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Healing Soup
by
Kami McBride

Soup can be medicinal and immune boosting


Everybody knows that soup is the cure for when you are down. It is warm, easy to digest, and you can fill it with lots of immune boosting herbs and spices. Making soup with bone marrow stock is more than a mood cure; it enhances your immune system and provides you with easy to assimilate minerals. The marrow inside the bones contains nutrients that feed your bone marrow. When your bone marrow is nourished, you create healthier immune cells and can better fight off colds and flu.
   
Bone marrow soup stock is not only a great winter food, but is one of the best traditional foods for recuperation and rejuvenation. If you have just had a baby, drink two cups of bone marrow broth a day for several months. It is also a very beneficial food for recovery from illness, surgery, and fatigue.
   
When you add an acidic ingredient to your stock, it helps to leech the minerals from the bones, which is why most bone marrow soup recipes include wine, vinegar or lemon juice.
   
The following recipe is for a medicinal chicken bone marrow soup filled with herbs. This recipe can be made using any bones as long as they are organic. I make soup stock with lamb bones, chicken bones, or turkey carcass. When making your soup stock, I recommend making a double batch so you can freeze some to have on hand for the next soup you make.
 
Bone Marrow Soup Stock
1 whole organic chicken carcass (with some of the meat left on it) OR 3 raw chicken legs and thighs
12 cups water
1 entire bulb of garlic
5 sticks astragalus
3 medium slices of fresh ginger
3 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh or dried thyme
Juice of 2 lemons

1) If you are using raw chicken bones instead of the carcass, cut the chicken leg bones into three pieces. Make these cuts through the bones; the idea is to expose the marrow inside the leg bones.

2) Put the cut up leg pieces and or the chicken carcass into the water. Add all ingredients, bring this to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 4-8 hours.

3) Let cool & skim off some of the fat.

4) Strain everything out of the liquid through a strainer--except for large bones if you are going to make a fresh soup now. If you are going to freeze the stock, remove everything, including the large bones. The liquid is your bone marrow soup stock.

Healing Winter Soup
5 cups bone marrow soup stock
4 tablespoons ghee
5 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
3 slices of fresh ginger
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons of various herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory
1 large piece of seaweed (kombu or wakame)
1 tablespoon paprika
2 onions or leeks
1 cup chopped seasonal root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, parsnip
3 chopped celery stalks
1/2 cup rice or two red potatoes
1 cup fresh chopped leafy greens such as chard, kale, beet greens

1) Sauté the garlic, onions, savory herbs, and root vegetables in ghee and 1/2 cup soup stock.

2) When vegetables are a little soft, add the rice or potato, and the seaweed, ginger, paprika, salt and the rest of the soup stock. At this point you could also add a few fresh pieces of chicken if you choose. Let everything simmer on low for one hour and then enjoy.

3) Right before eating, add fresh greens such as chopped chard, beet greens, parsley, or kale.



Kami McBride teaches classes in herbal medicine and women's health and is the author of Herbal Beginnings. For more information visit www.livingawareness.com.


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Dr. Andrew Weil on Eating for Optimal Health
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