Homemade Bone Broth with Five Flavor Variations

How to make gut healing bone broth from pastured bones

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5 flavor variations so drinking bone broth every day is never boring

 
 

mastering broth

Bone broth is made up of two parts: the consistency and the flavor.

When you understand how to make a bone broth that is nutrient dense and full of gelatin PLUS you make it taste good you’ve got the best of both world.

So here we go.

 
 

Consistency

When you make bone broth, whether it be chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb, or fish it’s the combination of bones and gelatinous bits that make it magical. The bones provide minerals, and bone marrow is one of the most amazing foods there is for nourishing your cells. So your broth should include bones from legs, the neck, the skeleton and ribs.

The gelatin which can sooth your intestine lining and heal your gut comes from gelatinous bits with lots of cartilage. This would be things like joint bones, feet, heads, necks, ears, skin and backs.

So the best broth is made with a combo of both these types of bones and odd bits.

 
 

Flavor

Giving your broth different flavors makes it interesting and fun to drink.

A basic broth with onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves and peppercorns makes a broth that is amazing in soups, to cook grains or beans in or to sip on when you’re sick.

You can even turn an unflavored broth into something sweet like hot chocolate (recipe below).

Or you can get more creative with flavor combinations like Vietnamese Pho, Mushroom Beef or Thai Coconut bone broth so that incorporating it into your everyday life is a breeze.

 
 

Making bone broth at home is super easy, and after you read this guide you’re going to feel equipped to start cooking right away.

Save Money

One of the benefits of making your own bone broth at home is that you can save money. It does take some time, but for the most part you can set it and forget it. The real magic happens during the slow cooking when the collagen and minerals can be released.

Better Quality

Another reason to make it at home is that you get better quality and a much more concentrated broth. You can tell how gut healing a broth will be by how gelatinous it is. When you buy it from a box it’s most likely watered down, leaving out the gelatinous parts.



 

6 Tips for Flawless Bone Broth

  1. Sourcing: You can use pork, chicken, turkey, lamb or beef bones for your broth.  Make sure that they were raised on pasture, free from antibiotics, vaccinations, pesticides.  Save your chicken bones and leftover carcasses after you've cooked a whole bird. Check our farm store, we carry beef and pork bones, and seasonally turkey feet, necks, and bones.

  2. Take It Up A Notch: Include chicken or turkey necks, heads, feet and skin, pork feet, oxtail, neck bones or marrow bones. Loaded with extra collagen and gut healing gelatin.

  3. Long and Low: Cook your broth in a crockpot or on the stove top, just keep it low.  An occasional glub-glub is ideal, if it reaches a roaring boil it's too high.  I like to simmer mine for 24-48 hours.  This also extracts minerals from the bones, one reason this is a superfood.

  4. A Cup A Day: Include bone broth in your diet every day.  Drink it warm in the morning, use it as the base to soup stock, or cook your rice and beans in it rather than water.  I even love to braise veggies in broth: carrots, zucchini, beets or butternut squash.  Eat them as a side or puree them for baby food.

  5. Add Vinegar: Soaking your bones in cold water and apple cider vinegar for 30 minutes before you start to cook them leaches the minerals out of the bones, making your broth even more nutritious.

  6. Onion Skins: Add these into your broth for a deep caramel color. In between your batches of broth save up your onion skins in a paper bag. You can even save garlic skins and add them in for flavor too!

recipe for BASIC homemade bone broth

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 lbs total of Nourished With Nature bones, necks, and feet

  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

  • 2 onions roughly chopped

  • 4 celery stalks roughly chopped

  • 4 carrots, roughly chopped

  • 1 Tbsp whole peppercorns

  • 3 Tbsp Redmond or other Sea Salt

  • 1/2 cup fresh or dried parsley

  • several sprigs fresh thyme

  • 2 bay leaves

 

Instructions:

  1. Place your bones in a large pot with vinegar and cover with cold water.

  2. Let sit for 30 minutes

  3. Bring water to a boil and reduce to simmer.  Allow to cook for 24 hours.

  4. Remove any foam that may rise to the top.

  5. In the last 3 hours add veggies and spices.

  6. Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve and put into containers to freeze.  Broth can also be pressure canned and stored for longer periods of time.

