Tag Archives: bone broth

Mexican Chicken Soup

I have a cold and even with my dulled taste buds, plain chicken soup is just boring. I made a big pot of bone stock with chicken for the dogs and this meal. So I get the health benefits of bone stock and all the added ingredients in this soup!

Before going low carb, I made this soup with regular red or black beans and corn and served it with tortilla chips. I made this last night and am delighted with how it turned out—not missing carbs one bit!

Recipe for chicken bone broth

Mexican Chicken Soup

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 or 2 cloves garlic minced

Avocado or extra virgin olive oil

3 bell peppers, diced

2 T cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder or more to taste

2 T Coriander

1 Chipotle pepper and sauce

Salt & Pepper

5 cups cup chicken bone broth

1 small cans fire roasted or regular diced tomatoes

1 can black soy beans, drained

12 ounces chicken, diced

Toppings

1 Lime, juice and zest

1 Avocado, diced

Handful cilantro, chopped

4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Sour cream or crème fraiche

Directions

Sauté onions and garlic in olive or avocado oil for a few minutes on a medium low heat until translucent and add peppers, raising temperature to medium high. Cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are softened Add spices and stir for 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes and beans to a boil; reducing heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken last 5 minutes.

To Serve:

Ladle soup into bowls and top with the cheese, sour cream, avocado, and cilantro, lime zest and juice.

Turkey Stock and Gravy

November 16, 2018

nlhartie

Nothing beats gravy from scratch. It isn’t hard to make, but the stock takes time, so you want to make the stock a couple days in advance. I’m finding places like Whole Foods carry turkey parts, so you can get what you need and make stock!

Turkey Stock and Gravy

Turkey Stock

2 turkey drumsticks (1 if really big)

2 backs

Neck

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 celery

Bay leaf

Peppercorns

Place turkey parts, onion and carrot in the oven for 30 minutes at 425. Transfer to a pot of water and add celery. Cook 1 ½ hours, remove meat for pets. Put bones back and cook more another 3 hours. Remove solids and discard.

Cool stock quickly by placing pot in sink with ice and water. Reserve 4-6 cups for gravy. The rest can be put into containers and frozen for later use or as a base for soup.

Gravy

4-6 cups stock

Neck and gizzard (optional) boil an hour and chop into small pieces

1/3 cup cornstarch dissolved into ¼ water for 4-6 cups or guar gum or xanthum gum to make it lower carbs

Shitakes, chopped (optional) and sautéed

Remove turkey and place roasting pan on 2 burners and add some stock, stirring and scraping up goodies. Put everything back in a saucepan, reduce a bit and add dissolved cornstarch. Add a bit of butter, neck and gizzard pieces and shitakes.

Lamb and Vegetable Stew

November 12, 2018

nlhartie

ketogenic diet Low carb high fat Recipes No Comments

This is a classic dish that I love when the weather gets cold. I add tons of vegetables to make a hearty and delicious one pot meal.

Lamb stew meat tends to be fatty, so I like to buy 2 pounds for 4 servings to be on the safe side, because after trimming the fat off, I usually end up with a pound and a half and the meat shrinks when cooked.

I buy pasture raised meat, as it is more humane and tastes better than animals raised in confinement.

These are the vegetables I used, you can add others, or omit any. This recipe can be used for beef stew as well.

I used homemade beef bone broth, but chicken bone broth is also delicious. If you don’t want to make your own, buy organic, free range bone broth for superior flavor than ordinary store bought.

This is low carb, but if you want to “cheat”, nothing beat a warm baguette with butter to dip into the gravy. Just saying…

Lamb Stew

Serves 4

1 ½-2 pounds lamb stew meat, excess fat removed

2-3 cups chicken bone stock or beef bone stock

1 cup Red wine (optional)

3 tablespoons almond flour

Salt & pepper

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, chopped

1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped coarsely

Handful peas

Avocado or extra virgin olive oil

½ cauliflower head, cut into small pieces

2 zucchinis, spiralized

Parsley, chopped

Heat oil on high in a cast iron dutch oven and brown lamb on all sides, in batches if needed. Add salt and pepper. Remove lamb. Sauté onion and garlic on medium low until softened, 10 minutes. Add flour and cook a few minutes, stirring constantly. Return meat to pot. Add stock and wine and bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Add carrots and cauliflower last 30 minutes and add kale last 15. Add spiralized zucchini add last minute.

1 ½-2 pounds lamb stew meat, excess fat removed

2 cups chicken or beef stock

1 cup Red wine (optional)

3 tablespoons almond flour

Salt & pepper

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, chopped

1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped coarsely

Handful peas

Avocado or extra virgin olive oil

½ cauliflower head, cut into small pieces

2 zucchinis, spiralized

Parsley, chopped

Heat oil on high in a cast iron dutch oven and brown lamb on all sides, in batches if needed. Add salt and pepper. Remove lamb. Sauté onion and garlic on medium low until softened, 10 minutes. Add flour and cook a few minutes, stirring constantly. Return meat to pot. Add stock and bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Add carrots and cauliflower last 30 minutes and add kale last 15. Add spiralized zucchini add last minute.

