Whether you are an athlete looking for an edge or a mother of five looking for a quick and healthy meal, bone broths provide a high concentration of nutrition: amino acids, collagen, and bio-available mineral content. Bone broth has been noted to help with gut health and digestion, skin and joint repair, and to assist recovery from illness and injury.

Bonafide bone broths can be used simply as a drink to sip, as base for smoothies and sauces, or as a traditional broth for soups. The broth is delivered frozen in a cooler and needs to be moved to freezer storage immediately upon receipt of delivery. Bonafide broths are slow cooked in small batches for 24-48 hours depending on the type of broth, and then are frozen to preserve all the nutritious benefits.

After delivery there are two preferred methods for thawing the broth:

• From frozen: Simply thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours and then heat over medium heat until you reach a simmer. Placing the bag out on the counter to thaw is not recommended.
• Faster method: Place your frozen broth in sealed in plastic bag, in a bowl warm water for 10 to 15 minutes. Next heat over medium heat until you reach a simmer.

The broth is packaged in 24 ounce BPA free bags. The broths contain 12-14 grams of protein per 8oz (one cup) serving depending on type of broth (beef or chicken). The broths contain no artificial flavors, colors, MSG, flavor additives, and no sugar.

We prepared bone broth as a hot drink, in a pasta recipe, in brown rice, and in a traditional hot soup recipe with vegetables and meat. We found our favorite preparation was in the soup recipe. The broths provide an excellent, flavorful, rich, and nutritious base for many meal preparations. The texture of the broth is a bit thicker than other store bought beef or chicken broths. There is a noticeable density and richness to the broth which leads to its satiating factors.

Vegetable Soup with Chicken Bone Broth

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of bone broth
• 4-6 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1 cups freshly chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• ½ cup chopped red onions
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Lightly saute onions in oil.
2. Add vegetable to saute for a few minutes.
3. Add broth.
4. Add seasoning.
5. Cook 1 ½-2 hours on a slow simmer.
6. Add coconut milk to finish.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Traditional Beef Stew with Bone Broth

Ingredients:

• 4 cups bone broth
• 2 lbs grass fed and grass finished stewing beef
• 4-6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup freshly chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1 cup cubed sweet potatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup full fat cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Lightly saute onions in oil.
2. Add vegetable to saute for a few minutes.
3. Add beef to brown edges not cooking all the way.
4. Add broth.
5. Add seasoning.
6. Cook 1 ½ -2 hours on a slow simmer until potatoes are soft.
7. Add cream to finish.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.

Editors Notes:

This product is perishable and delivered frozen in a cooler. The product will need to be frozen immediately after receipt of delivery and you have to make sure that you are available for delivery in a timely manner.

Make something delicious with your bone broth:

Paleo Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs and Chicken

The post Drinkable Nourishment: Bonafide Organic Bone Broth appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

That brings me to Next Organics, a brand of snack foods from Tropical Valley Foods. The mission of this company is to provide organic foods that are grown in an environmentally responsible way. You have to love that. I recently got to try three of their dark chocolate products, although they offer a wide variety of foods beyond this. Here are individual reviews of the three I tried.

Dark Chocolate Bananas

I’m not a huge fan of dried fruit. It’s usually laden with sugar and way too sweet. It’s more like candy. That said, these dark chocolate bananas were delicious. The bananas were not like banana chips, but rather soft and coated with a generous layer of dark chocolate. As dried fruit covered in chocolate goes, this also only has 9 grams of sugar for every 1.8 grams of fiber, which isn’t terrible. It did, however, have the highest saturated fat content of all three of these products, but I can tell you that I couldn’t have cared less while I ate them.

Dark Chocolate Almonds

In addition to loving chocolate, I also love almonds, so this one was an instant knock out of the park. Somehow they tasted deliciously salty to me, despite being very low in sodium. I don’t know if it was magic or what, but it put a smile on my face. These had 12 grams of sugar for every 4 grams of fiber, which is the highest fiber content for all three, but also the most sugar. These also had the least amount of saturated fat out of each, despite having the highest fat content. Thanks to the almonds, you get some good fats in a very tasty snack.

Dark Chocolate Pretzels

These were heaven. I don’t even like pretzels, but these were phenomenal. I have a method for food reviews, which involves saving some for while I write so that the review can be as accurate as possible, but I’ll be honest – these were gone a while ago. I couldn’t help myself. These had the most salt of all three products, but that’s not saying much at 42 mgs. They also had the most carbs, just edging out the bananas, but sported the least amount of sugar and a sugar-to- fiber ratio comparable to the almonds. Considering it’s chocolate covered pretzels, they aren’t terrible for you.

