Keto Bone Broth. Chicken and Mushroom Soup

It is the time of the year where soups are very welcome and there is something comforting and cozy to having a fresh pot bubbling on the stove. In the Keto community 'Bone Broth' is all the rage. My Gran would be laughing so hard at this idea, in her day this was nothing special this was just how everyone made stock.  Using up leftover bones and veg to boil down and make a nutritious stock base for any number of soups and stews was a normal way of life. 

But we have heard there are so many health benefits now so it is very worth doing.  

Usually I would recommend using leftovers from something you have already cooked but always with an eye for a bargain I found a ready cooked chicken portion in my supermarket for a reduced price. This means I miss out on all the yummy juices from roasting but who am I to walk away from a bargain. 

I ate the legs for my dinner one night and then popped the breast and all the leftover bones into a pot of water to boil  

You can add any leftover veggies at this stage too, I just had some broccoli stalks so popped them in. Carrot tops are nice as are any herbs you fancy. I boiled this for about 12 hours
To be a 'proper' bone broth people often boil for much longer and add some apple cider vinegar which is supposed to take even more goodness out of the bones. 

I often find cooked chicken down in price in my local supermarket so its good to have ideas for different ways to use all the chicken.

If you just want a quick stock or to add extra flavour to the stock you have made there are all sorts of stock cubes and gels you could add (I added 1 of these just for more flavour) Check the label for minimum sugar and additives but so little is in there once it is spread out over the whole pot that it really wont spoil your diet . You can also buy ready made bone broth - but it is very expensive.

I strained the broth , discarding the bones and vegetables and shredding the chicken meat and setting the broth and chicken aside 

I also was lucky enough to find two punnets of mushrooms in reduced price so chopped them up, fried down with a little butter and 3 spring onions (scallions) until they were soft and the mushrooms were reduced in size. Lots of tasty liquid is released from the mushrooms which adds to the taste of the soup

Now return the stock and chicken meat to the pot and boil

You can enjoy it just like this. I made around 6 bowls so this roughly equates to 54p, 76KCals, 7g protein, 2.3g carb and 3.8g fat per bowl

But to up your game adding a drizzle of double (heavy) cream to your bowl ups the cals to 120 KCals and the fat to 9.2g without adding much carb or protein.