Bone Broth

Bone Broth is a powerhouse drink which is incredibly nutrient dense and delicious! I could sit here and write a novel about all the benefits, but for the sake of keeping this short, I'll keep it to my 5 favourite benefits:

• Easy to Digest & easy on the tummy + super comforting to sip on
• Boosts immune system (packed with vitamins)
• Reduces inflammation (can help heal leaky gut & various other tummy troubles)
• High in Collagen (which is good for your skin, bones, nails and gut)
• Packed with Amino Acids (Amino acids are the building blocks to pretty much everything your body does from building muscle, healthy skin, mental health, sleep and transporting and storing nutrients)

Recipe FAQ:

• Why keep the skin on the veggies? Keeping the skin on allows you to extract the nutrients from the peels that you normally wouldn't eat on a daily basis, packing your broth with even MORE nutrients and vitamins. Just make sure to give the exterior of your veggies a good wash.
• Why not boil the bones first to 'clean them' like other recipes suggest? A lot of recipes out there will tell you to boil the bones first, bake them etc. which I have tried, but I found that you are losing so many of the important nutrients by doing that and the taste is significantly better without doing this (as long as you have quality bones).
• Where should I buy my bones? You want to get high quality bones preferably hormone-free and grain fed from a local butcher if you can or the farmers market. 1.5 pound bags typically go for $2.50 at my local butcher here (Sasloves in Ottawa) so they're relatively inexpensive, fresh and high quality.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 Pounds of raw High Quality Chicken Bones (you can also throw in a carcass of a chicken roast if you made one recently)
3 Medium Carrots, peels on
1 Onion, cut in quarters, peel on
1 Whole Garlic Bud, cut in half
1 TSP Sea Salt (remember you can add more to taste later on)
1 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar (helps with the extraction of the collagen from the bones and I promise your soup will not taste vinegary)

**I also sometimes add in mushrooms & other veggie & herb craps like celery, ginger, thyme, rosemary, etc.)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Put the bones in a crock pot along with all of the other ingredients
2. Fill crock pot with water, leaving 1 inch from the top
3. Cook on low for minimum 24 hours but best taste at 48+ hours

Tip: Get everything together after dinner and eat if for dinner the next night

Once finished, you should be left with a a really delicious and nutritious broth. It should gelatinize when refrigerated (thats how you know you've extracted the collagen properly). No worries if doesn't gelatinize, just means there was more liquid than bones ratio but its still super nutritious!