Now let me say, I started off this review indicating that I love chocolate, so perhaps my review seems biased. However, I don’t typically eat chocolate covered foods like fruit or pretzels because I find them to be typically of poor quality and not even remotely worth the extra calories. Next Organics, on the other hand, has a product line that is not only of the highest quality, but beyond delicious. Make no mistake, these are sweet snacks, but if you have a sweet tooth that you can’t help but indulge from time to time, you’d be doing yourself a favor to make Next Organics your first and only stop.

A final few notes:

• Finding the prices and how to order is pretty confusing on the site, but the products are actually available at a variety of online vendors for a variety of prices, so do some poking around before you buy.
• Also, I see that they offer jerky. I am very curious to see what these guys can do with jerky, which I think is awesome for athletes. I wonder if they want that reviewed, too? I wouldn’t be mad if I had that opportunity. Hint, hint.

Next Organics products are available online:

Dark Chocolate Bananas are $55.75 for twelve 4 oz bags or $5.59 per individual bag.

Dark Chocolate Almonds are $54.61 for twelve 4 oz bag or $5.59 per individual bag.

Dark Chocolate Pretzels are $60.37 for twelve 4 oz bags or $5.59 per individual bag.

The post Product Review: Next Organic Dark Chocolate Covered Snacks appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A few days ago we shared the story of Sarah and Andrew, creators of the healthy and delicious Squarebar. Today I wanted to share a bit more about the product itself. Sarah and Andrew were kind enough to send me three bars to sample, and that’s all I needed to say that this is not your average snack bar.

Squarebar comes in three flavors: Cocoa Crunch, Cocoa Almond, and Cocoa Coconut. I had a really hard time deciding which was my favorite, but in the end I am a huge fan of coconut, so I think the Cocoa Coconut came out on top.

With all three bars I was also impressed with the addition of subtle flavors that add to the taste and make the bars truly unique. For example, the Cocoa Almond has a slight hint of cinnamon that really rounded out the flavor. If you can’t decide which one to try, you can purchase a combo pack to try each flavor out for yourself.

During our conversation, Sarah told me about the ingredients that make up the Squarebar. Here’s a quick rundown of what Sarah had to say about the two most important ingredients:

• Coconut: Squarebars contain both coconut oil and coconut nectar. “We love coconut oil…it’s like our cure-all. We use it for everything in our household! So yeah, we really love it. It has the lauric acid in it, and the only other place you can get that is breast milk. It’s so good for you.” The coconut nectar also gives a unique taste that complements each flavor in a different way.
• Brown Rice Concentrate: “The reason why we picked brown rice protein is because it does have a complete amino acid profile. Brown rice itself doesn’t, but they use these enzymes – it’s actually a really cool process – to separate the carbohydrate from the protein, and then it comes with a complete amino acid. So it’s really good for athletes, pre- or post-workout.” Sarah and Andrew also chose brown rice because it’s not one of the common GMO crops.

And then there’s the list of what’s not in a Squarebar:

• Sugar Alcohols: “A lot of people are wanting these high-protein, sugar-free products but they’re full of sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols are mainly coming from GMO corn, and they’re not good for you. A lot of people have stomach problems and bloating after eating them.”
• Animal Products: Squarebar is also vegan-certified and contains no animal products.
• GMOs: As discussed in our interview, Squarebar has been Non-GMO Project verified since the get-go.
• Gluten: Sarah follows a gluten-free diet herself, and during our interview she discussed how challenging it can be to go gluten-free. “Gluten is in everything, so that’s one of the things that’s harder to stop, but I would say it’s probably the biggest.”

In her article “My Top 5 Protein Bars For You and the Planet,” fellow Breaking Muscle contributor Heidi George describes the Squarebar: “Their bars are perfect for a late morning or afternoon snack to tide you over until your next meal and are most effective when devoured in three bites!”

Although it is quite tempting to eat them in three bites, that doesn’t mean you’ll be hungry an hour later. One of the things that impressed me most about Squarebar is how satisfying it was. Unlike other snack bars that are loaded with processed ingredients and cause a sugar crash, not to mention bloating and discomfort, eating a Squarebar provides just the right balance of sweetness and sustenance.

“We wanted to make something that was balanced between the good fat, low glycemic sugar, and protein so that it’s actually satisfying…it’s been so amazing to have people come back and tell us, ‘It’s so nice, you feel so good after eating it and you’re not hungry any more!’ That’s the whole point of eating a snack, so that’s what we were really trying to do.”

You can find Squarebar at various health food stores or a box of 12 at Amazon.

The post Product Review: Squarebar appeared first on Breaking Muscle.