One of the best parts of cooking a turkey over the holidays is the turkey bone broth you can make with the bones. Yes, save those bird bones no one wants because you’re going to want this broth for your next batch of Green Soup! This hearty broth will help your gut heal after all of the sweets, too.
If you’re asking yourself if you really want to be that person on Thanksgiving that shouts, “NO! Don’t throw out the bones, I want them!” Allow me to answer that question for you with an absolutely yes, be that person.
Sourcing Your Turkey
What’s the deal with pasture-raised? Most of the meat we eat in our home has been raised and processed with the utmost care in mind. This means they also contain higher levels of bio-available nutrients from being raised in natural, outdoor conditions. If you’re local to Houston or San Antonio, Texas Farm to Home delivers many farm to table meat and dairy products straight to your door. We’ve been utilizing his services for over three years now. Our turkey(s) will be delivered by him next week!
Every time I have a conversation with someone about nutrition, the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) is sure to come out of my mouth. I am not sure if anyone has every answered, “Yes,” when I ask if they have ever heard of the WAPF. Why does this so frequently come out of my mouth? Evidently, it’s been an invaluable resource I’ve grown to rely on when it comes to feeding myself and my family well. It’s past time I provide you with a Weston A. Price Foundation Overview. Shall we?
How Did I Learn About the Foundation?
Living in Northern California for five years following the final weeks of my pregnancy with my firstborn provided me with a slew of resources. It is only natural that the Weston A. Price Foundation practically fell into my lap, too. There was a local chapter that met monthly to potluck with real, homemade foods. In addition, they also sought out to learn about a relevant topic that changed each month.
I chose the above image here because it very perfectly portrays the feeling I would get when I would attend these meetings. I was back in time. An era where knowledge is shared openly and wisdom is passed down from older and wiser generations. Knowledge that was once passed down, and started slipping through the cracks at some point in the last few decades.
So, What is the Weston A. Price Foundation?
While the foundation covers a vast amount of topics, I think they describe their overall intentions best by how they explain their logo (pictured below). I can’t give you an adequate Weston A. Price Foundation Overview without this vital information, the heart of everything they share.
The Weston A. Price logo (a registered trademark of the Weston A. Price Foundation) superimposes three faces over the map of the world.
Reading from left to right, the first face is the broad face of someone who was nurtured with a nutrient-dense traditional diet, as were the traditional peoples of Alaska, Australia and the Pacific region, over which the face is positioned.
The left-hand face is the past. The middle face is the narrow face of someone brought up on industrialized food. It represents the present. The face is positioned over North America where these foods originated. The deleterious effects of these industrialized foods were first described by Dr. Weston Price whose name indicates to us that this legacy is truly the “price of the west,” the price cultures pay for western modernization.
The face on the right is the goal, the future–once again broad faces that come from nourishing diets. The face is superimposed on Europe and Africa, the ancestral homelands of many Americans. We must re-embrace traditional foods in order to restore nutrient-dense foods to our tables.
We don’t pass down the knowledge of nourishing foods anymore to our children and grandchildren. Raise your hand if you were raised on cereal, pasteurized milk, top ramen, and fish sticks. ✋🏼 (Obviously I ate more than that, too, like: boxed mac n cheese, “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter!” …the list goes on.)
I spend a lot of time investing in my calling within marriage and motherhood, reading and teaching myself new skills in the kitchen. Skills that I simply wasn’t raised on. You can, too.
Who Was Weston. A Price?
Dr. Weston A. Price was a dentist who lived from 1870-1948.
In his search for the causes of dental decay and physical degeneration that he observed in his dental practice, he turned from test tubes and microscopes to unstudied evidence among human beings. Dr. Price sought the factors responsible for fine teeth among the people who had them- the isolated “primitives.”
Price’s studies include various different primitive cultures. These studies lead to the conclusion that the vast majority of physical issues find their roots in nutritional deficiencies.
When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated indigenous peoples he found that they provided at least four times the calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats.
In addition to resources like I’ve mentioned above, I always recommend the books that the founder of the WAPF has provided. This wouldn’t be a Weston A. Price Foundation Overview if I didn’t mention these vital resources:
“This well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods contains a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Sally Fallon dispels the myths of the current low-fat fad in this practical, entertaining guide to a can-do diet that is both nutritious and delicious.”