 
 

broth variations

After you get the hang of making a basic bone broth you can start spicing it up!

These are a few fun flavors to put a little pizzaz in your warm mug of gut healing bone broth.

This way, drinking bone broth every day will never get boring.

 

Mushroom Beef Broth

This tasty broth is both soothing to the gut and a nourishing source of gelatin. You will love the additional flavor of mushrooms and thyme in this savory broth.

Ingredients:

  • 2 quarts beef broth

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

  • 1 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

  • 1 cup dried mushrooms, rinsed

  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme

  • salt

Steps:

  1. Heat olive oil over medium heat, add fresh mushrooms and garlic, cook 5 minutes

  2. In a pot combine the cooked mushrooms and garlic with the broth. Add the dried mushrooms and thyme.

  3. Simmer for 1 hour, drain the stock and discard the solids.

  4. If desired, stir a little crème fraiche into the warm broth before drinking.

Thai Coconut Broth

Sweet and zesty this broth is both tasty and filling, I could drink it every day.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 gallon turkey or chicken broth

  • 1-14 oz can coconut milk

  • 1 thumb size piece of ginger, minced

  • 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 jalapeno (optional)

  • 1 lime, juiced

  • Salt

Steps:

  1. Pour your broth and coconut milk into a large stockpot along with the chopped ginger, garlic, cilantro and jalapeno.

  2. Bring to a boil then simmer on low 10 minutes, then let cool for 10 minutes.

  3. Add in the lime juice, then strain the solids out.

  4. Salt to taste and enjoy!

Healing Turmeric-Ginger

Loaded with anti-inflammatory turmeric this broth works great with turkey or chicken bones. The ginger offers a warming and zesty flare that you can cozy up to.

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart turkey or chicken broth

  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh turmeric

  • 1 tsp dried turmeric powder

  • Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

  1. In a sauce pan sauté the fresh ginger and turmeric in olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes until fragrant then sprinkle in the fresh turmeric too.

  2. Add your quart of chicken or turkey broth to saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes on low.

  3. Strain the chopped ginger and turmeric, salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Vietnamese Pork Pho

This recipe is actually a robust soup, bursting with flavors in every direction. As I was writing this mouthwatering recipe for you I actually had to stop and go have lunch, it sounded that good.

Ingredients:

  • 8 cups pork broth

  • 1 Nourished With Nature pork tenderloin sliced as thin as possible into bitesize pieces.

  • 1 yellow onion peeled and sliced thin

  • 3 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut in half lengthwise

  • 4 whole cloves

  • 1 tsp fennel seeds

  • 2 cardamom pods

  • 1 Tbs coriander seeds

  • 5 star anise

  • 3 stick cinnamon

  • 1 tsp black peppercorns

  • 2 Tbsp coconut sugar

  • 2 tsp fish sauce

  • 1 package rice noodles

  • 1 lime, cut into wedges

  • 1 jalapeno, sliced

  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

  • Thai basil

  • Bean sprouts

Steps:

  1. Set your oven to broil, and place your baking rack 8 inches away from the burner. Brush the ginger and onion with a little olive oil and cook for 7-10 minutes until the tops are slightly charred. Set aside.

  2. In a large stockpot combine all the spices: cloves, fennel, cardamom, coriander, anise, cinnamon and pepper and cook on medium high heat until they start to become fragrant.

  3. Add in the pork broth, charred onion and ginger, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Then strain the spices and solids.

  4. Return the broth to the stockpot and add the coconut sugar and fish sauce. Taste and season with salt as needed.

  5. Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until they are al dente, about 3 minutes. Immediately drain noodles, rinse with cold water, drain and set aside.

  6. Assemble your soup by adding a handful of noodles to each individual bowl, top with boiling hot broth, add in your slices of pork tenderloin. Make sure they are sliced very thin so that they cook quickly in your hot broth.

  7. Garnish with a squeeze of lime, jalapeno, cilantro, Thai basil and bean sprouts.

  8. Enjoy!

Healthy Hot Chocolate

This treat is so delicious to sip on and you won't feel one bit guilty because we leave out the refined sugars and questionable ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • One quart unflavored turkey or chicken bone broth

  • 1 cup milk (your choice)

  • 1 cup cream (cow or coconut)

  • 8 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Honey

  • 2 Tbsp Organic Raw Cacao Powder

  • 1 tsp Vanilla

  • 2 drops Young Living Cinnamon or Peppermint Vitality Essential Oil (optional)

Steps:

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat, just until warm.

