Good things grow in Ontario. The peaches are so ripe and juicy right now that you just have to buy them by the basket. Get them before they head south! I made a peach pie for the peeps and decided to make The Boys a Peach Cobbler-esque dessert as they don’t need the pastry and sugar. Neither do we, actually, but hey, hey, what can I say.
I peeled a few extra peaches and whipped this up in less than 10 minutes with very few ingredients.
I love getting photos of recipes that readers have tried and of course, pics of their pooches. Now, that’s a cute dog! Ingrid’s company provides dog walking services in the Toronto area. Her version of the Berry Good Pupsicles includes blackberries and bananas!! Check out Ingrid’s blog post and her company Leash & Paws:
Leash & Paws Pupsicles With mydogsbreakfast.com
Hi guys,
I’m busy, busy, busy developing Canada Day treats and working to pay for my glamourous lifestyle (!) – so in the meantime, I thought I’d share a favourite Fido & Wine recipe with you – this one was helmed by the talented host herself, Laura Ducharme! For our Luau episode, we wanted to do a version of the Hawaiian treasure, Kalua Pua’a. Basically, a Hawaiian pork roast. Traditionally, it’s prepared in the Hawaiian “imu” or underground rock oven. Well, since we didn’t have one of those kicking around, a slow cooker was called to duty, and it did a bang up job.
Laura came up with a brilliant spin on another Hawaiian fave, Poi (mashed taro root). It was Canada meets Hawaii when hot Taro root fries were smothered in gravy and chunks of melty cheese curds – a different and delicious version of what some may consider our national dish, Poutine (fries smothered in gravy & cheese curds). She very cleverly named this taro version “Poi-tine”.
We made Pulled Pork Sliders with a side of Poitine for the two-legged set, and the dogs got a (cooled down) bowl of Poitine covered with not only the cheese and gravy – but also with the pulled pork!! DELICIOUSNESS!
Kahlua Pua’a:
INGREDIENTS
Pork Butt
Banana Leaf
Kitchen String
2 Cups of Broth or Water
Olive Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt
Fresh Rolls
Place pork on banana leaf. Season with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap pork in banana leaf and tie up with string. Place in the slow cooker, add broth. The pork will take about 6 hours to cook, it should fall apart. When pork is finished place on plate, unwrap, and use fork to shred the meat. Place meat on the roll and dress with gravy.
Gravy:
INGREDIENTS
Juices from Slow Cooker
1-4 TBS flour
Transfer juices from slow cooker to pot. Set burner to medium and whisk in flour to desired consistency.
Poitine:
INGREDIENTS
1 large Taro Root
200 grams of cheese curds
Gravy
Peel Taro root. Cut into half inch thick strips and blanch in cold water for appx. 1 hour. Dry them off well. Deep fry or bake in oven at 425 degrees until crispy and cooked through. Break fries into small pieces, then dress with gravy and cheese curds. Let cool before serving to dogs.
Fido & Wine airs on The Pet Network and ichannel in Canada.
Aloha!
* Please note that I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist, so it’s advisable to consult with your own authority when trying new foods, and also to ensure that your dog’s home cooked diet is balanced & includes all of the nutrients that are necessary for your dog’s health.
Summer’s here, and on a hot day, a cold & creamy treat can turn a good day into a freakin’ fantastic one! I suspect our dogs feel exactly the same way.
Here’s a healthy, totally easy and ultra-fast summer treat you can make for dogs and for yourself. I’m one of The Unfortunates who can’t have any dairy at all – as I was photographing these I had to wipe my hands off on my pants, when all I really wanted to do was lick my fingers! The smell of the peanut butter and the frosty haze coming off of them was extremely tempting. I love this treat because it’s a great way to get your dog to eat some fruit, and yogurt in small doses can provide great benefits for them too. If your dog is the type who needs to be sweetened up to eat it – add some honey into the mix or drizzle the pupsicle with honey before serving.
You might have noticed that there’s no stick to make it like a popsicle – mine are the “pretend kind” – I used those rawhide sticks once, and just about lost my mind when Hank hoofed it down without chewing it. Too scary for me…but if you have a more delicate eater, you can simply add the “stick” into the centre of the cup before freezing it.
INGREDIENTS: (makes three-four pupsicles)
1 cup of plain yogurt
2 TBS peanut butter (preferably natural)
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup diced strawberries
In a mixing bowl, mix together the peanut butter and the yogurt. A spatula works well for this. Then, add in almost all of the blueberries and diced strawberries. Save a bit of each.
Take three plastic or styro cups and place the reserved berries at the bottom of each cup. Then, add the yogurt mixture on top, distributing evenly between the cups. The pupsicles in my picture appear larger than they actually are, by the way. I only filled small plastic cups about 2/3 of the way. This is a good size for a large dog. If you have a medium sized dog, you might distribute between 4 cups. If you have a smaller dog, use ice cube trays.
Freeze the pupsicles. When you remove from freezer to serve, let them thaw enough upside down to “drop” them out of the cups, or if you lack patience like me, run them under a bit of hot water to set them free.
If you’re really nice, like my friend Laura, you can make these in popsicle trays and hold them for your dog as he/she licks it like an ice cream cone. I’d lose a hand if I tried that with my one-bite wonders.
To my American friends – doesn’t this look like a great recipe to make for Independence Day? Canucks, stay tuned for my Canada Day treats coming up next!
Enjoy and have yourself a cold treat too!
xo/J
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Watch out for the Fangs of Drool – dinner’s ready and it smells super delish! The only problem with home cooking for dogs is that my kitchen floors get wet puddles on them twice a day…I remember having to coax Hank into eating his kibble way back when, sometimes it would take a few minutes for him to really believe that was all he was going to get. Now it’s happy dances, yipping, scrambling, and my least favourite, mega-drooling. But what a small price to pay for my super shiny, barely shedding, healthy babies!
