Skip to main content

Caribou Heart Chili

For dinner last night, we ate chili. Caribou heart chili to be exact. I have to give thanks to our friend, Grant Petersen, for giving us the heart from the caribou he shot a couple of weeks ago. While many people to not enjoy organ meats, we really do. Other than the fact that they're delicious, it is also probably because I did not grow up on them, and only began incorporating them into our meals a year ago.

Did you know organ meats were highly prized by native groups traditionally? I've read that they would eat the organ meats first, saving the muscle meat for the dogs. This was especially true for their warriors and pregnant and lactating women. Organ meats just have a greater nutrient profile than muscle meats. I know I feel SO great after a meal that contains organ meats. 

Let's look at the nutrient profile of heart meat: (This is for beef, but caribou is going to be similar, with probably greater values since it is wild game).

Heart Nutrients
  • High in zinc
  • Iron
  • Selenium
  • B vitamins
  • It is the best food source for pre-formed CoQ10, which is super good for heart health! (source)
The nice thing about heart is that it is so lean and firm. It does not have the texture of liver, which many people are turned off to. If you aren't sure if you will like heart, try mixing it with ground beef to help mask the flavor. Mixing organ meats with ground beef is the best way to start incorporating organ meats into your diet. Your body will thank you!

Caribou heart chili!
Click for recipe


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hoping for a Rainbow

I'm really not sure if I ever thought this day would come. The day that I made it past 13 weeks pregnant without losing the baby. #miracle.  I know I am not out of the woods yet, and honestly, when are we really? I am just trying to live every day with gratitude for the life inside of me, living with hope for the future.  Part of me wanted to wait until next week, when I was past 14 weeks and officially in the 2nd trimester, but I couldn't wait any longer. I've been getting a little thick in the middle, which is getting more difficult to hide, and I feel like I haven't been able to be completely honest with friends when they would ask, "how are you doing?" All I wanted to talk about was how nauseous I was or how nervous I felt. So now, the news is out, whether or not you already suspected something was up.  Seriously though, the 1st trimester is not for the faint of heart! There were many instances when I thought I would lose the baby, but dee...

Grandpa is Always Right | Gender Reveal |

I was hanging out in our rental apartment in Salzburg, Austria with my sister when my dad walked out of his bedroom and announced that I was having a girl. I was only 11 weeks along at that point and while I was wishfully hoping for a girl, I was preparing myself for a boy. His strong conviction of the gender of our child without any hints from an ultrasound surprised me. My dad seems to always be right about things, so I secretly hoped he was right this time too. Today during my scan, my favorite sonographer announced that we were having a girl. Grandpa is always right. I never imagined our family starting with a baby boy. I don't know why, but a baby girl seems to fit just perfectly. Now I just have to keep calm and stay healthy for 19 more weeks.

The Love of a Cousin

Swimming Babes-2006 " What do I do when I get pregnant again?"   I asked. My sweet cousin was on the other end of the phone call when I sought out her wisdom and support.  3 years younger than me, she is in her 3rd pregnancy and ready to deliver her first baby in less than 2 months. She was the first person I wanted to talk to when I miscarried the first time, just 2 months after her ectopic pregnancy back in the spring of 2015. For some reason, I just had this connection to her, like maybe because she was born in the same generation as me and going through similar circumstances, that she would understand. Now, 13 months after my first miscarriage, I find myself going through mental exercises every day to prepare myself to trust my body for my 4th and hopefully successful pregnancy; part of that exercise today was to call my cousin up and have a nice chat about our lives and try to get some insights. We were both strong-headed children growing up--often getting ups...