  2. If you’re feeling extra fancy top with these Healthy Homemade Marshmallows

Now you are ready to start cooking!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just start with the basic bone broth recipe. Then grow your practice of making bone broth from there.

Let me know in the comments which flavor variation sounds best to you.

What’s your favorite way to use homemade bone broth?

 

How To Eat More Organ Meats

Organ meats are some of the most nutrient dense foods on the earth.  It’s something I’ve known for years, but I’ll admit, not something I’ve always been good at working into meal time.

The thought of eating organ meats used to turn me off.

I didn’t grow up eating them, in fact here in the United States organ meats are unfamiliar and typically misunderstood as waste material.

But in the wild, animals who hunt always eat the organ meats first.

If you find yourself thinking “ick” when you think of eating organ meats lets look at the power of your mind.

Your mind has great power over your tastebuds. So if you think they are gross, your body will follow instructions and have a physical reaction of  “I don’t like this, it tastes bad”

But the good news is you can turn that around.

You can train your brain to think they are delicious and tasty, and your body will be craving them. 

Read on…

I think after you learn about WHY they are a powerhouse of goods for your body and mind you’re going to be chomping at the bit to get them into your daily diet.

And once you feel the difference your mind will be made up that they NEED to be an essential part of your daily meal plan. 

 

WHY ORGAN MEATS

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think about eating organ meats is that it’s part of eating nose-to-tail. 

It’s an ethical and sustainable way to use the entire animal.

It’s a valuable way to honor the animal that gave it’s life for your nourishment.

Traditional diets (which are from cultures untouched by Western civilization) made use of organ meats and reaped the benefits of nutrient density. 

Weston A. Price was a dentist that traveled the globe searching for the reason people had overcrowded teeth.  He studied indigenous people, remote villages and African tribes all of whom ate lots of organ meats and animal fats and had beautiful teeth.

His conclusion was that when we eat a traditional diet of whole, unprocessed foods as well as organ meats plus fat soluble vitamins from animal sources our teeth are strong, undecayed, and well spaced.

“Beyond straight and beautiful teeth, free from cavities Dr. Weston A. Price discovered that those same isolated tribesmen are characterized by a very strong immune system, preventing them from catching any diseases…” wrote Tomer Pappe in a blog post.

There is wisdom in the old fashioned way of eating nose-to-tail.


WHAT ARE ORGAN MEATS & OFFAL

You may have heard the term offal (yes, pronounced like “awful”) which refers to all the edible parts of an animal beyond the typical muscle meats.

Offal can include cheeks, oxtail, lard, tallow, skin, bones, trotters (pig feet), ears, tail, and more uncommon bits like intestines and blood.

Organ meats include the heart, liver, kidney and brain.

Because the liver and kidney organs are used to filter toxins from the body, I often get the question of whether they are storing toxins as well.

In theory, toxins are broken down in these organs and pushed out into the excretory system through urination, sweat or stool. So no, they don’t contain higher levels of toxins.

When you buy our farm’s organ meats, the toxin load is nearly zero.

We work extra hard to keep pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones and chemicals off our farm and away from our animals.

ORGAN MEATS vs. MUSCLE MEAT

If you are curious about the way different organ meats taste, let me explain what you can expect.

Heart

Heart is a lean muscle meat. It has the texture and taste that can be compared to steak or brisket. Most people are pleasantly surprised with it’s taste once they get over it’s unusual appearance. Heart needs to be cooked properly so it’s not tough, I recommend slow cooking, grinding and adding to chilis or slicing thin and making jerky. Where heart really shines is in it’s high levels of CoQ10. It also contains high levels of iron, zinc, selenium and B Vitamins.

Tongue

Tongue is also a muscle meat. It has very high fat content, so it tends to be wonderfully tender cut. It’s nutrition profile shows it’s high in iron, zinc, choline, B vitamins and trace minerals. It’s real claim to fame is it’s agreeable taste. If you can get over the fact that it’s a tongue you may find that you like it better than tenderloin! Tongue is a great starting point if you are just venturing into the land of organ meats because of it’s ease of cooking and it’s delightful taste.

