How to make Delicious Rich Nutritious Stock

Throw out the bouillon cubes!  Better'n Bouillon is not the best!  The most delicious sauces and soups come from real homemade stock.  "But Jaye Anne," you say, "making homemade stock is a lot of work! And it's expensive! And how can I have real stock at a moment's notice... that's just ludicrous."

Oh do I have some exciting news for you!   But first...

My mother-in-law loves to feed my daughter.  Anything she will eat goes on her plate (she is in those, um, selective toddler years).  One day I came to pick her up and she was eating ramen noodles.  She was loving them!  To be fair, I love ramen noodles.  So salty, and extremely delicious with a generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper (or as my brother Nathan calls it, cai-yenne purperr).  So I joined the feeding-my-daughter-ramen party (again, selective baby; mommy wants her to eat!).

One fine day, I looked at the ingredient list and BEHOLD! First ingredient was salt, second ingredient was Monosodium Glutamate.  MSG!! A known neurotoxin!  To my baby!  Right then and there I vowed not to give her that flavoring packet and instead provide her with a soup base that was full of vitamins and minerals, and would improve her protein absorption.  Enter bone broths.

Bone broths are not only nutritious and more delicious than food products, they are not as difficult to make and keep as one would expect.  I will start with chicken (since that is the easiest one) and we will talk about others later.  Also, don't be put off by the chicken feet.  It is said that this is where Jewish chicken soup gets its magic...

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

simmering the chicken carcass

Ingredients:

One whole chicken
1/2 cup vinegar of any type
2 onions, quartered, skins left on
1 bunch celery, rinsed and roughly chopped, including tops and bottom
1 bunch parsley
about 6 cloves garlic, cut in half and skin left on
2 chicken feet (optional)
Filtered water (tons--probably around 20+cups)
Sea Salt (try pink Himalayan) and pepper

Place chicken on a roasting pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake in a 350-degree oven about 1 hour or until juices run clear.  Pick the meat off the chicken and save for a casserole or chicken soup or some other delicious food.   If you are starting with a carcass, you can skip this step.

Put all picked bones in a large stock pot.  Pour vinegar over bones and add just enough water to cover them.  Let sit for 1/2 an hour.

Add more water to fill the pot (leave at least an inch from the top) and put on medium heat.  It may take awhile to come to a simmer.

Skim off any foam that rises to the top.  The foam will produce off flavors and make your broth not as tasty. 

After skimming, add vegetables except parsley.  Let simmer, covered 12-24 hours.  The burner should be hot enough that there are bubbles coming up from the bottom, but not so hot that the bubbles push stuff around much.
10 minutes before you turn off the stock, add chopped parsley.
Turn off burner and strain bones and veggies out.
You can go through the bones once again and pick out any more meat to be used for soup (it's pretty much tasteless unless it's in a soup)
Add salt to taste.

This soup has tons of minerals in it with the added benefit of improving your protein absorption and usage, due to the gelatin in it.
Now let's talk about the money.
One chicken: about $6.  This is not necessarily fair because you are getting a meal or two out of the meat itself.  You would have thrown the bones away anyway.
celery: $2
parsley: $1
onions, garlic, water and salt: I'm going to go with about $2 total.
So 20+ cups broth costs about $10 if you don't use the chicken meat.  If you use the chicken meat for something else, then about $4.
Bouillon costs at least that much for 20+ cubes.

Now this discussion on money is useless if it is going to go bad in your fridge (it will keep about a week in the refrigerator).  Luckily, broth is easily frozen into whatever increments you desire or require for your meal.  If you don't have much space in your freezer, you can boil it down to a gel, refrigerate it like Jello, and cut it into pieces and freeze them individually or in ice cube trays.  Now there's a cube that's good for you!

Pepitas and Sunflower seeds

I'm always looking for a good snack.  I love these because they are crunchy, salty, and leave no mess!  And I can grab them any time!


