Best kids drink for winter wellness- bone broth

My son just finished drinking his bone broth, willingly and happily! What is bone broth and how did you get him to drink it, you might ask!?

First, what is bone broth? It is made from slow-cooking (free-range and organic are best) bones for at least 24 hours from chicken, beef, turkey. I’ll add a recipe later on as I super charge mine with goji berries and vegetables- making it an amazing super food drink.

This is NOT store bought chicken broth as that doesn’t have any healing benefits.

Babies as young as 6 months can drink bone broth. The benefits are wide:

Bone Broth Benefits

• Healing for the gut and GI tract
• Heals the intestines to reduce or eliminate food allergies
• Allows greater protein and mineral absorption, which is helpful for kids who are dairy intolerant
• Lots of bone building minerals in the broth
• Boost for the overall immune system, as the gut is a center of our immunity
• Aids the adrenal glands. Which is wonderful for mom, as mom’s adrenal’s are very often low

Vitamins: Calcium, magnesium, boron, zinc, K2 in bone marrow, peptides (healing amino acids and natural antibiotics), cartilage, collagen, anti-infammatory substances, digestive and gut healing properties, omega-9s in skin and fat, iron, Vit B6, Vit B12. – BAM! That’s pretty great.

Making it yummy for kids: I add a 1/8 teaspoon of honey (only add honey if you child is over 1 yr old as babies should not eat honey) and a tablespoon of apple juice to 3 ounces of bone broth. Since the bone broth doesn’t taste like much on it’s own, he loves the honey/apple juice flavor. Honey is an amazing super food for immunity and overall wellness as well.

Recipe for super charged healing and immune boosting bone broth:

Recipe from this website. You will need:

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 1 T. apple cider vinegar
• Filtered water
• A crock pot/slow cooker or pot with a will fitted lid
• A fine metal sieve
• Optional – carrots, celery, goji berries

Beginner’s Bone Broth Method

1. Buy and take the meat off a rotisserie chicken (preferably organic and free range if you can find it). Eat the chicken meat in a tasty dish.
2. Place the remaining ‘frame’ of the chicken (the bones, skin, and cartilaginous bits) into a crock pot or pot.
3. Cover the bones with water, adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per chicken frame.
4. Add the carrot slices, celery slices and 2 heaping Tablespoons c goji berries (found in health food stores). This super charges the healing properties of the broth as each of those offer healing benefits of their own.
5. Cover and cook on low for around 24 hours or until the bones crumble when pinched.
6. Carefully strain the broth through a fine metal sieve and discard the bones.
7. Use the broth immediately, store in the fridge for about a week or freeze for future use in ice cube trays for quick defrosting. If saving for later, I prefer to concentrate my broth by  simmering it until it is half of its volume to save on space in my fridge or freezer.

How do I drink it?

Bone broth can be very simply consumed by sipping from a mug like tea. I usually suggest doing so 1-3 times per day for its therapeutic benefits. Beyond that, use your beautiful broth as the base for soups and sauces; to cook rice or quinoa or in any recipe that calls for stock. For my son I put it in a sippy cup or bottle with the apple juice and touch of honey (again, honey is only ok for kids over age 1).

Enjoy this nourishing, healing drink!

May you enjoy health and wellness all winter long.