While I’m not in favour of abusing the use of antibiotics, using them wisely (and sparingly) in order to stop the progress of acute disease can be valuable. However one of the unfortunate side effects is that antibiotic drugs are not selective in choosing which bacteria to kill – all the good bacterial colonies in the gut die along with the bad. Couple this with things like the oral contraceptive pill and medications (both do the same to the gut) and the outcome of severely compromised gut health can absolutely impact your hormones.  Because of that, i’m often asked of ways in which we can heal the gut.  This week is Antibiotics Awareness Week and I thought no better time than to feature a yummy bone broth recipe for you guys to help nourish the gut from within and help to repair the damage antibiotics and our lifestyles can have on our digestive system. Thanks to the extremely talented Cyndi O’Meara from Changing Habits for this yummy version of bone broth.

Chicken & Vegetable Bone broth

Ingredients
1 whole organic chicken or turkey
(Turkey adds a beautiful depth of flavor to the broth)
2 brown onions, quartered
1 Tablespoon Apple cider vinegar (ACV)
2 large rosemary sprigs
2 thyme sprigs
A few sage leaves
1 tsp Changing Habits Seaweed Salt
1 tbsp Changing Habits Dulse Flakes
Vegetables of your choice, I add whatever I have at the time such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, pumpkin etc…
Garlic to your taste, I like heaps so usually add a few cloves at the end.

Method

1. Brown the chicken all over in a saucepan large enough for the chicken and enough water to cover it later on.

2. Add the onions and salt, brown slightly in the fat from the chicken.

3. Add enough filtered water and ACV to cover the chicken (this may need topping up if it reduces heavily).

4. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer with the lid on.

5. Cook on a simmer for 3 hours. Once the meat is cooked, take all of the meat off the bones and set aside for later and put in the fridge.

6. Add the bones back to the stock and cook the bones for up to 12 hours.

7. Once almost ready, strain the broth and remove the bones (I eat the ends of the chicken bones for additional nutrition).

8. Put the liquid broth back onto the stove and add your chosen vegetables herbs and spices and cook for 20-30 minutes or until cooked. At this point you can either leave it a chunky textured soup or blend for a smoother consistency.

9. In the last 2 minutes, add chopped garlic and the cooked meat from the fridge to re-heat.

10. Add additional seaweed salt and/or dulse flakes to taste if needed.

11. Serve and enjoy!
Enjoy a cup every day.

You can check out more from my favourite nutritionist and gorgeous friend, Cyndi O’Meara at Changing Habits here.