Cooking For Oliver 🐶

My Sweet Boy, Oliver, has some shoulder joint arthritis that causes him pain. Our Vet put him on prescription dry food that's supposed to help with that. I didn't notice much, if any, improvement. So, at over $6.00 a pound. . .I switched him back.

I've cooked for my dogs in the past and it seems it might be a good idea to try that again. Even if it doesn't help with his limping, it'll be a great healthy way to supplement his dry food. He gets a cup of dry food in the morning. In the evening I'll give him 3/4c to 1c of this mixed with a little bit of the dry. This recipe today breaks down to $1.40 a pound.

The 4 quart pot I used was too small, so, in a 5 quart pot, lightly sauté the rice, olive oil and the meat until the meat starts to brown and the rice is snapping.

1# ground meat - turkey, beef or chicken

1/3c single source extra virgin olive oil

2c brown rice

Add 4c of fresh cold water and simmer, covered, 15 minutes before adding the following vegetables to the pot.

8oz. frozen California Blend vegetables

- - well chopped

8oz. frozen peas

8oz. green cabbage

1 chopped sweet potato

2 additional cups of water

Simmer this another 5 minutes then stir in 1 finely chopped Romaine lettuce. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. 

You can put this in portion-size small bags and freeze until needed. Thaw on the counter an hour before feeding time. Add the dry food and a little hot water. Stir then stand back and watch them gobble it up. . .Lin

Turkey, Rice and Vegetables

I recently took both of my dogs, and my cat, Ms. Daphne, to the vet for dental cleaning, with a total of 4 teeth extracted. Oliver had a big cracked molar taken out as well as surgery to remove a jaw tumor removed.  My old dog Penny previously lost 2 and this time there were 3 that had to come out 😟 But she's one tough old girl, by late the next day, she was back to her old self! Daphne is older too, but she just had a cleaning since her teeth are healthy so far.  (maybe she brushes and flosses when I'm not around 😉) 

When the vet sent me home with their pain meds and antibiotics, she emphasized Soft Food for two weeks for the dogs, and a couple days for Daph. Well, they're all 'crunch' lovers, so plain hot water on their food isn't their favorite.

I added some scrambled eggs, but kept remembering years ago, making cooked and fresh-raw food for them. I checked the fridge and freezer and found just what I needed! This would work as an excellent re-introduction to regular food again, for any humans in your life recovering from a bad stomach-intestinal bug. . .or, like my fur-kids, painful dental work. I Lin-Taste-Tested it, of course, and it's really good!  If you're considering making food from scratch for your toddler, I think they would also like it!

12oz. ground turkey. . .
~ (chicken, lamb or beef)
1c brown rice (or white)
2T good quality EVOO
~ chopped onion ~ FOR HUMANS ONLY. . .
. . .onion and garlic can be lethal for dogs

Saute these ingredients together over med.-high heat, with 2+c of fresh, cold water nearby to add to prevent sticking and burning.  Add a little only as needed.  You'll get a LOT of natural flavors if the meat and rice brown nicely.  Then add the following finely chopped vegetables:

2-3 med. carrots
4 big stalks of celery and lots of greens
1/2 med. head of green cabbage
2T Better Than Bouillon (turkey)

When the meat and rice are nicely browned, add the vegetables and soup base, and the rest of the water.  Simmer, covered on low heat until the rice and vegetables are soft. Keep an eye on the water, adding a total of 2-3 cups from start to finish, more or less, as needed.  I hope everyone in your home stays healthy. If not, give them lots of good food, and water, to get them well again. .🙂. .Lin

Another Healthy Dog Food Option

1 5oz. chorizo sausage

1# sliced side pork

⅓ purple cabbage

2 chopped carrots

2 sweet potatoes

2c cauliflower

2 stalks celery

2 big chunks of oatmeal cornbread

I was organizing and cleaning out my 'fridge and freezer and this was all in my throw-away pile.  Then I realized, if put together properly, this could be another option to supplement the dry food I feed my dogs.