Today, I’m sharing one of the staples in my arsenal of dog dinners. For The Boys, I consider this to be a very balanced meal. When we think of what constitutes a “square meal” for people, most of us think: meat/other protein, a carb and a colourful variety of vegetables. Well, its pretty much the same concept for a home cooked dog’s dinner. We just want to make sure we don’t use any food items that are toxic for dogs (such as onions), and you don’t want to add a lot of salt or cook things in a greasy fashion.
This dinner portion is perfect for my younger chocolate lab, who eats a meal like this twice a day. My older guy, Hank, gets slightly less, being a senior citizen who doesn’t expend as much energy as his lil’ buddy Miko. I know a lot of you who are new to home cooking for dogs want to be told precisely how much of what to feed them. Although other “experts” will provide charts, calculations etc., I won’t do that for you, because I think of each dog as an individual. For example, Miko loves fruit. Hank spits it out. (and then Miko eats it, yum!) Some dogs get tons of exercise, and some don’t. Certain foods work better for certain dogs…so at the end of the day, you do need to figure out what your dog needs based on the lifestyle you provide them with, and by assessing what works for them. I talk more about this in the Resources section of my website. If you’re more comfortable following someone’s meal plans & calculations for your dog, then perhaps start that way and then branch out from there. Once you get into it, I’m sure you’ll realize that it’s not all that different from cooking for ourselves!
I’m calling this a diner-style dinner because the “scoops” remind me of a big plate special at a greasy spoon…
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped cooked meat (this is venison, nice and lean)
1 small potato
1/2 cup chopped steamed veg (carrots and broccoli)
1 scoop of pure pumpkin (about 1/4 cup)
1 scoop of plain yogurt (about 1/4 cup)
*optional – tsp kelp, tsp flour
I had some venison leg meat in the freezer, so I browned it and then braised it in some water along with some small potatoes for about an hour. You could cook any meat you like, beef, chicken, turkey, etc. As an option, you can remove the meat & potatoes and quickly whisk some flour in for a “gravy”. You don’t really need to put gravy on their dinner, but I did it this time as an example for people with messy eaters – the gravy helps to keep the meat and potatoes in more of a “clump”.
I had some steamed vegetables left over from the night before – steaming is optimal, but you can cook them however you like, just don’t fry them in a ton of oil. I buy big cans of pure pumpkin, and use it in the dogs’ meals a couple of times per week, what I don’t use goes into their treats. I also keep a tub of plain yogurt for The Boys, and they get a scoop two-three times per week (not every day).
Add chopped vegetables, a scoop of pumpkin puree, a scoop of yogurt to the dog dish. When the meat is cool enough to chop, do so, and also chop the potatoes. Put it back into the pot with your “gravy” and mix ‘er up. Add the desired amount of the meat & potatoes to your dog dish, and save the rest for more meals. If you have kelp, sprinkle it on top.
This is also a great dinner for people (minus the pumpkin puree and kelp).
Laters, baby -
xo/J
P.S. This is what The Boys look like when you ask if they want a “Treat”!
Hey there! What a fabulous Sunday morning it is as I write this post. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and I’m going to meet one of my best friends for all-you-can-eat sushi. We’ve made a pact to wear our “loose pants”, as in our yoga pants. It takes very brave girls to wear them out to lunch.
Ok, so as it turns out, a lot of you are quite literally looking for Doggie Breakfast recipes. My very first recipe posted here was Breakfast of Champions, and I think its time for another. This is truly a dog’s breakfast – a smorgasbord of dog-friendly food items. The beauty of it is that you can probably make it out of leftovers. Or at least, you probably have the right stuff kicking around in your fridge. What I’m going to do here is tell you what is in this particular bowl of fun, and I’m also going to offer you other options/substitutions. This is a great every day meal, but dogs do need you to provide a variety of foods, so you just have to change some of the elements up every couple of days. Simply switch up the meats, carbs and veg. Don’t worry, this is not complicated!
This particular Dog’s Breakfast is about 1/3 meat/protein, 1/3 carbs and 1/3 fruit/veggies. You can play around with the ratios and tailor this recipe to suit your own dog. Some like more veg, some don’t eat carbs, etc. etc.
I used leftovers from our supper the night before: just toss ‘er into the dish. No need to make it pretty like my picture.
INGREDIENTS:
One cup of baked salmon.
One cup of cooked brown rice.
2 hard boiled eggs. (No yolk for my senior dog)
1 grated carrot
1/2 of an apple, chopped.
Sprinkle with parsley if you have it, it’s great for their breath. I sprinkle a bit of bone meal powder (from health food store) or ground egg shells for calcium supplementation.
You could simply cut the ingredients in half for a smaller dog, or serve it two days in a row. It tastes great at night too, breakfast for dinner and all that.
SALMON SUBSTITUTIONS:
One cup salmon = one cup of leftover rotisserie chicken, chopped turkey, beef, lamb. What did you have for supper last night?!
BROWN RICE SUBSTITUTIONS: 1 cup of cooked rice = one cup of cooked barley or even better a cup of cooked quinoa (a seed, not a grain).
CARROT SUBSTITUTIONS: 1 carrot, basically this is a cup when grated. You can use finely chopped spinach, or a cup of steamed/lightly cooked dog-friendly vegetables – there are lots to choose from.
APPLE SUBSTITUTIONS: 1/2 apple = about a 1/2 cup – try pineapple, strawberries or other fruits that are good for dogs.
Eggs are great for dogs, and very affordable. Very nutritious, high in protein & fat which dogs need. As I mentioned, use egg whites for older or less active dogs.
Happy Sunday!