Nourishing Pastured Chicken Stew

Lightly creamy and fully flavorful, this chicken stew boasts nutrition from bone broth, hearty veggies and squash puree.

Having grown up in a Slavic home, the idea of spreading liver pate on sour rye bread was totally normal and at any given time, you could find kegs upon kegs of sauerkraut in the cellar. Broth was a healing staple and every family had some type of soup, daily.  For most, it was simply a matter of what was financially feasible to them at the moment and being a low-cost meal, soup was an ideal choice.

It wasn’t until we moved to the states that traditional foods were replaced with industrial conveniences.  My mom learned to use the microwave, made pancakes using Bisquick, and swapped bouillon cubes for bone broth.  In her defense, she did what she knew was best for us at that moment.  She had three small children, a growing pregnant belly, and was immersed into a completely new world, new culture and new language.  She was taking more than full credits at a local college to learn the new language and transfer her engineering degree to US equivalent.  It was simply a matter of convenience survival for our family.

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But those times are behind us.  And if you’re new to the idea of traditional foods, it is never too late to start.

I recently received Renee Kohley’s (founder of Raising Generation Nourished) new cookbook  Nourished Beginnings Baby Food: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Infants, Toddlers, and Beyond Inspired by Ancient Wisdom and Traditional Foods.  As I reviewed the book, I realized this cookbook wasn’t just complete with wonderfully nourishing recipes.  It also served as a resource for new parents and parents new to traditional foods.

Nourished Beginnings Baby Food is based on the traditional dietary recommendations that include healing foods such as fermented veggies, mineral rich bone broth, and healthy fats.  Some of the recipes, you may be familiar with, others may be new to you, but they are all meals created to nourish your family, at whatever stage that is.  Speaking of which, even though the title contains baby, it is by no means limited to the littles only.  My teen boys thoroughly enjoyed this chicken stew (scroll down for recipe) and I look forward to making Nourishing Raw Cocoa Avocado Pudding (page 172).

Renee’s conversational and personal tone speaks of her own desire to nourish her children and shares that passion with others.  She shares tips and tricks to feed hungry mouths faster, easier, cheaper but most importantly nutritiously.  Her desire is to help you start your baby on a nutrient-dense journey by preparing their first foods from scratch with healthy whole-food ingredients.

A Note from Renee

“I want to bring this to your home.  You will create broad taste palates in your little ones so that they don’t bat an eye at being served a plate of meat and vegetables, and light up at their favorite meal.  You can make meal time a delight instead of a chore.  And most importantly, you will be nourishing your family.  We have a generation of children who have full plates but their bodies are literally starving for nutrients of real food that will make their bodies function right.  You can raise a different generation, one that knows where its food comes from, and how it affects the body, one that has healed guts, functioning minds and solid health.”

An Overview

Nourished Beginnings Baby Food has 4 main parts.

Part 1: Simple Starts for Baby – vegetable purees, meat & fish purees, fruit purees, drinks, simple soups for babies, toddlers and the whole family.

Part 2: Nourishing Meal Ideas for the Whole Family & Babies Over 6-9 Months – breakfast, lunch & dinner as well as mineral-rich side dishes

Part 3: Transitioning into Toddlerhood – family breakfasts, lunches & dinners as well as occasional treats

Part 4: Traditional Staples – such as how to make nourishing slow cooker bone broth, coconut butter, a list of “friendly” fats to use in food prep and cooking, among other helps.

My Favorites

Cauliflower with Butter & Sea Salt 
Soft-Boiled Pastured Egg Yolk with Grated Liver & Sea Salt 
Buttered Bone Broth 
Squash Medley Soup 
Chicken “Zoodle” Soup
Simple & Quick Pan-Seared Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce
Garlic Buttered “Zoodles” 
Nutrient-Dense Soaked Oatmeal with Fruit 
Asian Stir-Fry with Rice 
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Berry Sauce Topping

As you can see, so much nutrition is found on the pages of Nourished Beginnings Baby Food.  Regardless of where you are in your food journey, start today.  Whether you grew up on traditional foods, then swayed towards conventional foods like I was or if your idea of broth has always been from cans or cubes, make small changes today to improve the health of you and your family.

In order for you to get a better feel for the book, Renee has generously granted permission to share this recipe with you, my dear readers.  I hope you’re nourished by it as much as we were. 

Nourishing Pastured Chicken Stew

Nourishing Pastured Chicken Stew

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Renee Kohley | Nourished Beginnings Baby Food

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Ingredients

• 2 acorn squashes*
• 2 medium onions , chopped
• 4 medium carrots , chopped
• 4 stalks celery , chopped
• 2 medium potatoes , chopped
• 1/3 cup healthy fat (butter, tallow, lard, coconut oil)
• sea salt to taste (my pick)
• 1 head garlic , about 8 cloves, minced
• 2 quarts chicken bone broth (make your own HERE)
• 2 cups cooked chicken , shredded
• 1/8 -1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (my pick)
• 1/4 - 1/2 lb fresh organic baby spinach**
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Put the acorn squashes in the oven on a baking sheet, whole, at 425 F degrees for 1 hour. When you take them out, cut them in half and let them cool to the touch while you start making the soup.
2. Saute the onion, carrot, celery and potatoes in the butter with a few big pinches of sea salt to bring out their juices and sweeten. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. While the veggies are cooking, scoop out the squash from the shell and puree the flesh in your processor of blender with a little of the bone broth to be sure it gets fully pureed.
4. Add the garlic to the pot and cook for a minute. Add the squash puree, bone broth, chicken and cayenne to the pot and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the spinach to wilt and then season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve the stew to baby on a spoon. If baby isn't handling bits of soft vegetables yet, you can puree his or her portion so it is smooth or semi-smooth.

Recipe Notes

Renee's Notes:
I like to thicken my stew with tapioca or sometimes white rice flour. Tapioca is grain-free flour made from the cassava root vegetable. It is safe for grain free diets for babies so you can use it if you have little ones under age 1. Use about 1/4 cup - stir it with a little water before adding to the soup pot, stirring it in the end with the spinach. If you tolerate grains and have toddlers that can as well, you can use white rice flour or sprouted brown rice flour. If you and your family tolerate gluten, you could use a sprouted wheat flour.
This recipe makes enough soup for my family for about three or so lunches or dinners. You can freeze leftover soup if you want, pack it up in school or work lunch thermoses the next day or serve it for the next day's meal.
Anya's Notes:
* I cooked acorn squash in my Instant Pot on manual 3 minutes with NPR 15 minutes.
** I used kale instead of spinach since I had that on hand.
***I did not add any flour as I found the soup to be thick enough with the squash puree.

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