Start by finely chopping any freezer-dried meat you want to use for this.  Chorizo is pretty spicy, so I decided to only use one sausage.  The other two went back in the freezer for another dog food adventure!  To this I added the finely chopped, old, tired out, cabbage, celery and carrots.  Cover and simmer this slowly, to bring out all the fat in the meat, for a half hour or so, stirring occasionally until everything's starting to sizzle and snap.  If needed, add a little bit of water, then cover and continue to cook until the meat is done and the vegetables are soft.

At the very end, I add the crumbled, gluten-free cornbread I found in the back of the freezer.  I have a 14-year old Pitbull mix dog that has bad issues with grain in her diet.  I've been feeding her grain-free dry food for many years, which totally fixed the digestive problems she used to have.  She does well with oatmeal and cornbread that contains no wheat, and just loves it.

I only use these homemade dog foods as a supplement to their usual dry food.  They normally each get 1c of dry in the morning and evening.  When I make homemade food for them I cut their dry amount back to ½c for the evening feeding only, mixed with ½c of their usual dry food and some hot water.  I let it sit for a while to warm up the homemade food, which I store in the fridge in a Tupperware type container.  Needless to say they're smacking their doggy-lips while they wait. 😋 

If you decide to cook for your pups, PLEASE research what sort of foods they can and canNOT have.  Dogs are very sensitive to raisins, grapes, chocolate, garlic and onion. . .among others.  These can all be quite toxic to dogs.
Be Bold, Adventurous and try cooking for your Furry Buddies!  They'll love it! . . . Lin

Turkey Gizzards For Your Dogs

1½# turkey gizzards

1 large carrot

1-2T bacon grease

¾c lentils

1½c water

½c ground flax seed

Chop the gizzards into tiny pieces.  Combine with the finely chopped carrot and bacon grease in a medium size pot.  Saute' for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the lentils and continue to saute until things start snapping.  Add the water and ground flax, stir then simmer another 20 minutes or so.  

Normally, if I'm only feeding the dogs their dry food, they each get about 1 cup in the morning and afternoon.  When I'm supplementing with homemade dog food, such as this, they'll get ½-⅔c of this, then about ½c of the dry.  I'll add some hot water and let it stand for a few minutes to soften the dry food and create a gravy.  When I've made homemade dog food for them, they only get it at one feeding per day though, so as not to upset their systems too much.

If you decide to make food for your dogs, please Google foods dogs cannot eat, or something similar.  There are many things that are toxic to them that are perfectly fine for people, such as chocolate, grapes, raisins. . .Just be aware, before you feed them anything other than commercially prepared dog food.  Keep your sweet pups happy!! . . . Lin 

A Meat-Barley-Vegetable-Loaf For Your Dog

4 eggs & shells

1# beef liver

1# ground beef

1c long cooking barley

1c dried peas

½c white, brown and wild rice

1c SPLIT mung beans or lentils

1 head Chinese cabbage

1 med. sweet potato

1 med. carrot

¾c frozen peas

¾c frozen baby lima beans

3 chopped zucchini

1c chia-flax seed mix

I made this several months ago, but forgot to take a photo.  Combine the whole eggs, with their shells, and the raw liver in the blender.  When blended, pour it into a BIG pot.  I used my 6qt. soup pot.  Crumble in the raw ground beef.  Meanwhile, in another BIG pot, cook the next 4 ingredients in 4c of water, covered for an hour, checking regularly, to see if more water is needed.  Toward the end, add the vegetables.  Once the vegetables are getting soft and the grain is pretty well cooked, combine this with the meat mixture and add the chia-flax seeds.  Blend well with a wooden spoon or your hands.  Loosely pack this into a BIG turkey roaster and bake about an hour at 350°.  When cooled, you can put this into heavy zip-type gallon bags and freeze.  Take out one bag at a time, thaw, then combine with a little hot water and dry dog food, if you want. .Lin