Obviously not a real recipe! But, have you ever thought, I want to get more real, nutritious food into my family, but I do not know how to mask it so they do not know it is there? I know I have asked myself this question. Even though we do not have kids and the dogs will eat about anything, I have to ask it for my Hublet. Do not tell him my secrets, I could end up in trouble!
Once your taste buds have changed as you begin eating more real, whole foods, this can become less of a problem, but there are still some things that you and your family might not like, but know you should be eating. Here are some of the ways I have been incorporating them into our way of eating.
One of the healthiest foods on the planet, is organ meat. I know what you are already thinking, NO THEY ARE NOT!!!!!! They have told us organs are very bad, full of cholesterol and saturated fat. If you follow my blog or do any back reading, you will remember that I do not believe this lie, cholesterol and saturated fat are both very healthy for us. If you do any research into how we used to eat, great places to begin are: Weston Price Foundation and Mark's Daily Apple, you will begin to understand that organs and fat were the most highly prized foods. They would through the lean meat to the dogs and eat the fat and organs themselves, very different from today. These people did not have the diseases we have today, so they must have known something about real health. Because most of us have not grown up eating organ meats, we do not like the taste, texture, smell or thought of eating organs. However, masking them, is very easily done!
This is what I do.
Grind liver in my meat grinder and mix it right into ground beef. Anytime I make something with ground beef, I put liver right into it and you would never know it is there. Hublet has eaten hamburgers many times in the last few weeks with liver, not knowingly, and said they were very tasty. Once the meat is seasoned and mixed with other ingredients, it taste like hamburger. This can be done with any organ meat. Try a verity of different organs, they all have something different and healthy to offer.
From watching Iron Chief America and Chopped I have picked up a few ideas to try as well. One of them is when making bone broth, stick organs right into the broth and let it simmer along side the bones. Then you can eat the organ, or give it your dogs. Mouses, patatas, sausages, brawts and many other dishes traditionally have organ in them. I truly believe some of them were created so people would eat these highly nutritious pieces of meat. Try some that have been prepared with the organs and I am sure you would not even know you were eating organ.
For veggies
I think this is one of the easier ones personally, but still might be difficult for some. Here a few things I do.
When making my protein pancakes, I put in pumpkin or the like in them. This makes them very moist. I have Swiss chard that has grown out of control in my garden, so I will cut it, blanch it and then put it into the blender when mixing my pancake batter. About the only way you know there is Swiss chard, is the green dots you find. All the nutrition, without the taste. In a batter, you can out any fruit or vegetable in it. Fro sweet things, apples and pears, bananas, berries can all work well. Most vegetables are good in either sweet or savory dishes, try different ones and varying amounts to figure out what works for you.
Use veggies or fruit as the boat for a meal. Meaning, something stuffed like, zucchini, apples, potatoes, peppers, anything will work. This way, it is playful and fun, which could entice some to try these veggies or fruit.
When cooking a sauce, put in extra veggies, like zucchini, carrots, kale, spinach, collards, chard, any veggies. Once the sauce has cooked, blend all of these vegetables and put back into the sauce. Instead of seeing big chunks of vegetables, they are purred and look more like spices. Their flavor will also be more mild due to being purred as well. Be creative and try different ways of using vegetables, just like the organs.
Some odds and ends.
When I made a healthy dessert the other day, to thicken it, I used freshly ground chia seeds. The seeds are amazing and work wonders as a thickening agent while adding tremendous nutritional benefits. Instead of using other thickening agents, try chia seeds. You do not need a lot, they are supper absorbent. These seeds as well as flax seeds can also be ground and put into homemade desserts and breads. Vegetables can also be put into desserts, especially when there is chocolate, the dark color will hide the color of the veggies. If you drink coffee, put cinnamon in your coffee grounds. I have also heard rosemary is good as well and pumpkin spices are supper tasty. Many of these spices, cinnamon especially, will help take out some of the bitterness of the coffee as well as adding health benefits. Be sure to cook with many spices and seasonings. They add flavor and nutrition beyond imagination.
I hope you can see, it is really not all that difficult to add different foods to meals to take them over the top for nutritional value, you just have to be a little creative.
Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God's many blessings upon you,
Jenn
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