Liver Casserole

One of my biggest motivators for doing this is to get my family and myself to eat different foods. Like I've said before, we get into ruts of familiarity and the girls are at an age where they should be experimenting with different foods so they don't become too obsessed with junk food. I feel that as long as we're exposing them to various textures and flavors, it makes up for the days that I allow them to have ice cream for lunch.

So I made liver casserole.

My mom used to make liver and onions a lot when I was a kid and I hated it. I don't think I ever finished the meal and thankfully my mother wasn't one of those sadists that made their kids eat ALL THEIR FOOD. I've taken her approach on eating, which is if you don't like it, don't eat, but you're not getting anything else. The three year old is very picky and unless it's bread, pasta, corn tortillas, or rice, she will always say "I don't like it" before even tasting the food. We always say the same thing "You don't have to eat it if you don't want to" and about 50% of the time, she'll taste it and eat it. The other half is spent with her asking for her favorites and we just ignore her. We've already started saving for the eventual therapy sessions. 

I was not jazzed about this but I wanted to stick with trying  new things. I also thought that I might like it. I didn't like a lot when I was a kid. Tomatoes, squash, onions, and okra stand out as foods that were my least favorite but now I like all of them and eat them regularly. I was hoping that the same would happen with liver. I think you know where this is going.

The ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter

1 medium onion chopped

2 eggs

3 cups milk

1 1/2 lbs beef liver, ground. I couldn't find ground liver so I had to chop the liver up myself. It looked like a crime scene in my kitchen. 

3 cups cooked rice

3/4 dark corn syrup

1/2 cup raisins

1 tbsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Use two tbsp of butter to cook the onions. Beat the eggs until foamy and blend in the milk. Mix in the onions and the other ingredients. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until firm.

I also made a carrot casserole, which I found online. 

Liver casserole

Carrot casserole

Okay, I tried to keep an open mind, I really did. I ignored the texture of the liver when I was chopping it. I ignored the smell. I ignored the raisins. I ignored a lot. 

I could not ignore the taste. Apparently I have not outgrown my distaste for liver. I know there are people who love it and good for you; you are a more evolved person than I. I can't even describe the taste, all I can do is sit here with a grimace at the memory. The husband tried to add ketchup, hoping it would make a difference but it didn't. I hated throwing all that food away but after my neighbor turned down the offer of leftovers, I had no choice. To make up for it, I made a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank through my local HEB. 

The carrot casserole was great though! If I could do it again, I'd use less breadcrumbs and cook it for about ten minutes less. 

I'm making fish tonight. I really hope it turns out better.