One Simple Way to Use Food As Preventative Medicine, NOW
A recipe + two upcoming classes parents won't want to miss!
Hello dear friends!
While the Fall Equinox marks the turning from green forests to gold-dappled landscapes…
It also feels like the herald of common colds. Does it not!?
That’s precisely why NOW is the time to use food as preventative medicine.
Food and herbs are ancient, revered allies for health and healing.
When I brought a copy of Seasonal Family Almanac to friends in Treviso, Italy this summer, it inspired a rich conversation around the ways their mother’s and grandmother’s taught them to prevent and heal illness through food, often using a recipe handed down for generations.
One food rose to the top as a medicinal staple in all of our kitchens: brodo.
Homemade broth (recipe below) is a powerhouse of immune-boosting nutrition.
✓ Warm, cozy vibes
✓ Hydrating electrolytes like calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium
✓ Minerals that help regulate nerve and muscle functioning
✓ Gelatin to help heal and seal the gut, essential for a robust immune system
✓ Amino acids, which can reduce inflammation and support immune system function
✓ Essential vitamins and minerals, such as zinc, B vitamins, protein, and antioxidants
✓ Collagen, glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin for joint health support
If I hear my kids’ friends have stayed home from school, I make brodo. If I hear one of my kids sniffling, I serve brodo.
I also give a defrosted jar of brodo to prenatal and postpartum mothers, and friends who are sick.
Brodo is simply saved bones (chicken, pork or beef) submerged and brewed in water with a bit of salt, peppercorns, and vegetable scraps from garlic, onions, celery, carrots, and other bits like shiitake stems. You can add additional immune-boosters like herbs, turmeric, ginger, burdock, and apple cider vinegar (which helps extract more nutrients from the bones).
Yes, you can buy broth, but homemade broth is FAR tastier, more potent, and much less expensive. Plus, you’ll have the satisfaction of turning “waste” into delicious, medicinal food.
My favorite way to prepare broth for my children is the same way my mother did for me: Brodo con Stelline (broth with little star pasta), with Parmigiano Reggiano sprinkled over top.
This soup is excellent when they’re healthy or sick!
If I really want to be sure they get lots of broth in their bodies, I serve it with croutons or a big slab of bread for soaking up the broth.
But, my kids don’t always want to eat soup, whether it has stars in it or not!
So sometimes, as a mother, you have to be SNEAKY. You have to “hide” broth in other foods.
Last night, Cora and I did a LIVE cooking class on Instagram where I showed one of my favorite ways to hide broth in Creamy, Cheesy Polenta. (Shop for the ingredients from the list in the caption and cook-a-long with us!)
I’ll be including this recipe in the October Meal Plan for paid subscribers - dropping next Thursday - with an additional, EASY recipe for medicinal “sprinkles” you can add to any dish.
I’m excited to share two additional, upcoming events where you can join me in learning some of my favorite tricks for boosting the medicinal value of your meals, while preparing dinner with ease and joy!
FREE Masterclass Stress Free Family Meals
Oct. 2, Wednesday ⎹ 2 PM EST ⎹ 8 PM CET
Food can also be medicinal when it offers joy, confidence, calm, and connection. In this workshop with prenatal/postpartum expert Emily Gold and family dietician Sofie Di Niet, we’ll guide you through 3 steps to building healthier, happier connections to food and family meals. The replay will be available to anyone who registers as well as paid subscribers.
Cooking Healthy Meals Your Kids Will Actually Eat
Oct. 13, Sunday ⎹ 1:30 - 3 PM ⎹ LIMITED SPACE!
Join me for an interactive cooking demo where you can learn tricks for boosting meals for your family, and sample them before heading home with the recipes to try them yourself. Paid subscribers will have access to the replay!
I hope you’ll join me for one of these fun, informative upcoming events, and at the very least, join me in sipping a warm cup of broth.
Begrudgingly pulling on wool socks,
♡ Emma
EASY SCRAPS AND BONES BROTH
Yield: 6 Quarts ⎹ Prep time: 5 min ⎹ Inactive Cook time: 8-16 hours ⎹ Level: Easy
NOTES: You can decrease cooking time with an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. I make a very large batch and freeze the stock to have on hand when I need it. Keep a large one or two-gallon ziplock bag in the freezer for adding bones and vegetable scraps when you have them. Once the bag is full, make stock!
Ingredients
1 roasted chicken carcass
3 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 onion, any kind, peeled and quartered
About 2 carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 celery ribs, cut into 3-inch pieces
Vegetable scraps (see Notes)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
Optional immune boosters
One 1- to 2-inch piece fresh turmeric, peeled
One 1- to 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
1⁄4 cup coarsely chopped fresh, peeled burdock (or 1 Tbsp dried burdock pieces)
1⁄2 cup dried wild mushrooms
Instructions
In an 8-qt stockpot, combine the chicken carcass, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, vegetable scraps, if using, apple cider vinegar, if using, peppercorns, and optional immune boosters. Cover with 4 to 6 qt of cold water.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately turn the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 8 to 16 hours. When the stock is a caramel color and fragrant, it’s done, but the longer it simmers, the more flavorful and concentrated it will be.
If you go to bed in the middle of your brew, turn it off and leave it covered. In the morning the stock will be warm. Bring it back to a boil for at least 10 minutes and then simmer until done.
Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pot, or glass measuring cup with a spout. You can discard or compost the solids.
Pour the stock into qt-sized jars (a wide-mouth funnel is helpful), leaving 1 inch of headspace between the surface of the liquid and rim of the jar. Seal loosely until cool, then secure tightly.
Cook with the stock immediately (seasoning as needed with salt) or cool before storing in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Defrost stock in the refrigerator. You can skim off the solid yellow fat or melt it into the stock when reheating.
Saving to read later! Looooove homemade brodo!!
I've been under the weather with a jam-packed weekend that doesn't allow for much rest so I've been living on broths and brodo style soups this week. It's wild how I can almost feel the sick drain out of me as I drink it, and feel virtually restored for the one to two hours afterwards, so I know that each day It's making me better and better.