Eat With The Espinelis | 005
Nourishing Hot Cocoa
Today’s recipe has the potential to be simultaneously exciting and intimidating. Exciting because it’s two recipes in one and will be a way to nourish your bodies, and possibly intimidating because we’re using broth to make hot cocoa. But I promise you can make it to your liking and it is such a delight!
Bone broth is one of the most nourishing, beneficial foods to consume. It is packed full of nutrients and a wonderful source of vitamins and minerals (which people may be more depleted in than they realize). It’s one of the best sources of natural collagen, which helps our own bones and our skin. It is wonderful for gut health (the gut sometimes being called our “second brain”), it greatly supports our immune system, helps with detoxification and our metabolism, and overall is something worth including in your family’s diet, especially during the winter months.
Essentially you want a combination of bones, meat, veggies, and water. We also add apple cider vinegar to help draw minerals out of the bones. Below is the approximate recipe I follow each time, but it is never exact and will look different for each person. I make a batch every two weeks after saving up all the bones we’ve used over the weeks, including a whole chicken weekly. It is better to include certain less common body parts, such as feet, but I am unable to partake in that yet ;) Some people roast all the ingredients first, but I do not, as I need to keep this process as simple as possible to include in our family’s routine.
Ingredients:
For the bone broth:
▢ Leftover bones
▢ Filtered water (enough to cover everything)
▢ Leftover veggies (we typically have carrots, kale, spinach, and celery)
▢ Splash of apple cider vinegar (around 1-2 tablespoons)
▢ Leftover whole herbs (we typically have thyme, rosemary, sage, and basil)
▢ Salt to taste
▢ 1 lemon cut into four pieces
▢ 2 garlic cloves
▢ ½ onion cut in half
Recipe:
Place all bones into the bottom of a pressure cooker (or use a pot on the stove or a slow cooker; we use a pressure cooker for this).
Add the rest of the ingredients except for the water.
Now cover everything with filtered water, making sure not to go over the fill line.
Cook on high pressure for 4 hours. If you’re cooking on the stove or using a slow cooker, you can cook for up to 24 hours. We’ve heard there are benefits to this, but we’ve also heard some drawbacks, so it’s entirely up to you and what fits best in your rhythm.
Once it’s done cooking, let it cool.
Strain the broth into multiple containers. We keep one in the fridge, and others go straight to the freezer.
Enjoy it on its own, as stock in soups, stews, or any other meal that could use it, cook rice with the broth instead of water, or use it to create our next recipe: nourishing hot cocoa.
Now onto the luscious and nourishing hot cocoa!
The recipe for hot cocoa is inspired by Fallon’s Table. This drink is something that truly surprised me as I began making it and tweaking it to our likes. I really didn’t expect to come to enjoy it so much, and when I first made it, I actually didn’t love it. There were just a few ingredient adjustments that I needed to make to create something that I really loved, and that’s what I encourage you to do as well. Both of our kids enjoy this hot cocoa, especially our toddler, who woke up one day and decided he would be on a “carb only” diet from now on (haha, does anyone else know the struggle?). This is a very helpful way to get some very beneficial nutrients in. Along with bone broth, cacao is a very nutrient-dense food source and is absolutely delicious.
Ingredients:
For the hot cocoa (this recipe makes about 4 small cups):
▢ 2 cups milk
▢ ½ cup of bone broth (you can always include more if you desire)
▢ 2 scoops collagen
▢ 3 tablespoons of cacao powder (another ingredient you can adjust to your liking)
▢ 1 teaspoon ginger
▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
▢ 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Recipe:
Simply add all the ingredients to a pot and warm over medium heat until it’s, as my son would call it, “juuust right.” Enjoy topped with whipped cream, marshmallows, or additional cinnamon.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
What’s your favorite way of drinking hot cocoa?
Leave your answers in the comments section!
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