Chicken Bone Broth

I absolutely LOVE that the importance of gut health is becoming so widely accepted and promoted in mainstream health and media circles. Why?

Because the health of our gut affects everything from our immune system to our skin and even our mental health!

Bone broth is a staple at our place all year round, but especially over Winter. 

It is liquid gold, like chicken soup on steroids and it's not only incredibly good for you but absolutely delicious.

It may take 24 hours to make but I promise you, it's worth the wait

I do a big batch in the slow cooker once a fortnight and then use it as the base for all my soups, casseroles and to poach my eggs in each morning #bestbreakfastever

I actually love the taste of it so if I'm not cooking with it, I might just have a small mug of broth each day, seasoned with a little sea salt. 

Thyme, Rosemary and Black Pepper oils are my favourites to use in chicken broth but things like Basil, Oregano or Marjoram are wonderful too. Use your imagination, you really can't go wrong!

24 hr SLOW COOKED BONE BROTH

1 doz/1kg organic chicken wings*

2.5 litres filtered water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

-

1 brown onion, quartered

1 head of garlic, halved horizontally

2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

2 carrots, roughly chopped

2 medium red chillies

-

2 drops each Rosemary, Thyme and Black Pepper essential oils (optional but awesome)


Place the chicken wings into the slow cooker, add the vinegar and cover with water. Leave to sit for 1hr.

After an hour, add the vegetables and turn the heat onto low. Cook for 24hrs.
Turn the heat off and leave to stand for 1 hr.

Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the chicken and vegetables and then strain the broth into a large glass jug.

Add the oils and stir to combine.

Place in the fridge overnight and it should turn to jelly! Or at least get a bit of a wobble. Remove the layer of fat on top if there is one but save it to cook with. Veggies fried up in a little chicken fat is AMAZING.

Pour (or spoon, depending on how thick the broth is) into small glass jars and store in the fridge for a day or so, or in the freezer for a couple of months.

* please only use organic chicken to make broth! The slow cooking extracts all the nutrients and collagen from the bones, but if you're using conventional chicken it will also extract any nasties.

If you want to eat the chicken, you need to remove the meat from the bones as soon as it's cooked, then return the bones to the pot for the remainder of the cooking time. Otherwise, after 24hrs it will be completely dry and tasteless. Trust me.

I hope this has inspired you to give making your own broth a go. It really is easy and the health benefits are incredible!

Susan xx

Sticky Slow-Cooked Pineapple Pulled Pork

I am a HUGE fan of slow-cooked meals.

Being able to get dinner prepped and out of the way in the morning is a brilliant time saver in our busy household, it doesn't heat up the kitchen like the oven does and bonus, slow-cooked meals taste amazing!

Our slow-cooker is used at least a few times a week, even in summer.

I do a batch of bone broth once a week, along with slow-roasted chicken, lamb chops and even stewed fruit.

This sticky pineapple pulled pork is the perfect slow-cooked meal for hot weather.

Pulled pork is wonderful on tortillas or baked potato/sweet potato with a zingy fresh coleslaw or with rice and steamed greens.

My version uses fresh pineapple to create a sticky but not overly sweet sauce that pairs beautifully with the pork.

For maximum flavour you can rub the pork with the honey and spices and leave in the fridge overnight to marinate. Honestly, I am not usually that organised and it's delicious even when freshly made in the morning.

We only have a pork a few times a year so it's a treat for us. Make sure you save the rind for crackling!

Sticky Slow-Cooked Pineapple Pulled Pork

1 x 2kg boneless pork shoulder
1 whole sweet pineapple
1 red onion
1 red chilli (uses as much or as little chilli as you like - 1 small chilli is good for my kids)
2 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs honey
3 ts cumin
3 ts oregano
3 ts pink salt
2 ts onion powder
2 ts garlic powder
1/2 ts cinnamon

Peel and roughly chop the pineapple and onion, and place them into the Thermomix or food processor along with the chilli and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker.

Remove the skin and fat from the pork using a very sharp knife, and either discard it or save for crackling.

Place the pork into a large baking dish.

Mix together the honey, spices and salt.

Rub the mixture over the pork until it is thoroughly coated.

Place the pork on top of the pineapple puree. Pop on the lid and cook on low for 8 hours.

Use 2 forks to pull the pork meat apart and mix through the sauce.

Do you have a slow cooker?

What was the last thing you made in it?

Chili with Beef, Chocolate and Pumpkin (SRC)

This month marks the last official month for Group D in the Secret Recipe Club. Group D has been my home within SRC since I started back in February 2013 so it feels a little strange to be moving on!  Next month I will be in Group C which posts on the third Monday of the month and I'm really excited to discover a whole new group of blogs and bloggers.