Calvin, my youngest son, loves to ask people if they like beef tongue. One time when he was just a couple years old his dad cooked it for dinner. Calvin was there on a stool in the kitchen and as quickly as dad was slicing, Calvin was gobbling it up. I think he was pretty hungry, but I can tell you it’s toddler approved!

Liver

Liver is an organ meat, like kidney and brain. While heart and tongue are an easy introduction to the world of eating organ meats, liver is by far the most important organ meat you should be eating. It’s one of the most nutrient dense foods in existence and contains vitamins and minerals that are hard to find elsewhere.

Folate, copper, B12,Vitamin A and choline are in great abundance within beef liver.

The rich taste can take some getting used to. The texture is not firm like heart and tongue. Some people love the bold taste of liver and don’t find it offensive at all, so give it a try.

You get to decide!

NUTRIENTS IN ORGAN MEATS

Organ meats are rich in many essential nutrients that help support your immune function, brain function, reproductive system and hormone regulation.

·        B Vitamins such as B12 and folate in particular.  B vitamins give you energy and folate is the building block for growing a healthy baby, if you’re a woman.  Folate is the key ingredient in many prenatal vitamins.

 ·        Minerals such as iron, copper and zinc.  Very important for keeping a healthy strong immune system.

 ·        Fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K.  Vitamin D is a hard to get in the wintertime here in Oregon, and low levels can lead to depression.  Vitamin D is also the building block for strong healthy teeth, and starts at conception. 

 

So if you’re a woman and plan to have children, eat your organ meats now!

 

ORGAN MEATS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

When doing my research this idea that eating more organ meats can help you loose weight or maintain a healthy weight made perfect sense. 

Because organ meats are so nutrient dense they satisfy the body’s need for essential nutrients which cuts down on food cravings.

When you give your body the nutrients it needs you feel full longer.

 

GET STARTED NOW

Here are 3 ways to incorporate nutrient dense liver into your diet NOW.

I chose to start with liver because it truly is the most nutrient dense of all the organ meats.

Here is how you can eat more organ meats without gagging.

You don’t even have to love the taste to glean it’s benefits.


1.        Grate frozen liver into your ground meat.

You can use a cheese grater and while the liver is still frozen and raw, grate one tablespoon  into your hamburger, meatloaf, taco meat or spaghetti sauce.  Then cook your ground beef as usual.

You won’t even know it’s there.

I don’t recognize the flavor at all, so it’s a great way to feed it to your kids or spouse (or even yourself) if you’re not stoked about eating liver.

It’ll be a confidence booster to your organ meat journey!

 

2.        Make a Mousse

If you love to cook and up for trying a new food, give this Liver Mousse recipe a try!  You can use any type of liver-beef, lamb, chicken or pork.  The taste comes out savory and robust, but very palatable.  I love to eat it with chopped veggies or crackers.  When eating liver a little bit goes a long ways for nutrient density.

 

3.        Make a Pill

You can do this by dehydrating, grinding and encapsulating liver into empty capsules.  It’s a bit of effort, but the result is that you don’t have to fight the taste.

You can also make frozen liver pills by just cutting raw liver into manageable swallowing size chunks, laying them flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them.  Once they are frozen individually they keep their shape and I transfer them into a Tupperware I keep in the freezer.  After dinner I pop a couple into my mouth and swallow them down with a glass of water, just like a vitamin.  Done.  Easy.

 

I hope this inspires you to start eating more organ meats, in particular liver!

I’m working on a recipe book with liver, heart, tongue all the other odd bits, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, share your favorite organ meat recipe in the comments.

Come by our farm store or meet us at the Saturday market in Corvallis to pick up some liver so you can start incorporating it into your diet now.

Rosemary Parmesan Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Serves 4

The pork tenderloin is definitely a cut of meat that calls for a special occasion such as Valentine’s Day.


There are only two tenderloins on the whole pig, so it’s a cut that deserves our heartfelt respect.

This recipe is bursting with flavor, juicy on the inside and comes together very quick.

Take care not to overcook them, using a meat thermometer is a great tool.

