Bone 🦴Broth 🍲 To Break The Fast
Welcome to Gathered Tables.
This week our family chose to spend several days fasting.
Fasting has been practiced for centuries across cultures and faiths—not simply as a way to abstain from food, but as an opportunity to reset, reflect, and allow the body time to rest. While every person should approach fasting according to their own health needs, many people find that periods of fasting can support metabolic flexibility, encourage cellular cleanup (often referred to as autophagy), improve insulin sensitivity, and bring a greater appreciation for the foods that nourish us.
Today was the day we gathered back around the table.
After a water fast, I never want our first meal to overwhelm the body. Instead, I like to welcome digestion back gently with something deeply nourishing.
Bone broth.
There’s something incredibly comforting about a pot slowly simmering on the stove. It fills the entire home with the kind of aroma that makes everyone wander into the kitchen asking, “Is it ready yet?”
I save nearly every carcass that comes through our kitchen—chicken, turkey, beef, even fish. Nothing goes to waste if it can nourish us one more time.
Today, though, I wanted something extra rich.
I stopped by one of our local Middle Eastern markets to pick up marrow bones. I try to source halal meats whenever possible (we’ll talk much more about why another time), and I was lucky enough to find beautiful beef leg bones already cut for broth.
Why Bone Broth?
Bone broth has been treasured in kitchens around the world for generations.
Chicken bone broth tends to be lighter and incredibly soothing. It’s rich in collagen, gelatin, glycine, and minerals that support the gut lining, joints, skin, and overall recovery. It’s often my go-to when someone in the house isn’t feeling well.
Beef bone broth, especially when made with marrow bones, develops a deeper, richer flavor while providing collagen, amino acids like glycine and proline, gelatin, and minerals released from the bones during the long simmer. Marrow also contributes healthy fats that create an incredibly satisfying broth.
Neither is “better” than the other—I keep both in our freezer throughout the year because each has its place.
Today’s broth was intentionally simple.
No elaborate herbs.
No complicated seasoning.
Just good ingredients doing what they’ve always done.
Today’s Beef Bone Broth
Ingredients
Beef marrow bones (cut into sections)
1 whole onion
2 large carrots
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 whole garlic head (about 8 cloves), peeled
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Celtic sea salt
Whole black peppercorns
4 quarts filtered water
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Roast the beef bones for about 30 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.
Roughly chop the onion and carrots, peel the garlic cloves, then add everything to a large stockpot with the roasted bones.
Pour in 4 quarts of filtered water, add the apple cider vinegar, a generous pinch of Celtic sea salt, and a handful of whole black peppercorns.
Bring everything to a gentle boil before immediately reducing it to the lowest simmer.
The men requested a very simple broth today, so that’s exactly what they received.
Sometimes the simplest recipes become the ones we remember most.
As it simmered, the entire house slowed down.
The conversations became quieter.
The kitchen became warmer.
And somehow, the first bowl after a fast always reminds me that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be healing.
This is the kind of meal that nourishes far more than our bodies.
Until next time,
Arrica
“Home isn’t something you find. It’s something you create.”
