How Do You Eat This Stuff, Anyway?!

see bottom of post for ingredients..

This one is kind of a quickie. I'm going to get back to the "pregnancy interventions" series later this week, but I thought that it might be helpful to give some tips on HOW to include some "sacred foods" from these traditional cultures into your preconception or pregnancy diet. Not all of us are ready to jump into liver and onions; I know that I wasn't!!

It's okay to go slow, but including at least some of these foods can only be helpful to your body and to your baby. And don't forget Dad! Cultures that prized these foods also included the father in the preconception period; he was also expected to eat liberally of whatever food was prized in fertility for his particular area. I'm going to start with homemade bone broth. Broth is incredibly nutritious and healing, and may even be palatable if you are coping with morning sickness in your pregnancy. Please keep in mind that the quality of bones is important; healthy animals will produce a more nutrient-rich, tasty broth. Buy local or pastured as much as possible, especially if you will be using the bones.

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Homemade Bone Broth the Easy Way

I make broth in a crockpot every week or two. Here's what I do.  

• Save your chicken bones (the best quality you can get, local or free range is best) from dinners, or from a chicken that you have roasted. At the end of a week or two, toss them in your crockpot. Save the pan drippings from cooking the chicken also, if you remember!
  

• Add veggie scraps from the week. Onions (and skins), parsnips, carrots, garlic, and celery are some good choices.
  
• Toss in a splash of apple cider vinegar, and enough filtered water to just cover the bones and vegetables.
• Turn crockpot on low and simmer for 12-24 hours.

You can stop there and filter big parts out and store it, but I go a few steps further, which I find makes it more likely that we will actually eat it.

• Strain out the liquid using a metal strainer or cheesecloth (or swaddling blanket...whatever!) and strain into a pot that you can put on the stove.

• Turn on the heat and simmer until the broth is reduced by 1/2 at least.
  
• Let the now concentrated broth cool (it should look basically like jello) and pour into ice cube trays. After they are frozen, transfer to another container for storage, like the picture below.
  

I store these in a container in the freezer, where they will last way longer than it will take you to use them! My 4 year old likes to eat them just like this!

Now you have broth cubes that you can easily use in many different ways. Just add salt when you do for extra tastiness. Here are some ways that I use the broth cubes.

•  Cooking veggies in a pan with grass-fed butter. I toss in a broth cube and a bit of water and salt and steam for a few minutes
• Making a pan sauce. After cooking meat (or veggies, really), remove the meat and keep the heat, but lower. Deglaze the pan with wine, water, or some kind of alcohol suited to the protein. Add broth cube, little bit of water, and salt and bring back to a simmer. Serve with the protein or veggies.
• Smoothies! Add a broth cube to whatever fruit or green smoothie you are feeling like you want to eat. You probably won't even taste the chicken-ness. haha.
• Popsicles. Yes, you can add broth organic juice or blended fruit popsicles. Add an egg yolk for good measure; you won't regret it :)
• Throw in 2 or three cubes with white or brown rice. Only reduce the water by a few tablespoons; otherwise cook as usual.
  

There are some of the ways that I incorporate broth into our diet. I hope that you find these suggestions helpful. Next time, Liver!!

PS. Want to know what's in those frozen "candies" that I make for the kids from the top of the article? Blueberries, frozen raw liver, egg yolk, broth cube, and a squeeze of lemon juice. More about that next time.