Bacon & Onions with Liver

This post can also be seen at Highbrow Paleo and Chowstalker!

I worked through some childhood trauma last week; I've had a grassfed beef liver in my freezer for... a year or so. Haunted by memories of "that nasty liver smell," it took awhile to get the nerve to cook the damn thing, but I finally did it. I want to love liver, really I do, but I think I'll have to settle for tolerating it; I pulled every trick out of my sleeve that I could, but I still can't say this was an enjoyable experience. Some of you actually enjoy liver though, so I will share my method.  Meh...

1/2 a liver (mine was a little under 1.5lbs., and I knew I wouldn't eat it all, so I just made half. I'm no scientist, but I'm not down with eating the filtering organs of sick animals; get a good grassfed one, it should still be pretty inexpensive)
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled, grease reserved
1 large onion
a few TBS of clarified butter
2 TBS arrowroot

1 head cauliflower, chopped into large chunks
1/3 cup broth
a few TBS heavy cream (optional)
a few TBS butter
Salt, pepper, & herbs to taste (I used herbes de provence)

A few hours before cooking time, slice liver into 1/2" slices, and soak in milk or lemon juice; they say this will diminish some of the liver flavor. Slice onion and cook in clarified butter on medium-low heat for about half an hour until the onions get a bit caramelized; add bacon and set aside.

At this point, heat broth in a saucepan over medium high heat, and add cauliflower; steam for about 6 or 7 minutes until you can easily poke with a fork. Once it is tender, add butter, cream and seasonings, and puree (great job for a stick blender if you have one.) While cauliflower is cooking, add bacon to the pan that the onions were cooking in, and heat up to medium-high. Dry off liver slices, and place in a baggie with arrowroot, toss to coat. Once pan is hot, add slices of liver, and cook for about a minute on each side; it will be brown on the outside, and pretty rare on the inside. I was amazed that there was NO SMELL! My mom is a great cook, but we have some, uhh, different ideas about how long to cook things; if you don't cook the hell out of the thing, you may be spare your loved ones from the liver-stank. Serve with plenty of bacon & onions, and choke it down!

Mmm bacon!  Eww liver!  So conflicted...

#prettygirlproblems

Katherine Heigl has caught some crap over the years for some stuff she has said in interviews; I myself do like her, and I admire that she speaks her mind, knowing she is exposing herself to scrutiny.

This kinda irks me.  Katherine Heigl is a little thicker than Jennifer Aniston, but is by no means overweight; why should we congratulate her for "accepting her body the way it is?"  Being so fortunate to look like her without having to do any work for of it is hardly something worthy of applause.  Also, I like food too!  I love all the food I eat; loving food and being careful about what you put in your body are NOT mutually exclusive. I'm so tired of people saying "oh, I like food too much" to eat healthy; what a big ol' BS copout.

Everyone has their insecurities, and kudos to her for speaking up about hers, and blah blah blah, but it struck a nerve with me regardless.  *shrug*

Wow, she is SO BRAVE for going out

in public looking like that.

Image courtesy of MSN Wonderwall

Probiotic Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

I guess I seem to be getting on a fermented foods kick; I've been reading a lot about how so many of us are lacking these foods in the diet, and I'm definitely one of them.  Cultured foods were a big part of traditional diets and have unfortunately been replaced with pasteurized, sanitized versions; it makes sense to me that our gut health is suffering for it.

I recently made some lactofermented mayo (which I am thrilled about because I am now free from my Hellman's prison) and tried out some goat milk kefir.  Yeah, it's a little different!  It was like runny yogurt, as I expected; I stirred in a little honey and cinnamon to make it more palatable.  Then I had an idea!  I made a pumpkin smoothie.

8 oz grassfed goat milk kefir (that's what I used, but there are cow and coconut varieties on the market)
3 TBS pumpkin puree
1 TBS honey
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Just stir it all together; you don't even need a blender!  Sorry, no pic as of press time, but you can probably get the idea.  If it looks like a glass of orange stuff, you're on the right track.