Bone Broth Berry Smoothie

Trust me.. This tastes really good!

Smoothies are great! They’re convenient, and small children love them.

I especially like them for helping my son with his constipation. Bone broth and berries are both good for moving things along.

This recipe is a great way of rehydrating and nourishing a sick child. (Note: for diarrhea, increase the banana and reduce the berries, skip any spinach, and use applesauce instead of raw apple).

You can also sneak ingredients your child doesn’t like into them, like a little cooked spinach (raw frozen spinach is unsafe to use without cooking), kale, zucchini. I sometimes add acacia fibers when Eytan is constipated. Don’t go overboard with the yucky stuff, though. Keep it delicious!

For tips on how to get your toddler to eat his vegetables without resorting to trickery, see my post here.

The secret to making this smoothie is to use very bland, fresh bone broth.

Method

Simply plop raw bones into a pot of water with a little vinegar (vinegar optional), bring to a boil, and immediately lower the heat to a slow bubbling simmer. Let cook all night (or, minimum 3-4 hours for beef / lamb bones, 2-3 hours for chicken bones, 45 minutes for fish bones), strain, refrigerate, and remove the layer of fat (the fat is delicious for broiling vegetables).

The resulting broth smells delicious and is full of gut-healthy electrolytes and nutrients. And it contains as much protein as your typical protein shake.

Keep it bland

When I prepare this broth to be used for a soup I add leftover bones from my freezer, onions, celery, parsnips, carrots, dried mushrooms, tomato paste, bay leaves, juniper berries, and cloves. Whatever I have on hand that can add flavor. For smoothies, though, you don’t need to add anything. I use my soupy-broth in smoothies too, but I don’t suggest it if your kid is picky.