A tavola per favore! Dimmi! 
Alora,
a basic, wonderful, nutritious ingredient for winter food and the
cold-season is .... bone broth! Not powder broth, but, ideally, real
broth, homemade, i.e. from chicken. My body loves it every once in a
while, especially when we move into winter!
Today, I made Mediterranean-style vegetarian bean stew..... (here's a secret about beans: you have to soak them overnight, and I soaked them for 2 nights; then, you boil them just in water for 6-8 hours..... this slow procedure sets the nutrients free and makes them easily digestible for our bodies.... what a wonderful protein food with lots of fiber!)
Other than the tomatoes that I had canned, I added
- coconut oil,
- onions,
- zucchini,
- fresh garlic,
- 1-2 bay leaves,
- sweet red pepper,
- salt, pepper, a tiny bit of hot pepper powder,
- coconut aminos,
- the prepared beans,
- and I let it simmer slowly. There's great beauty and bounty in doing things slowly, with adoration for all the fun ingredients.
- I added the thick broth that had waited in the fridge (bone broth gets thick when I cools down, and that's actually a great sign that you have a really great broth).
Bone broth is anti-inflammatory and a total immune system booster! I remember my grandma in Berlin going to the butcher and buying a great soup bone. She came home and was proud!
What a beautiful thing, to be proud of the food we acquire! I'm so grateful today for her showing me that space, teaching me about bone soup and the wonderfulness of home-made food, which I then adopted for my living.
You can find so many recipes, online, for making your own bone broth. I like to use chicken. You can freeze the broth, for later use. When you need an immune system booster, or when the earth cycles shift into winter, there's a nutritious element that you can add to your diet. (It is also a culinary secret for any grand soups or sauces.)
And
the element of gratitude for each plant and creature, each person
involved, the earth, sun and stars and everything that contributed adds
yet another dimension... And friends who bring me organic tomatoes to
can, when my plants didn't do so well! 
Ah, the Beauty of all that! Here's to the Beauty we are being with our homes! What can we gift to the earth?
Bon appetit!