Adapted from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions

Ingredients:
1 c. Hulled sunflower seeds
1 c. Hulled pumpkin seeds
Filtered water
Sea salt

Place the seeds in an airtight container that holds at least 4 cups.  Add seeds and fill to the top with water.
Add sea salt and mix until the water is extremely salty. 
Close lid and leave 24 hours.  Water may get murky and seeds will expand.
Strain the seeds and rinse.  Place on a baking sheet and bake at 150 for 6-12 hours or until the seeds are completely dry and crunchy again.  Flip them around during the process to ensure even drying.
Store in an airtight container.

Middle Eastern-style Kale Soup

Generally speaking, I like to have soup for lunch every day.  My rules are this: 1. It must always start with a rich broth made from the bones of an animal (NO exceptions!)  2.  It must have a whole grain and a legume, and 3. It must have some kind of green thrown in at the last minute.  The most important rule, though, is that it must be creative and invented on the spot. 

Because of my rules, I like to have pre-cut veggies on hand, and soaked beans and grains available to me at any time.  Also because of my rules, I end up with some pretty interesting soups that I never could have planned out.

For example, today's soup came from the simple addition of Tahini as a thickener.  I decided on this thickener because I heard it can be anti-fungal, and I am on a quest to get rid of this particular hand fungus.  I believe I got it while working in a laboratory over a year ago and have been on a low/no-sugar diet ever since the beginning of the year.  It's been improving, though I am always looking for some way to bolster my anti-fungus regimen. 

But, as with my soup cooking, I digress.  I will leave more details of that story for later.  So I was on an anti-fungal quest with my tahini, and once I put it in, I realized where in the world I was going with this.  The smell of sesame seeds and beans begged for some cumin and turmeric.  I finished it off with some ginger and, of course, the obligatory greens.  The result was spicy and peppery; a dense soup that offered tartness and earthiness.  A resounding success!

Here is my soup for today:

2 cups broth (I used turkey)
2 T dry rice
2 T dried split peas
1 T tahini
1 cup kale
2 T Juicer pulp from this recipe (or 1 T grated ginger)
3 shakes cumin
2 shakes turmeric
1 shake paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
1 T whey (or buttermilk)
a few sprigs pickled kale
a sprinkling of pepitas and sunflower seeds

In a 2-qt saucepan, heat the broth with the rice and peas.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer until they are tender.
Add tahini and stir until thickened. 
Add juicer pulp or ginger and stir.
Shake in spices and add kale.  Remove from heat, stir, and cover a few minutes until kale is soft and buttery.
Pour in bowl and drizzle whey or buttermilk in.  Garnish with pickled kale and seeds.
Enjoy!


Serves one very happy person.

Delicious Cornbread

Today I made cornbread.  Paula Deen inspired me via an old episode that played on an obscure country music channel.  About a year and a half ago, I made the most delectable cornbread that anyone of my friends and family had ever tasted.  I brought it to the Fourth of July party we were going to.  I just practiced over three days and perfected it.  It was salty and sweet; moist yet light.  Just the right amount of cheese and some delightful corn niblets.  And it was gluten-free!  I made two batches of it, and because there was bacon fat in the batter, my friend's dog ate both of them at the party.  Then, like an idiot, I did not write it down.  I thought to myself, "I will definitely have no trouble remembering what I did.  I'm that good."  Pride comes before destruction, indeed.  I have not been able to reproduce that bread quite as well since.  Every time it's either too dry or under-seasoned, or not enough batter or who the heck knows what.

Until today.  And today I made the closest version yet--though not quite perfect.  It had moisture, texture, sweetness, and saltiness. It was light but not crumbly.  Maybe soon I will get it to Forth of July deliciousness...

