They Ate It!

As I noted in a previous post, we had our roosters from this spring's batch of layer chicks butchered recently, and, attempting to get the biggest return for our input, I asked them to save the giblets. Which of course meant that I had a bag of giblets to figure out what to do with . . .

After quite a few days of intending to do *something* with them (but really not wanting to . . .) I finally pulled them out this morning and resolved to deal with them. It turned out that what was in the bag was only gizzards, lungs, and hearts (which was disappointing; I thought I'd be getting the livers, too). After looking at one gizzard and realizing what a pain it would be to clean and peel it, I quickly weeded those out (perhaps in the future I'll have the fortitude to deal with them; this year I would concentrate on the rest of the bag).

Which left the lungs and hearts. I'm all for organ meats; they're packed with nutrition (if you're not sure about this, I would encourage you to read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. That book changed the way I'll eat forever!) My kids, however, don't really care about the nutritional value - they only care about what it tastes like.

Thankfully, I have a tried and true "hide the organ meats" recipe that works every time (I was first exposed to this recipe through my mother-in-law, who gleefully asks whenever she serves this dish (after we've finished eating, of course), "Guess what I put in it this time?" She's my kind of gal!) Today I was as successful as my mother-in-law; I ground the hearts and lungs in the meat grinder (another of my handy-dandy Kitchen Aid attachments) and mixed it in instead of the ground beef. Lo and behold, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY KIDS ATE IT! My picky five-year-old even asked for seconds!

And now, without further ado, I will share this magic recipe with you:

Sombrero Dip
1 pound ground beef (or "mystery meat")
1/4 cup taco seasoning
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
2 cups mashed pinto beans (or 1 can refried beans)
1 small can tomato sauce (or about a cup of pureed homegrown tomatoes)
8 oz grated cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef and drain. Add taco seasoning, onions, ketchup, beans, and tomato sauce. Spread into 9x13 pan. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 until heated through, about half an hour. Serve with taco chips and sour cream, black olives, lettuce, etc. - whatever you prefer.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.