e-mail lisac.george@gmail.com