If in doubt, ere on the side of undercooked and let it rest, tented with a lid or tinfoil for five minutes.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 lbs Nourished With Nature Pork Tenderloin

  • 1 cup gluten free Panko bread crumbs (or make your own sourdough bread crumbs)

  • 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

  • 2 Tbsp dried rosemary

  • Salt

  • Pepper

  • 2 eggs

  • 4 Tbsp Nourished With Nature lard




DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

  1. Sprinkle salt and pepper over all sides of pork tenderloin

  2. Mix Panko, parmesan and rosemary on a large flat plate

  3. Whisk eggs together in a large shallow dish

  4. Heat 2 Tbsp lard in a large frying pan over med/high heat

  5. Take one pork tenderloin and roll all sides in the eggs

  6. Then roll in Panko mixture and coat all sides well

  7. Place tenderloin in frying pan and cook each side 1-2 minutes until a golden brown crust forms

  8. Place tenderloin on a rack in a large roasting pan

  9. Add 2 more Tbsp of lard to the frying pan and repeat the process with the second tenderloin

  10. Bake 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 145 degrees

  11. Remove from oven and tent pork with tinfoil and let rest 5-10 minutes before cutting

  12. Enjoy!

Serve this with green beans or roasted red potatoes or a lovely dinner at home.

Let me know in the comments how yours turned out!

*recipe adopted from Tasteful Venture

Savory Ham Hock Soup

This warming and nutritious winter soup comes together quickly.

It uses ingredients readily available in the cold winter months like cabbage, carrots, onions and potatoes.

It’s a welcome weeknight meal that is easy on the budget too.

Typically we think ham and split pea soup or ham and bean soup but this one doesn’t use any legumes.

My oldest kiddo recently did a food sensitivity test with our naturopath and we found out he was reacting to all types of bean, tomatoes and dairy. My husband did the same test and he has a whole slew of ingredients to avoid also.

Thank heavens I’m confident in the kitchen and cook from scratch regularly. Swapping out ingredients is no problem for me.

So we found this recipe which is gluten free, dairy free, and avoids the beans and tomatoes.

It surprised me how much I loved it, so I’m sharing it with you too!

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs Nourished With Nature Ham Hocks

  • 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped

  • 1 yellow onion, chopped

  • 4-6 red potatoes, chopped

  • 1 head savoy green cabbage

  • 3-4 bay leaves

  • 1 bunch fresh parsley

  • 1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste

  • 2 quarts bone broth (chicken, turkey or pork)

    *If you don’t have bone broth on hand, just use water. The ham hocks make their own bone broth as they cook.

Directions:

  1. In an Instant Pot set to sauté, sear the ham hocks on the two flattest sides.

  2. Chop onion, potatoes and carrots into bite sized cubes and add to the pot

  3. Chop the cabbage into long strips and add to the pot

  4. Add the broth or water, bay leaves and fresh pepper

  5. Secure lid, set to meat/stew setting and pressure cook for 45 minutes

  6. Let it do it’s natural release for 5 min, then release the pressure

  7. Remove the ham hocks and pick the meat off the bone. I like to separate the fat and skin off too. Chop the ham into bite size chunks and return to pot.

  8. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and enjoy!

Do you have a favorite way to use ham hocks? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

10 Delicious Ways To Use Up Leftover Turkey

If you have anything left of your turkey after Thanksgiving, consider yourself blessed!

Check out all these delicious recipes you can cook up after the big feast

This one bird can feed you for several days after.

I didn't write all these recipes, because seriously I'm only one person and in a couple minutes I gotta run out and feed the hungry dinosaurs (turkeys).

But several are my very own original recipes, check them out!

  1. Creamy Turkey Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup by Julia Bell

  2. Turkey Bone Broth By Julia Bell

  3. Turkey Salad by Brooke Caison

  4. Creamy Turkey Enchiladas (calls for chicken but you can use turkey too) by Ree Drummond

  5. Tasty Turkey Tortilla Soup (also calls for chicken in original recipe but use up that turkey) by Julia Bell

  6. Turkey Pot Pie by Ree Drummond

  7. Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe by Ree Drummond

  8. One Pot Turkey Pesto Pasta by Erica Kastner

  9. Italian Turkey Tortellini Soup by Brenda Score

  10. Turkey Cranberry Sandwiches by Rian Handler