This month I was absolutely delighted to be assigned Lavender and Lovage by Karen, who is truly living the dream dividing her time between England and France. Karen's blog is absolutely beautiful and she has recipes for everything from simple home cooked favourites to regional specialities to fabulous breads and desserts.

I've had Karen's blog before and last time I chose to make her Saffron and Cardamom Sweet Buns which were so amazingly good my kids still talk about them! This time I wanted something seasonal and luckily Karen has some wonderful Autumn recipes to choose from.

I loved Karen's description of Autumn in Bonfire Chili with Beef, Chocolate and Pumpkin - she speaks of crisp misty mornings, crackling leaves, log fires, fireside suppers and hot chocolate. Where I live Autumn simply means that night time temperatures might finally slip into the teens but don't get too excited because it could still be 30 degrees during the day! I really do think I live on the wrong continent.

I initially planned on baking her Harvest Apple Cake which is a wonderfully simple apple sponge cake that would be equally good for afternoon tea or dessert. 

But whether it was from dreaming of being in a true northern hemisphere Autumn or just the fact the recipe sounded so intriguing, I ended up choosing to make the Bonfire Chili. I've never made a chili quite like this one with chocolate and pumpkin and when the weather actually turned cool and rainy it seemed it was meant to be.

I chose to make the chili in the slow cooker which I love doing at any time of the year but has become my default these days as it makes dinner time so much easier to have a meal sitting there ready to go. We served the chili with some plain rice but it would be equally delicious with corn chips and cheese.

It was a hearty and warming dish to have on a cool night and my Mr 7 cleaned his plate not once, not twice but three times! I've never used chocolate in a savoury recipe before although I know it's quite common in Mexico. The chocolate made the sauce much richer and more complex without being overly chocolate-y. My husband also gave it the thumbs up despite hating pumpkin with a passion and having to pick around it to get his serve.

Slow Cooked Beef Chili with Chocolate and Pumpkin
Adapted from Lavender and Lovage

1kg casserole beef, diced into large chunks
2 medium onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
500g pumpkin, diced the same size as the beef
1 small red chili, finely sliced
2 ts ground cumin
2 ts ground coriander
1 ts dried oregano
1/2 ts cinnamon
1/2 - 1 ts chili powder
500g tomato passata
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs coconut sugar
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans
70g dark chocolate (I used Green & Blacks 70%)
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into the slow cooker and mix well.

Cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve with rice.

Serves 6-8

Thank you Karen for a lovely recipe and a wonderful final month for Group D!

An InLinkz Link-up

Australia Day Slow Cooked Lamb

It just wouldn't be Australia Day without another awesome lamb ad. While it is certainly clever advertising and I imagine lamb sales are through the roof this time of year - the ads are always funny, irreverent and very Aussie. The latest one is online at We Love Our Lamb.

Keeping with tradition we are also having lamb this Australia Day. But rather than a roast or a bbq I decided to use the slow cooker, which makes even more sense given just how hot it has been lately.  Who wants to stand near a hot oven in Summer? Not me!

Having now cooked a lamb roast in the slow cooker I don't think I will do it any other way! Marinating overnight and then slow cooking for 9 hours produced the most juicy, tender and flavourful meat that was falling off the bone. You could literally eat it with a spoon (which my 2 year old did).

I used a 2.5kg leg of lamb which is plenty to feed a crowd but we will stretch it for 3 dinners for the 5 of us with leftovers each time for my husband's lunch. We served it with a Greek style salad today (no feta as most of us are dairy free), will have it in a wrap with coleslaw next time and then with a herbed quinoa salad after that. Yum! Cook once, eat three times. Love it.

Happy Australia Day!

Slow Cooked Greek Lamb
Adapted from Skinnymixers

1 x 2.5kg leg of lamb, bone in
1/4 cup water
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
2 tbs sweet paprika
2 heaped ts dried oregano
1 heaped ts dried rosemary
1 heaped ts dried basil
1 heaped ts dried mint
zest of 1 lemon
3 ts pink salt
1/2 cup chicken broth

Place the leg of lamb into the bowl of your slow cooker.

Place all remaining ingredients except the broth into the food processor and blitz for 30 seconds or until smooth (TMX 30 secs / SP 8).

Pour the mixture over the lamb and coat well.

Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

The next day, place the bowl into the slow cooker and add the chicken broth.

Cook on low for 9 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check the gravy for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Pull the meat off the bones into the gravy and slice roughly.

Serve with a fresh salad of tomatoes, cucumber and olives dressed with extra virgin olive oil.

