Despite it being the beginning of June, we are still having cloudy, rainy weather. This day called for a pot of chili. Here's what I started with:
pinto beans (already sprouted and cooked in bone broth)
good quality beer
hot peppers (these were frozen from our garden last year!)
fresh garlic
organic canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauce (yes, I know cans are no goodski, but I wanted tomatoes in my chili and this will have to do)
whole onion
chili powder
grass fed ground beef
grass fed cow liver and heart
Now, before you get all, 'EW! that's gross!', Let me remind you that I'm sure you've eaten numerous beef (not to mention pig and poultry) parts in various processed meat products. You just didn't know it was there or rather maybe refused to acknowledge that it was there. And I assure you that it wasn't coming from a healthy, grass fed cow. You think those big processing plants want to waste anything? Probably not. I'm thinking all those 'undesirable at the grocery store' parts get throw in a grinder and Voila! you have hot dogs, bologna, ect... Don't ask me for a source on that info - it's just a wild guess. ;)
So WHY am I sneaking organ meats into our food. Because it's damn good for you, that's why! Here's a great link to see why liver tops the charts in nutrient dense food.
If you've been reading the last few posts you'll see that I'm still struggling with the liver taste. I've come to the conclusion that I just HATE the taste of liver and nothing is going to change that. I gave it an earnest try, really I did. Not that I want to give up on consuming it. It just needs to not taste the slightest bit like liver. I've found the best way to do this is to add it to ground beef dishes. So, once I get a full sized liver or heart I cut it up into big chunks. Then I freeze the chunks and take them out one at a time to use in dishes. This time I used two pieces of liver and one piece of heart. I knew that the amount of chili and the seasonings would hold this amount of organ meat fine without tasting it.
I cut the big pieces into small pieces while still somewhat frozen. Then I just grind them in my food processor. This poor thing. It's one of those small ones that you can get for 20 bucks. I have to do my processing in batches and more than once I was convinced I had killed it. Soon I'm sure, very soon.
So yeah, pureed organ meats. Not too appetizing, I know. I do this quickly and clean the evidence quickly so no one will come into the kitchen and see what I'm doing - less they end up refusing the meal. Then I can put it in my cast iron skillet with some tallow, lard, coconut oil and a chopped onion. This cooks up and looks like ground beef.
I cook the ground beef after that and then all the ingredients go into the crockpot. I'm sure I threw in some sea salt, pepper, cumin, parsley, maybe a few other things. Just kept adding and tasting until it was just right. Let that simmer all day long.
Top with some avocado and serve up. Do you think they know they are eating beef liver and heart? Nah.