2 cups cornmeal
1.5 cups whole wheat flour (or oat flour for gluten-free)
1 cup plum jam (or some other type of jam)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup creme fraiche (you can use sour cream)
1/2 cup lassi  or yogurt
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
4 Tablespoons bacon fat or butter, divided
1 cup milk (roughly... depends on your weather)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt

Soak cornmeal in creme fraiche, lassi, and cream for 10 minutes.  Mixture should resemble play-doh
Heat 2 tablespoons of fat or butter in a cast iron pan.  Heat oven to 350.
mix salt, flour, cheese, and baking soda in a separate bowl.  Add to cornmeal mixture
Add remaining fat, cheese, jam, and sugar and mix.
Add enough milk to allow mix to be wet but not runny.  It should resemble thick pancake batter.
Pour into heated greased cast iron pan and bake 25-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Summer Peach Chicken with spicy mixed grains

My mom always says I could cook a meal with roadkill and a few things from the pantry.  While I have never actually cooked roadkill (or any other strange protein for that matter), I do enjoy the journey of making a dish as I am creating it.  Hopefully I will be better at remembering them now.

Summer Peach Chicken
This is a light chicken dish I came up with after being inspired by an episode of Rachael Ray.  Luckily, I had everything I needed on hand.  I like to pre-portion my meats into freezer bags for easy marinading and freezing.  I love mixing the sweet with the spicy, and this is a great way to kick off the summer!

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1/2 peach, sliced
1 TBSP coconut oil
1/2 c white wine
For the marinade:
2 tsp cumin
2 shakes turmeric
2-3 shakes cayenne pepper
1 TBSP parsley
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp pepper
1 TBSP molasses
1/4 c sugar

Pound chicken breasts until thin and tender.  Mix all marinade ingredients and chicken.  Set aside 30 mins.
Heat oil on medium-high in a pan and place breasts in.  Sear one side 2-3 minutes and then turn.  Add diced onion and peach slices and brown them while the second side cooks. Add wine and reduce heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 5-10 minutes.

 Spicy Mixed Grains
This dish is about exploring new grains.  I am not a carb-lover.  I generally tend to find them to be bland and mushy.  I love the varied textures of this dish that come from the mixed grains and fruit and vegetables.  A few words on nutrition: quinoa is a delicious seed that is the only vegetable source of complete, high-quality protein.  It provides a nice crunch even when it is fully cooked.

Coconut oil, though higher in saturated fats than olive oil, still has a ton of unsaturated fat, and the saturated fat in coconut oil is an improvement from animal saturated fats.  I won't get into the details, but they are also alleged to be anti-microbial in nature. Just make sure you buy extra-virgin, and from a reputable source.  If it still makes you uncomfortable, then go ahead and use your extra-virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:
 3 c chicken broth
1 c white wine
1 TBSP molasses
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 shakes cayenne pepper
1/2 peach, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 TBSP coconut oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 c Farro
1/4 c Wheat Berries
1/4 c Quinoa
1/2 c rice
1/2 c lentils

In a 2-quart saucepan, put chicken broth, cinnamon stick, molasses, peach and cayenne pepper.  Simmer 10-15 minutes.
In a dry, hot pan, toast the Farro, wheat berries, quinoa, and rice until it looks a little dark and smells nutty (about 5 minutes).  The quinoa will pop sporadically.  Keep turning the grains so they cook evenly.  push the grains to one side and add the oil with the onion and celery.  Mix together and add the wine.  Reduce heat and cook until wine is nearly gone.
Remove cinnamon stick from the pot and pour contents of the pan (grains and veggies) into the chicken stock.  Add the lentils.
Cook until water is mostly absorbed and each type of grain is tender.  Remove from heat and mix in tomato.  Serve.


I had this with a mixed salad with a few peaches and balsamic vinegar on top.  It was so good we were fighting over the leftovers for lunch!

My yummy milkshake

So yes, I am nursing two babies now and I need all the nutrients and calories I can get (especially protein and fat!).  I am particularly loving eating in the Nourishing Traditions way.  This is my favorite milkshake.  I have it at least twice a day.  It is important that the milk be non-homogenized at least (raw is preferable if you can get it!), and the eggs cage-free.  Cooking the eggs kills the enzymes that help us digest foods, particularly fats and cholesterol.  Also, the yolk makes the shake super creamy.

My milkshake:

1 raw egg
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup half and half
1 scoop vanilla whey protein
1/4 cup kefir

Place all ingredients in a shaker, or if you are fancy, a blender with some ice.

Shake or blend away and enjoy!

It's so yummy, IMO