Great for a crowd on Australia Day.

Winter Warmer - Beef, Bacon and Tomato Casserole

 I know our winters here don't really compare with the rest of the world in terms of low temperatures but jeez it's been cold for the past week! We've had an antarctic vortex which brought snow to the southern parts of Queensland and dropped the nighttime temperature to as low as 3 degrees where I am.

The thing is, I'm not made for cold weather and our house certainly isn't either. We don't have heaters or reverse cycle air-conditioning or electric blankets. All we can do is rug up and keep warm on the inside with lots of cups of tea and hearty, warming fare like this casserole.

I love my slow cooker even in summer but it winter it is a lifesaver. I had this beef, bacon and tomato casserole simmering along for a full 8 hours and the house smelt amazing. Served with some buttery mashed potato it was the perfect dinner for a cold winter's night.

Beef, Bacon and Tomato Casserole
Serves 6

1kg gravy beef or chuck casserole steak
3 rashers bacon
1 x 700ml bottle tomato passata
2 medium onions, diced
6 medium carrots, sliced into the 2 cm circles
2 ts dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 heaped ts homemade vegetable stock paste (optional)
2 tbs olive oil

Dice the beef into 4 cm pieces and fry off in batches in the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until browned on all sides.

Place the browned beef into the bowl of your slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients, stir, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Check for seasoning.

Serve with mashed potato and steamed greens.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

It's funny how tastes change. Up until a couple of years ago I had a major sweet tooth and really wasn't a fan of chilli. Now though, give me spicy food any day, and I can take or leave dessert (although I always have room for ice cream!).

In fact I'm getting hungry just thinking about this amazing pulled pork! And on a rainy cool day like today I'm wishing this is what we were having for dinner tonight.

This  is such an easy and budget-friendly recipe. While the pork shoulder may cost a bit it will feed an army and I tend to have all the other ingredients in the pantry already. You can add as much or as little chilli powder as you like or use fresh red chillies if you have them.

The house will smell amazing during the day and the end result is the most succulent, flavourful, amazing piece of meat. I like it served on a roll with a really fresh and zingy coleslaw to balance out the richness of the meat. It will be messy but it's so worth it!

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

1 x 1.5kg pork shoulder, skin and excess fat removed
1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
2 ts - 2tbs chili powder
1 tbs paprika
2 ts pepper
1 ts cumin seeds
2 ts salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar
3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs dijon mustard
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup homemade tomato ketchup
1 bay leaf

Combine all ingredients except the pork and bay leaf in the food processor and blitz until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Place the pork into your slow cooker, pour over the marinade mix and add the bay leaf. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

To serve - remove the pork from the slow cooker then pour the liquid into a saucepan. Bring the liquid to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until it has reduced by at least half.

Using 2 forks, pull the pork into shreds then add the meat to the reduced sauce and stir to combine.

Serve on top of a hot buttered roll with plenty of zingy coleslaw. Devour.

Slow Cooked Baked Beans

I'm loving my slow cooker at the moment. It's just so handy to get everything prepped in the morning so that come 5pm when the kids are ratty dinner's already made. And of course you get delicious cooking smells wafting through the house all day making it feel warm and cosy even when it's not.

The last time I made beans in the slow cooker we we having people over for brunch. I set them to go before I went to bed thinking how much time we would save in the morning if they were already done. What I didn't count on was being sick with gastro that night and honestly the smell of those beans while I was lying in bed trying not to throw up was almost enough to turn me off baked beans for life! Luckily I got over that.

The only problem this time was that some of the beans were still crunchy! After soaking overnight then 8 hours of cooking, how is that even possible? Anyway, next time I would soak and then par-cook the beans to guarantee tenderness. I have noted this in the recipe below.

The verdict? Packed with flavour and absolutely delicious. The perfect winter dinner or anytime brunch. We will definitely be making these again!

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

1 ham hock

375g dried four bean mix (or just cannelini beans)

500g mushrooms

2 onions

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tbs worcestershire sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

2 tins tomatoes

The night before, place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. 

The next morning, drain the beans and rinse them well. Place them in a large saucepan and cover with water. Cover the pot and bring to the boil. Boil uncovered for 15-20 minutes, scooping off any scum that rises to the surface. Drain and set aside. 

Finely dice the onions and chop the mushrooms into pieces roughly the same size as the beans. Place the onions, mushrooms and all remaining ingredients into the slow cooker along with 1 cup water. Stir to combine. Place the ham hock into the middle and squish it down so it's about half covered with the bean mix. Cover and turn the slow cooker on to auto. Leave for 8 hours.

Serve with toast and a little fresh parsley. Serves 8-10.