Freeze Stock Fast!

August 28, 2018

nlhartie

cooking tips No Comments

I make chicken bone stock year-round for my dogs and for my cooking. It takes hours to cook stock, but when it’s done, I want to cool it fast, put the stock into containers and freeze them. This pot of stock went from the stove to the freezer in under 15 minutes!

Quickly lowering the temperature of stocks, stews and soups when you want to refrigerate or freeze them is key to avoid spoilage. I put the pot of whatever I want to cool down in the sink with a stopper and add plenty of ice and cold water. Within minutes, the contents of the pot will be cool!

French Onion Soup with Bone Broth

August 20, 2018

nlhartie

ketogenic diet Low carb high fat Recipes No Comments

French Onion Soup with Bone Broth and Tomato Salad

Bone broth. Onions. Raw milk cheese. Put them together and magic happens…French Onion soup is a classic for a reason. Use the best ingredients for an unforgettable meal.

Beef bone broth recipe. If you cn’t make your own broth, organic, grass fed broth is available–but it won’t be as good as your own.

Traditionally, pieces of a baguette or croutons are placed in soup, but I omitted to make this low carb. However, if it’s a cheat day, serve with a hot baguette!

I served this with tomato salad with pickled onions.

French Onion Soup

Serves 4

6 large onions, thinly sliced

6 cups bone broth, preferably beef, but chicken or vegetable can be substituted

Coupled sprigs thyme

4 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

8 ounces cheese, preferably raw like Emmentaler and Swiss Gruyere, sliced

Heat a cast iron casserole or other sturdy pot on medium and melt butter. Add onions. Stirring occasionally, cook them slowly—you may want to lower temperature—until they slowly collapse and begin to brown, 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400. Add stock, thyme, salt and pepper and bring just to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes.

Ladle soup into portion sized bowls and place on a parchment lined sturdy baking sheet. Place cheese over soup and bake about 10 minutes, or until cheese melts.

Cooked onions for French onion soup. See how they meld into a mass?

Umami Beef Bone Stock

November 2, 2017

nlhartie

Low Fat Low Carb Diet Recipes No Comments

Bone stock is a big deal lately. Drinking broth is the newest health craze; there are many good nutrients found in the bones/connective tissue of animals that leech out into the broth when simmered for a long time, releasing healing compounds like collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine.

My dogs’ homeopathic vet agrees about the healthfulness of bones and recommends first a raw diet (bones ground up with meat) then cooked meat with bone broth. So all of us have the bone broth—I’ll drink some for the health benefits—but I really love how homemade stock elevates any dish you use it in to fine cuisine.

Bone broths are staples in the traditional diets of every culture and are the foundation of all fine food. That’s because bone broths are nutrient-dense, easy to digest, rich in umami taste and they boost healing.

The health benefits of bone soup are numerous; consuming bone broth, including beef, lamb, chicken fish and more, can:

Treat leaky gut syndrome
Overcome food intolerances and allergies
Improve and protect joint health
Improve elasticity and make you look younger
Boost immune system
Aids in detoxification

Bone broth contains:

19 essential and non-essential amino acids
Collagen/gelatin, which help form connective tissue
Nutrients that support digestive functions, immunity and brain health

You will want to use grass fed meat. I buy mine in Northern Westchester, at a Hemlock Hill Farm and was there last weekend, buying meaty beef bones.

Roast beef bones before simmering them make the stock richer.

I make a big batch of beef stock once a year or so and it’s enough to make French Onion soup, stews and other dishes that require beef stock; about 16 servings total. It is perfect to make on a rainy day or whenever you plan to spend the day at home. It doesn’t require much hands-on work, just a long cooking time. You can buy either meaty bones or bones and connective tissue with little meat; the meat will be so cooked that there is little flavor left and you probably won’t want to eat it. If you have dogs or cats, however, they would enjoy it.

The first meal I make with the stock is always French Onion soup. Made up of only a few ingredients, the soup is loaded with umami flavor from the stock and it is superb.

Beef Bone Stock

Preheat oven to 450

3 pounds meaty bones or 5 pounds bones.

2 onions, unpeeled and quartered

1 large carrot, quartered

2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

Bouquet garni

2 tablespoons unfiltered apple cider vinegar (helps leach out even more nutrients)

Put meat, onion and carrot into an oven proof container and bake one hour, turning occasionally.

Beef bones and veggies ready for stock pot

Put meat and vegetables in a stock pot and deglaze roasting pan with 2 cups of water, then add to stock pot. Add 3 1/2 quarts of water, the celery, apple cider and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 5 hours. Remove bones and vegetables and discard. Allow stock to cool. To hasten cooling, put pot in sink with drain plugged and add cold water and ice in sink. Freeze in containers or freezer Ziplocs; I freeze in quart-sized Ziplocs and partially defrost if I need less than 4 cups.

I’ll post French Onion soup recipe soon!