9.24.2012

If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right (and a recipe for bone broth)

Is it wrong that I ate a half pound of bacon for breakfast?

Is it wrong to take a nap before noon?

Is it wrong that we're paying our son to sleep in his own bed?

Is it wrong to share pictures of a live chicken and a chicken carcass in the same post?

Don't worry, the pictures are not before and after shots.

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Last night I had a dream that I met a family who also had 10 chickens.  I asked how many eggs they collected every day.  14 was their answer.

Now I know this is physiologically impossible, but my dream reveals my dissatisfaction with our daily egg harvest.  Our flock is laying an average of 6 eggs a day.  We're eating an average of 9 eggs a day.  Something is wrong with the numbers, but keeping chickens still seems like the right thing to do.

Sometimes we skip collecting eggs one day, just so we can collect more the next day.  It's all about perception.

Now, about that chicken carcass . . .

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People at the gym have asked me how I manage to work out 6 days a week and avoid muscle cramping and soreness.  My answer is simple: bone broth.  Every morning before I work out, I drink a cup of chicken broth.  I've been drinking it for months now, inspired by my friend, Amy, and her post about chicken feet.

How does it help?  I'm not entirely sure.  I think it's magic.  Must be all the minerals and nutrients: calcium, magnesium, potassium, glucosamine, sodium, collagen, gelatin, to name a few.  I sprinkle sea kelp granules on my broth for iodine.  But perhaps the most important ingredient is belief.  I believe that drinking bone broth before I work out helps me out, and therefore it does.  Like I said, it's all about perception.

Here's how I make my magic bone broth:

About once a week, I roast a chicken.  Then I put the picked over carcass in the crockpot, along with the bones and skin my family has left on their plates.  I add the giblets* I pulled out of the chicken before roasting, along with the tops of an onion, one carrot, one stalk of celery, and one tablespoon of vinegar (helps extract calcium from bones).  I cover it with water, leaving about 1/2 inch of head space.  I cook it on low for 24 hours, then strain the broth through a colander, let the broth cool for a few hours at room temperature, and freeze it in half pint jars (once again leaving a half inch of head space).

*If I don't make the broth the same day I roast the chicken, I freeze the giblets until I'm ready to cook the broth.  Believe me, they go bad fast and smell nasty.

Alternatively, I use a few pounds of chicken feet in lieu of a chicken carcass.  Chicken feet broth has more gelatin, and smells like Top Ramen.  When cooled, it looks like chicken Jello.  Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?

frozen magic

Even if you don't work out 6 days a week, adding bone broth to your daily diet is a healthy choice.  Bone broth promotes digestion, aids healing, and is packed with essential nutrients.  It's simple and inexpensive to make, and it's the right thing to do with a chicken carcass.

You can't go wrong with bone broth.  Drink up.

13 comments:

  1. So that's your secret!!! :) Ohh broth. So simple and such a kitchen staple. Sometimes I am tempted to take the stock we make at school home with me.lol Maybe I'll go make some now :)

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  2. I bet your ladies, like ours, are laying in ever-changing hideaway locations and, you too, will find 30 eggs of unknown age in a little patch of weeds next to your home.

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  3. A little scary that as I read this I thought about how I forgot to take the bacon out of the freezer and I need to remember to put the broth I just strained in the freezer before I go to bed.
    Love your dream. Our little ladies have just started to lay their little pullet eggs... No eggs dreams for me... yet.

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  4. I'm totally into my bone broth too. You're not doing anything wrong, as you well know.

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  5. not wrong!
    this week i made my first batch of bone broth from beef knuckles...so delish...i am drinking it my the mug full. i have big plans for bone broth. chicken bone broth is next!

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  6. Our chickens are molting so egg production is down right now. It's a bummer when you have to use your eggs sparingly. And, no, it's not wrong to eat a 1/2 pound of bacon for breakfast.

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  7. I ate 1/2 a lb of bacon for breakfast yesterday (along w/ 4 eggs & 1/2 of a very small cantaloupe). I think it's just fine! Thanks for the vinegar tip, I'll try it next time I make broth.

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  8. i also make broth once a week. it's such an amazing food. My oldest son, who has a very particular sense of smell and can't tolerate most meats unless i disguise them in sort sort of sauce (bbq, tomato, etc.) asks for broth almost every day. he can't stand the smell of it cooking, but likes to drink it cold!

    i've often thought of getting a slow cooker as it seems it would save a lot of energy, but i've been afraid of the possibility of heavy metal leaching associated with slow cookers. i often pause when i see them at the thrift store and think...hmmmn....i should get one...and then don't. i don't know if it's a real concern or not.

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  9. Do you chug it cold or warm it up? Just curious.

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  10. ha. I'm making broth as I write this. I make broth about every other week (when we roast a chicken). I never knew adding vinegar will help pull nutrients out of the bones! Going to add some right now. Thanks for the hot tip!

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  11. ugh! all these years i threw out the carcass! who knew. CAn't wait to get boiling. thanks ...LOVED your post so much :)

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  12. Have been slow cooking your wonderful recipe all night. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. missed you!
    great post. we do the broth too.
    when we do, everyone seems just a little but more glowy.
    when we don't, I feel we are missing something.
    XO
    C

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