I love meatballs. And when I love something, I obsess over it for a good month-ish…
There were the meatballs for breakfast.
Lamb meatballs with sweet potato pasta.
And who could forget the Fertility Feast meatballs?
Meatball-making reminds me of cookie-baking. You roll up all of these fantastic ingredients into tiny little balls, put them on a baking sheet, and fill your kitchen with all the smells, until it's time to pull them out and try one bite of the juicy, herby, spicy, meaty cookie. But unlike cookies, I don’t believe you have to follow an exact recipe. That’s the beauty of cooking after all. A pinch of this, a handful of that – as long as it’s all things you like, it will most likely be delicious.
Besides being addicting, these particular meatballs have so many health benefits, it’s ridiculous. The reason? Because they have liver. Yes, liver. WAIT! WAIT! Before you freak out and close this page, please do two things for me: 1) Read the benefits below. And 2) See how I’m going to make it really easy for you to incorporate the liver into your diet through this awesome recipe.
Ridiculous Benefits Of My Liver Meatballs:
LIVER is one of the most nutrient-dense foods. Period.
Greater than 65% of daily requirement of folate for 30-something women.
High in B12, B6, zinc and iron, which helps with…
- Depression
- Thyroid issues
- Low energy
The highest source of vitamin A, which improves…
- Thyroid function. It supports thyroid deficiencies so it's perfect for anyone with hypothyroid.
- Liver health and detoxification.
- Absorption of Vitamin A. We can’t get ANYWHERE close to this amount of Vitamin A from vegetables – not only because vegetable don't have as much, but becasue the body has to convert it to retinol first in order to use it. Unfortuantely, the veggie conversion rate is not good – especially for people with thyroid issues. But with liver, it's already converted and ready to use!
Anti-Fatigue factor:
- In a famous study done by Benjamin K. Ershoff, PhD, liver consumption prevented rats from exhaustion, even after swimming for 2 straight hours.
- Could have implications for human consumption; many people report feeling energized after eating it.
WALNUTS are high in Omega-3 which has been shown to:
- Balance depression, anxiety and mood swings associated with hormonal imbalances
- Reduce inflammation and balance insulin
COCONUT OIL is a medium chain fatty acid which:
- Is essential for hormone production
- Keeps inflammation levels low
- Boosts your metabolism
- Promotes weight loss
My personal experience with these liver meatballs:
- Incredibly satiating – I've tried liver in many different ways and THIS baby finally made me enjoy them.
- Improved digestion
- More energy
- GREAT for fertility
Ridiculously Easy Way To Make It Delicious:
- So that you don’t actually taste the liver, we’re going to mix it together with grass-fed ground beef and lots of seasonings and ingredients.
- So that you don’t have to touch the liver (too much), I’m going to ask that you ask your local butcher to grind it for you. And if you ask really nicely, they might grind it together with the beef. (Shoutout to Anthony at Local Foods for being the sweetest, most accommodating butcher ever 🙂 )
- So that you don’t have to deal with liver often, we’re going to make one BIG batch now so you can freeze them later and have a ready-to-go, highly nutritious dinner any night of the week.
Okay, enough talk. Are you ready to put all your fears aside and try liver???
- 2 Pounds Ground Beef Grass-Fed
- 1 Pound Ground Liver
- 3 Eggs Pasture-Raised
- 1/2 Onion Finely chopped
- 1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil
- 6 Cloves garlic Finely Chopped
- 2 Tablespoons basil leaves Fresh, Finely Chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Walnuts Finely Chopped
- 1/2 Teaspoon nutritional yeast Bragg's brand
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Flakes
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce Naturally Fermented
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set out three baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Melt 1 teaspoon of coconut oil on the sauté pan and toss in onion; sauté for 5 minutes-ish.
- While that's cooking, chop up garlic cloves, basil leaves and walnuts; Set aside.
- Set aside cooked onions and let cool to room temperature.
- Whisk eggs in a bowl.
- Stir in garlic, basil, walnuts, nutritional yeast, coconut flour and red chili pepper flakes.
- Pour mixture into beef and liver; Pour onions in separately.
- Get your hands in there and mix it all together.
- Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on parchment paper.
- Stick in oven for 10 minutes.
- Bonus: Once cooled, stick in freezer ON THE PAN to flash freeze your meatballs. Doing so will keep them in meatball shape so you can stuff them in freezer bags and have them on hand whenever you need them. Believe me, nothing is better than coming home to an empty fridge, and then remembering that you have delicious pre-made meatballs waiting for you in the freezer.
- TO RE-HEAT: Warm in pan with a bit of coconut oil, bone broth and/or spaghetti sauce for approximately 10 minutes.
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