I resource this book regularly to this day. Some of the best meals I’ve ever made have come from the inspirations in the recipes provided. This is a must-have book whether you are just beginning this journey or have been on this path for a while.
“The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care makes the principles of traditional nutrition available to modern parents. The book provides holistic advice for pregnancy and newborn interventions, vaccinations, breastfeeding and child development, as well as a compendium of natural treatments for childhood illnesses, from autism to whooping cough. The work of Rudulf Steiner supports the book’s emphasis on the child’s spiritual requirement for imaginative play.”
Equipped with the only formula option I would ever be comfortable making, this is another invaluable resource that every family should read through. If you ever plan to or already have children, add this to your bookshelf.
The above books are the two I have, but you can find those along with many more incredible books by visiting my Amazon Storefront here.
This post contains some affiliate links, meaning when you click on some of the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission which supports my efforts to share with you in this space the products and resources I used and love most.
Getting Passed the Overwhelmed
Look, I understand that there is a lot pining for your attention, including on the WAPF website itself. From raw milk, cod liver oil, and soy to dentistry, women’s health, and vaccinations it can be a lot to take in. I hope this overview provides you a more simplistic view of starting somewhere and growing at your own pace.
Start with something affordable and relatively simple like Making Chicken Bone Broth at Home using my free, printable recipe. Instructions on how to freeze it with little space included!
This is a huge reason I am working very hard to finish my Restore Your Home Checklist. I want you to restore your home to health and wellness. I want you to know how to combat modern conveniences that may be interfering with that goal. Newsletter subscribers will get the resource first when it’s available. Get on the list right here if you’re not already and share this with a friend who might be interested too!
Please feel free to reach out to me or comment below anytime if there are any specific questions you have about this Weston A. Price Foundation Overview!
This healthy soup recipe is the veggie-packed meal our entire family enjoys, ages 1-33 (very kiddo approved). Being one of the healthiest, nutrient-dense dish I feed my family, I’m glad it’s also absolutely delicious. You will never guess it’s loaded with greens, or contains something unusual in it like fennel. With a base of homemade bone broth, this is a great go-to soup. Especially if you’re feeling unwell or just want to boost your immune system!
This post contains affiliate links, meaning when you click on some of the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission which supports my efforts to share with you in this space the products and resources I used and love most.
Adapting this recipe from one I found by Kay Chun, I have been making it for years now, always slightly different from the original. Making a larger batch at a time allows me to have a stock of this in the freezer. I always make this using homemade chicken bone broth (or turkey broth, if I have it from the holidays). I have also tried various mixes of different greens over the years, it’s very versatile. My version of “Creamy Fennel & Greens Soup” goes by “Green Soup” by our kiddos. Because we eat this soup on a regular basis, I especially love it when we need a “meatless” night. When we are fighting off an illness, it is especially handy. This is because it is so packed with nutrients from the greens and bone broth.
Trying New Ingredients
The real MVP of this recipe is most certainly the fennel. Before I learned to cook this healthy soup recipe, I hadn’t ever used fennel in my kitchen. I’m grateful it’s more readily available to find organic then it was when I first moved to Texas. Don’t be intimidated by this unusual veggie, if it’s new for you! It cuts much like an onion, without causing fire in your eye balls, and has a lovely fresh flavor. If you’re new to fennel, just trust me and wait until you try this soup before you give it “the look”!
The next most important part of this meal, the greens. We’re talking about 2 pounds of dark, leafy greens (like collards, swiss chard, kale, beet greens, mustard greens, etc.) PLUS 6 cups of baby spinach. For example, I’m using a mixture of fresh, local greens that include swiss chard and mustard green.
The final most important component to this soup is definitely the bone broth. I was able to fill up my freezer with 14 quarts of turkey broth after Thanksgiving this year. We had two 15-lb birds that I made broth from. I usually make this with homemade chicken bone broth, though. Both are great! I am always especially grateful for the way I freeze my broth. This is because I usually forget to pull it out ahead of time. It’s nice to be able to quickly thaw homemade frozen broth. I’m able to do that with these flattened bags in the sink full of water while I prep the rest of the soup.
Handy Tools
I use the Food Saver to bag my broth. It is so helpful to freeze broth this way! I don’t use the vacuum seal feature, just the seal. There’s a way you can just lay your bag flat and get out most of the air bubbles to make it work. Freeze flat and you’re good to go!
Another tool I utilize to prep the greens is this nifty green and herb stripper. This one is just like the one I have!
