Here’s another one of those digestion tips to lift the spirits. This is not just a soup, it’s granny’s magic elixir that lines the gut and gives it a chance to heal, reduces inflammation (i.e. helps with ar*thritis and other inflammatory conditions), boosts the immune system and it’s healing for the mind and emotions as well as the body.
So those of you who have depression or if you are keeping your eye out for someone with depression, or if you’re looking to lift your vitality, get the slow cooker ready now. 🙂 I love that the old ways that worked so well for grandma, get fashionable again because they work.
Every single health condition that needs the immune system to be working at optimum is either caused by, or made worse by, inflammation in the gut.
Soup made from bones and slow cooked over a long time can heal the effects of this inflammation. It’s easy, simple, delicious and you just need to add it to your diet regularly.
If you’re ill or depressed, you might want to have some every day for a while, until the gut is healed. I know this page isn’t a quick read, but the soup is – quick that is! I reckon I can throw a bone broth together in about 30 seconds and using a slow cooker means you can forget about it until it’s cooked. Picture my knife flying on the chopping block chop chop chop getting all those ingredients thrown in the pot in 30 seconds lol!
My 30 Second, simple recipe for Granny’s magic elixir that dances on my tongue. I like to keep things simple. I just chuck whatever raw bones I’m using into the slow cooker.
I usually choose bones with a bit of meat on them. Throw in a chopped onion (maybe no onion if you have irritable bowel), a carrot or two, a stick of celery or two, a splash of apple cider vinegar, a whole head of garlic in beef, a couple of cloves of garlic into chicken, add whatever other seasonal vegetables that I feel like and have available, cover with water and cook 12 hours for chicken (25 minutes in a pressure cooker), 36 – 48 hours for beef and with beef I always add some tomatoes.
A small dessertspoon of seaweed adds a depth of flavor and sixty something minerals and trace elements. I promise you, neither the kids nor the partner will notice the seaweed is even in there. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste. A delicious variation is to add 1 tablespoon of Turmeric, some grated ginger and maybe even 1 teaspoon of cinnamon for a change (the cinnamon’s not my cup of tea though lol!). All these herbs are anti-inflammatory too.
When it’s finished cooking, lift the bones out – I leave the vegetables and whatever meat falls off, in it, because I eat it like soup rather than a broth. When the broth is cool, a layer of fat will harden on top. You can enjoy all the nutrients in the fat, or scrape it off with a spoon before you heat it up. I freeze the soup in containers and just drop the frozen contents into a saucepan on a gentle heat to both defrost and heat it up when I want to eat it. You can eat it like this, or you can strain the vegetables (or not) and use it as a stock base for other recipes.
Click here for the ins and outs of bone broth for those who like detail.