Waste not, want not — Making Power Cooker/ Crock Pot Bone Broth

What is bone broth anyways? Much like the concept of “waste not, want not” it’s a throw back — a traditional way of using every part of the animal to nourish our bodies and add flavor to our food. Bones, skin, fat, grissle, any part of the animal you have no other use for is thrown into a pot with some rough chopped veggies (or veggie scraps – the bottom inch of the celery that gets chopped off, leftover bits of veg not used in other recipes, etc.) and cooked on low overnight, causing the bones and ligaments to release healing compounds like collagen, minerals and amino acids that are easy for the body to digest and have beneficial effects on every part of your body and that are not present in the same quantities (and some not present at all) in processed chicken broth. 

Most store bought chicken broths available these days are made with meat flavoring, msg, and other preservatives that I just don’t want to put in my families bodies and they are missing the nutrition of bone broth. Bone broth is cooked much longer than chicken broth and with chicken parts, veggies and other whole food ingredients. The longer cooking method draws the nutrition from the bones, marrow, ligaments, and skin, every bit of the chicken. Bone broth contains minerals in forms that your body can easily absorb: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and amino acids that reduce inflammation, improve digestion, boost the immune system and provide beneficial effects for the whole body and add more flavor to your food at the same time. 

What comes first — the chicken soup or the chicken bone broth? That’s a hard one. Right up there with the chicken and the egg at our house. . .

As the weather turns colder, I am aware of the greater presence of germs everywhere and I’m naturally trending toward recipes that will boost our immune systems and help us get well quickly if we get sick. One of my favorites is chunky chicken soup, which I’ll be sharing the recipe for in a few days. A byproduct of that soup and a necessary ingredient for making it in our house is chicken bone broth. In the chunky chicken soup recipe,  I use a whole chicken. I simmer it in the soup with the veggies, spices and bone broth for an hour and then remove the chicken, place it in a large glass bowl and dissect it. The chicken goes into 2 piles from there. The chicken I’m ok with putting in our mouths goes on a plate and the parts I don’t want to put in our mouths goes into the power cooker to make bone broth. Everything gets used. Once I separate it, the chicken I have on the plate gets separated further. The white meat gets shredded and put into the fridge to make something else with (that’s enough for a meal at our house) and the dark meat goes back into the soup. 
To the power cooker, I add an onion peeled and quartered, some salt, a rough chopped carrot, celery stalk, some parsley, some thyme, all parts of the chicken we don’t eat and any other random veggies in my fridge that beg to be used. If you are missing onions or celery, you can make it without them, too. This is a very flexible recipe.  I fill the power cooker  with filtered water to the max fill line, add a bay leaf and cook overnight on low in the power cooker’s low temp cook setting, which is the equivalent of a crock pot low temp setting so if you don’t have a power cooker but do have a crock pot, you can use that instead. 

The next day, I use my metal fine mesh colander to strain out the non liquid bits and I strain it into a big pot that can hold all the broth. Then I toss the solid bits, let the broth cool and freeze it in 4 cup portions to use in recipes in place of boxed or canned chicken broth. I like to keep one quart of it in my fridge to throw into any recipe that calls for water to add some more flavor and nutrition to rice dishes, beans, soups, my favorite one pot cheesy chicken, rice and broccoli dish or just to warm up to drink if anyone in our house isn’t feeling well. 

 Just one more way to use what you already have to make your diet just a little healthier. You’re welcome. 

DIY Power Cooker/ Crock Pot Bone Broth 

Ingredients:

• Bones, skin and any other part of a whole chicken you don’t want to eat
• 1 onion, peeled and quartered
• 1-2 carrots, chopped roughly
• 1-2 celery stalls, chopped roughly
• 1 bay leaf
• Thyme, parsley, salt and pepper to taste 
• Enough filtered water to fill crockpot
• Any additional veggies you want to add (optional)

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in power cooker or crock pot. 
2. Cook on low overnight (at least 10 hours, the longer you cook, the more nutrition you get from the bones). 
3. Strain with metal fine mesh strainer, allow to cool and refrigerate or freeze to use later. 
4. Enjoy alone or in your favorite recipes in place of chicken broth or water and repeat. 

Note: the broth is great to use in your next batch of chicken soup or good to drink alone, especially if you aren’t feeling well. The gelatin from the bones is good for gut health and we all know chicken broth is good for all that ails you. Well, bone broth is even better for you than chicken broth. Add this to your family’s sickness regiment to get better faster or add it to your wellness regiment — drink some to boost your immune system and fight the sick before it hits. Food is the best medicine y’all. No nasty side effects. 

If you’re interested in more healthy living tips, stay tuned. I will be adding more tips over the next couple of weeks as we prepare for “sick season” at my kids schools to start. Feel free to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss anything.