Getting Everything Ready
I really like to get all of my ingredients out when I start making something, and then I get to prepping before I start to cook. I pull out my butter and oil, salt and pepper, and all of the produce and broth, and then get to chopping! Prepping properly is a major help with this healthy soup recipe.
The trick to making this soup smooth is having the right tools. An emulsifying blender really gets the job done. While you can use a blender that doesn’t necessarily emulsify, you’ll end up with a slightly chunky version of this soup. A perfectly smooth result comes from using a blender like a Vitamix. This purchase has been well worth the price tag, and it’s used for various things almost every single day. If you’ve found a blender with as much reliability and power as the Vitamix with a glass container, please send it my way!
A Note on Cutting Onions
Cutting fennel might seem intimidating if you’re new to it, but they really are simple to cut. I make them about the same size as my onions, and they go into the recipe all together so I start with them and then move on to the onion.
A few tricks I like to use while cutting onions to minimize burning eyes are:
After slicing off ends and peeling the whole onion, immediately rinsing with cold water (setting aside the paper towel used for drying!)
Breathing out of my mouth instead of my nose while cutting (this really helps if you’re conscious of it the whole time)
Slicing quickly and efficiently and then laying the used paper towel over the chopped onions while I wait to use them
Time to Start Cooking the Healthy Soup
Next, I get my butter and oil heated in my pot over medium heat. This isn’t my largest stock pot, but it’s the large size that comes in typical cooking sets. It is the perfect size for this recipe. A bit of foam is produced from the butter. It subsides after a few moments of simmering (careful not to brown your butter). After that, you can add your fennel and onion.
After giving it a little stir, I add my salt and pepper. I never actually measure the pepper here, because I use a fresh grinder in my kitchen and just eye-ball it. I think I did about 50 turns from my Kirkland pepper grinder. While this is simmering until soft and slightly browned, I start stripping my greens from their tough stems.
That little tool makes this seriously take about 5 minutes. From there, I can roughly chop up my greens and dump them into the pot, followed up by bone broth. I usually give it a nice stir at this point. Your pot will be super full until the veggies cook down. I always turn my heat up to get the broth simmering at this point. Simmer, covered, for about 20-30 minutes until the greens are nice and soft. DO NOT add your spinach at this point, this is only for the tougher greens. Add your spinach for only about a minute of simmering as it wilts super quickly.
Once the soup is boiling, I drop the heat back down to low/medium and keep it covered for the remaining roughly 20 minutes. While that is simmering, you can clean up the counter and dishes and chop fennel fonds from the ends, if desired. I literally NEVER do this, but wanted to make the final result pretty for you so I did this time. It didn’t make any difference in the taste of the soup once ready. Just a pretty garnish if you choose!
Time to Blend the Healthy Soup
Before you know it, the soup is ready to wilt your spinach, and from there it moves on to my favorite step, the blender!
Exercising caution is obviously very important for this next step, as your soup is VERY hot. You’ll be pouring it back and forth between the blender and a bowl to blend in batches. It only takes about 30 seconds-1 minute per batch to get it all blended up nicely in the Vitamix. I always pull out a bowl to dump my batches into temporarily while it’s all blending.
Back into the stockpot it goes to await the delicious lemon juice and heavy cream that completes this lovely dish (and sometimes a little more salt, if needed).
Don’t Forget the Nourishing Bread to go with Your Healthy Soup Recipe
Our favorite way to compliment this healthy soup recipe is with a fresh loaf of sprouted whole grain sourdough einkorn. I usually bake a loaf earlier in the day so it’s ready just in time to be ready with the soup. Always serve fresh bread with copious amounts of salted butter. I have been learning the art of sourdough bread making from Jovial, and their cookbook is full of delicious recipes like this Sprouted Country Loaf. Their website also provides incredibly helpful tutorials for you to start making bread at home, too!
There is a tempatation to add to this soup, I’m looking at you garlic lovers. But, just trust me when I say it’s extremely filling just as it is (when using actual bone broth, which is full of protein). We’ve tried adding sausage and rice in the past, and it’s just not right. It’s perfect just the way it is, I promise!
What is your favorite healthy soup recipe to make in your household? Share in the comments, I’d love to learn more recipes like this!
As a full-time mama and wife, I spend most of my time at home with my three boys and hubby. I’m a home-body, home-maker, and home-educator sharing truth in love. I’m so humbled you're here!
