Day 19 - Going to the Dogs: Liver Bread!

I set my sights on using a box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix. And once again, there on www.recipezaar.com, was the perfect recipe: Liver Bread. Quick - 10 mins; Easy - a food processor and an oven; and simple - 3 ingredients (liver, Jiffy mix, 1 T garlic), all of which I had on-hand.

Yes, I had the liver. You see, in addition to my pantry excesses, we also buy beef from an Amish farmer by the 1/2-side. Yes, it's better beef. Yes, it's less expensive than buying individual cuts at the grocery store. But it also means that we ALWAYS have a variety of beef in our freezer.

ANYWAY - So I puree the 1 lb. beef liver, add the 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix and the 1 Tbs of garlic powder. It was, hands-down, the absolute grossest thing that's ever been in my kitchen.

I really am a fairly big fan of liver. In fact, my childhood response to "what's your favorite food?" was always "liver." That answer was based as much in truth as it was in the shock value I could always milk out of it! But this particular puree was - oh, I'll just say it: disgusting.

It's a good thing the liver bread is actually a dog treat because I couldn't even bring myself to taste the finished product!

I spread the pureed schlopp out in a thin layer on a well-sprayed jelly roll pan, baked it at 400* for 10 mins, and viola! Every dog's culinary fantasy!

I cut the 1/4"-thick "bread" up in 1-inch pieces for Storm, our beloved 60 lb pit bull who thinks she's a lap dog. By the look on her face, she clearly would have done any trick in the book to get her vice-grip jaws around the entire batch!

I had her do a few basic commands, gave her two luke-warm pieces and let the rest on the counter to completely cool before putting them away. Storm has never done this before, but she laid down on the kitchen floor, directly in front of the counter where the liver bread was waiting to be put away. She looked up at the counter, over at me....up at the counter, over at me.... As in, "I know what's up there and I'm going to plant myself right here just in case A) any falls to the floor or B) you and your opposable thumbs decide to help me out here!"

The good news is that the recipe made LOTS of little pieces of liver bread. So it's going to be quite a while before I have to deal with the pit bull puppy-dog-eyes when she realizes we've run out and there will be no more Jiffy until the cupboard is bare!

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Friday Grocery Bil Update: maintained the 50% decline and bought NOT A SINGLE pantry item! Woo Hoo!