Bone broth is so easy to make, and a very nourishing, comforting addition to your diet.  By simmering bones, along with discards of vegetables for several hours, the bones and cartilage will break down.  Adding an acid  helps draw out and break down the minerals, such as calcium and phosphorous, which are important for our own bone, joint, and skin health.  

When made correctly, the broth will gel up after sitting in the refrigerator over night.  This gelatinous part of the bone broth consists of collagen, a protein found abundantly through the body, especially in the skin. 

Collagen is found in the bones, and connective tissue of animals.  It consists specifically of the amino acids Glycine, Proline, Hydroxyproline, and Arganine, and is excellent for helping to keep the skin and (and hair) elastic, healthy, and youthful looking.  

There are other health benefits to collagen as well, including coating the digestive tract and improving digestion, and possibly hormone production.  

In Traditional Chinese food therapy, a variety of herbs or other foods are also added to further fortify your broth.  Goji berries, astragalus root, angelica root, or kelp are good examples.  

I'll explain when to add what in the modifications under the basic Bone Broth Recipe below.

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Basic Bone Broth Recipe Using Chicken &/or
Turkey Bones

The steps to making this nutritious broth are simple.  Just put your ingredients in a pot, cover with water, and let it cook!  

I get mine started in the morning, and let it cook all day.  You can let it cook on the stove top, or in a slow cooker.  The longer it cooks, the more the bones dissolve into the broth, the better.

Prepare a big batch over the weekend.  Once you get it started, you can head out to enjoy your day and forget about it.

I've seen recipes on the internet that are way more labor intensive, however, this is the simple method in which I tend to prepare our bone broth.  Simple always works for me!

Collecting your ingredients

Collect bones in a large freezer bag or container until you are ready to prepare your broth.  Save bones from all the parts, whether the drumsticks, wings, necks, or the entire carcass.

Alternatively, you can either use a whole uncooked chicken, or several drumsticks, wings, and/or turkey neck, separating the edible meat after the broth is finished to use later, or roast a whole chicken, turkey or the various parts first.  Remove and enjoy or save the meat, cleaning out the entire carcass as thoroughly as possible if roasting first.  

Personally, I've done both.  When I can find a good deal on a 'priced to sell' whole organic chicken, I buy it, then throw it in a pot by the next morning to turn it into bone broth.  

The meat is easy to separate once it's cooked, and makes for a delicious hearty chicken soup, or chicken salad with the NeanderThin recipe for homemade mayonnaise.  

Once you have your bone broth, just warm it up, add a few seasonings (I love adding dried thyme, or fresh parsley) and serve.  

For a heartier soup, add chicken, turkey, tomato, vegetables, scallions, and even a little nutritional yeast to boost the B vitamin content.  Or use your broth as the base for a marinara or meat spaghetti sauce, chili, or stew.

Bone Broth Basic Preparation Method

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken carcass, or the bones or various parts of chicken or turkey including thighs, drumsticks, necks, backs, wings, turkey tails, breast bones, etc.
• Purified water 
• 1 5-6 inch piece of kombu or kelp seaweed
• ~1-2 Tbsp. cider vinegar, or 1/2-1 organic lemon
• Vegetable discard parts OR 1 onion, leek, or 3-4 scallions, rough chopped (you can include the hairy roots and some of the peels too); 1-2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, &  any other vegetables you want (I sometimes add a chopped beet or some cabbage)
• Optional seasonings including a few fennel or anise seeds, peppercorns, aged orange peel, or a bay leaf, and any additional therapeutic herbs as needed (see below) 
• Optional bunch of parsley or several stalks of kale or other greens

Note:  Salt is not added until you reheat your broth to make a soup.

Steps:

1. Place bones and/or chicken or turkey parts in a large stock pot, and cover w/ filtered water (or veggie broth from making QB Greens) by 2 inches.
2. Add seaweed.
3. Turn to about medium, and let it come to a gentle simmer.  If using a crockpot, you may want to have it on high for the first hour, then turn to a lower setting
4. Add vinegar, or squeeze lemon juice into the pot.  If using an organic lemon, you can add the lemon after squeezing the juice out.
5. Once simmering, add vegetables, and any spices or therapeutic herbs.
6. Turn low, cover leaving lid ajar, and let it simmer all day and/or over night.  Check the water level.  If cooking overnight, you may need to add a little more water first.  Minimum cooking time should be 6-8 hours.  If using fresh parsley or kale, add that in the last hour or so.  Just rinse it off, and add the whole bunch, stems and all.
7. Once ready, remove from heat.  Let cool for a little while.  
8. Place a strainer over a heat proof bowl which you may need to place on top of a heat-proof surface.  Strain, and separate out the meat if wanting to keep and use.  And why not?  If using a whole chicken, I've found the breast meat practically floated to the top, and was easy to grab with a big spoon.    
9. If you have some patience, and the bones cooked long enough to soften at the ends, you can use your fingers to mash it up back into the pot.  The sediment will sink to the bottom, but the bones are mineral-rich.  I usually press down on the vegetables once in the strainer to squeeze out all the juice.  This is the only part that takes a little time, but it's so worth it!  For the price of a chicken or some parts, you will have a weeks worth of super nutrient-rich broth, and the meat for turning back into hearty soups!  Consider it a meditation practice pulling the flesh off the bones!
10. Pour into jars, and refrigerate.  The next day, it should be nice and gelatinous, with a thin layer of fat at the top, which you can add back into the soup, or discard.
11. Typically makes around 3 quarts.  Use some every day, or freeze if needed, just leave room at the top!

The more thick and gelatinous your bone broth is, the better.  That's all the beneficial collagen!

When ready to use, you can make a delicious vegetable, or Chicken Vegetable Soup, or use it in any of your soup or sauce recipes.  It is delicious just heated and enjoyed as is.

When I make a quick soup in the morning, I simply bring to a boil, add chopped vegetables, and a little sea salt, cracked pepper, dried thyme and sliced scallions or chopped parsley.  

Turmeric and nutritional yeast are also good added to your bone broth.  We add 1 tsp. of the nutritional yeast per person, per cup of broth.

Here are a few of the above mentioned ingredients so you can see what these herbs look like.  Any purchases made through these links is greatly appreciated!

Top row, goji berries
2nd row, Dong Quai/Dong Gui,  (European) Angelica root and Huang Qi, Astragalus root 

Dr. Kellyann's Bone Broth Diet, Lose 15 Pounds, 4 Inches, ~ and Your Wrinkles! ~ in Just 21 Days has a basic recipe for making a broth from chicken, turkey, beef, or fish bones along with a handful of tasty sounding soup recipes to make with your broth.  She also has a newer, separate cookbook. 

Our recipes are fairly similar, although hers do not include the addition of seaweed or Chinese herbs.  

Her diet strategy is a low-carbohydrate diet that incorporates 2 days per week of lighter eating, drinking any of her bone broth recipes either all day, or up until evening where you can have a lighter meal.  

I have not followed her plan, but I do endorse it as a good strategy for those who are determined, and desiring to get a jump start on a healthy weight-loss plan.

©Tracy A. Minton-Matesz, 2017-2019, All rights reserved

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