Since we started my Whole 30 and my five year old daughter’s Paleo diet January 1…we have been trying to get more nutrient dense organ meats (offal) into our diet for healing purposes.  Not that it’s at all bad for the rest of the family either.  Problem being…everyone hates liver (including me).   They can usually sniff it out a mile away.  I have been playing around with some of our suppers, etc. to see how I can sneak it in UNDER THE RADAR.  Here is a great article from The Paleo Mom on why everyone should eat more organ meats.

I pay close attention to sourcing grass fed/pastured/organic as much as possible when dealing with organ meats.  We have had good luck getting beef liver and heart upon request from our favorite farmer, so if you have one, check with them first.

I recently placed my first order to US Wellness Meats and got a stash:  beef heart, duck livers, lamb kidney and beef kidney (and some fantastic sugar free Whole 30 compliant beef and pork bacon – bacon makes me HAPPY).  I was really pleased with the quality, shipping method and speed of shipping.  It is a bit expensive, and you do have to place a minimum order of $75 to order.  So I strategically shopped.  (I am not at all disputing WHY it is expensive, just noting that it is.  As with anything, you get what you pay for and the quality is excellent!).

The chicken livers shown below are from Whole Foods.

I’ll list a few recipes in order of trickery, from least to greatest. 🙂  Sneaky, sneaky mom.

Duck Liver Pate:

I loved this.  I have been trying to eat bit at least a few days a week.  My girls were OK with it, my son not so much.  Very low on the level of trickery of children…it’s pretty much blatant liver.  But it tastes good.

1 lb poultry livers (I used a package of duck livers from US Wellness Meats, and a whole container of chicken livers as shown above.)

1/4 c. bacon grease and or lard (I used a combo of the two)

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 handful fresh parsley

salt, rosemary and thyme to taste

Saute everything in a large frying pan until thoroughly cooked.  Process in food processor until smooth.  Easy peasy.  I served this with raw snap peas and baby carrots.   The bacon grease totally makes it.  Doesn’t bacon make everything better???

 

Hopped Up Meatballs:

2 pounds of ground beef

random miscellaneous veggies (I used carrots, leeks and kale, as much or as little as your want.  I have no formula!)

1 pkg organ meat (I used 1 lamb kidney from US Wellness Meats for this. You could use whatever you want.  I didn’t put alot in because I didn’t want to take chances with refusals to eat supper.  You could always add more if you wanted.)

Salt and pepper to taste

Puree veggies and organ meat in food processor.  Mix well into ground beef in large bowl.  Form meat mixture in to meatballs, and fry up in a large pan.

I was almost found out on this one.  My littlest hollered “It tastes like liver!”  I hate lying, and wasn’t about to lie to her about it…but then she promptly changed her mind, and chowed down.  No one else was the wiser.

 

Veggie Meatloaf:

I did this post awhile back about grain-free veggie meatloaf.  I added a 1 lamb kidney – and again pureed all the veggies and kidney in the food processor and added to the meat.  I added a couple of tablespoons of homemade Herbamare seasoning to mine for some extra flavor.  Good stuff.  I made sweet potato fries to go with this, and it was really good!  Not even a suspicion on what was in this one. 🙂

 

Enjoy!  Coming soon…Whole 30 update!

Heather