An excellent way to increase nutrient value into your meals is to have some bone broth on standby.  I usually make mine own using leftover chicken carcasses (from a nice roast dinner!).

I put the whole leftover carcass in a large crockpot, add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a couple of onions (chopped in half), a handful of garlic cloves (crushed up), three carrots (cut in half length ways), leftover broccoli stalks (when we eat broccoli, the big stalk goes straight into the freezer, not the bin), and any other leftover vegetables in the fridge. I then use a good quality water, top up the pot so all the ingredients are covered, then add in a heap of fresh parsley (and any other herbs you have to hand), a teaspoon of quality sea salt, 3-4 whole peppercorns and some turmeric.  If I don’t have fresh turmeric to hand, I put in half a teaspoon of ground turmeric.

The reality is, you can use any vegetables for your bone stock.  The thrift-monster inside of me, loves to use up everything in my fridge. So if I have excess veggies, then I freeze them so that when I go to make my broth from my leftover roast chook, I have all the veggies ready. 

Once you have everything you want in your crock pot, bring to the boil.  Skim off any impure reside from the top (that’s the scum that may form from any impurities).  I then turn down the stove and leave to cook from 3-4 hours to 6 hours.  I know many recipes recommend that bone broth is cooked for a long, long period to extract the most beneficial nutritional value. I prefer to keep my bone broth cooking times a little more manageable, however, if I do decide to cook for long, then I place everything into a slow cooker and cook for 24hours.

Once your cooking time has expired, drain the broth from the spent vegetables and carcass.  Use the back of a big spoon to press all the veggies etc to maximise the volume of bone broth.  Discard the veggies and carcass.

Once the broth has cooled, place in freezer containers (I usually try for 500ml per portion, it’s easier for recipes etc).  Then use as needed!  I use my bone broth for risottos, for homemade gravy, for soups, for a delicious nutritious drink when I am feeling under the weather.

Quick and easy chicken and vegetable soup idea:

Defrosted and heat your broth straight out of the freezer into a saucepan.  Once warm add in some shredded kale, broccoli, spring onions, finely chopped carrot and some leftover cooked chicken.  Optional – add in some rice noodles Cook for 10 minutes and within 15 mins I had a fresh soup, full of vitamins and minerals, hydrating and comforting that is a quick option.

Give the recipe a try! Your health will thank you for it.

Emma Manning Clinical Nutritionist.