Tag Archives: dog treat recipes

Beefy Squashy Dog Soup

Posted on by
3


Who doesn’t love a hearty bowl of soup on a cold day? My mom gave me a small squash a couple of weeks ago and it’s been sittin’ pretty on the counter for long enough – so I thought why not make a nice warm bowl of soup for The Boys and their guest, Olive.  This is so simple, and full of goodness for the dogs. It’s also super easy.

 

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:
1 small squash
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup cooked ground beef
1 chopped potato
6 cups (preferably no salt added) chicken broth
tbs plain yogurt
tbs olive oil
tsp ginger
tsp cumin
tsp cinnamon
tsp salt

Now – you don’t have to cook your squash first, but I wanted to use the empty gourd for a bowl, so I just put it right into the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour, then let it cool. You could simply chop the squash first and put the cubes in uncooked instead.

In a large stock pot, add a tablespoon of oil over medium/high heat. Add the carrots and cook them until they have softened a little. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the ground beef, and let it cook on medium heat for about 45 minutes.

Let it cool for a bit then place in blender or use your wand to puree the soup – I love my Electrolux one to bits, I’ve had it for about ten years and it also comes with a small food processor attachment that I make fresh salsas and pesto sauces in. Add your ground beef and mix together, or use the ground beef as an enticing soup topper along with a dollop of yogurt. Don’t serve hot soup to your dog, let it cool first. You might also like a bowl of soup for yourself!

xo/J

I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist. This recipe is not meant to replace a proper and balanced diet for your dog. You should to speak to your own vet before trying new recipes or feeding any home cooked foods to your dog.

Dehydrated Divas

Posted on by
7

Now aren’t these some fancy looking bites? Only two ingredients and five minutes to prep them – you must try this at home! I’ve been doing a lot more dehydrating since I posted about the potentially tainted chicken and duck jerky treats on the market. I might be obsessing a wee bit.

My nephew gave me wild duck and goose breasts a couple of months ago, lucky girl that I am. Wild game is super fantastic for dogs, by the way. Lean, mean, and full of good stuff. If you don’t have a supplier nearby that sells it, or a nephew that loves cammo and ammo, you can use beef. Don’t forget that when dehydrating meat, you want lean cuts. Beef top round steak, flank steak and rump roast are the best cuts for this. And be aware that farmed duck and geese are not nearly as lean as wild ones.

INGREDIENTS:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 gamey breast or equivalent portion of beef.

Lightly oil a baking tray and set the oven to 200 degrees.

This is so simple. Grab a sweet potato and a sharp knife. Cut the nubbies off of each end. That’s right, I said nubbies. Now – carefully – cut thin slices lengthwise. Like really long potato chips. Repeat with the other sweet potato.

Now it’s time to slice the meat. Do your best to cut thin and long strips, but don’t lose a finger over it. Place the sweet potato slices on the baking tray. Place a strip of meat or two (depending on the size) on top of the slice of sweet potato. Basically you are adding one layer of meat on top of each one. If you have extra of either sweet potato or meat slices, just place them on the tray and dehydrate them on their own.

The meat will meld right into the sweet potato as they “cook”.

I put these ones in for about 4 hours. I flipped them at about the 3 hour mark to dry out the SP more. You could leave these in longer, mine were chewy – but I have very little patience! Still a great result as you can see. If you want crunchy, you need to dry them longer.

Once they are cool, you can slice them up all pretty-like.

These should last in the fridge for up to a week. The drier they are the longer they would last is my guess, but nothing lasts that long around this place!

Just a heads up re: the latest pet food recalls – in case you haven’t heard there is a recall on a bunch of Diamond Pet food brands including: Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, Country Value, Diamond, Diamond Naturals, Premium Edge, Professional, 4Health, Taste of the Wild, Kirkland Signature – (Costco brand). So please check to see if your food is on the list. There is also a Purina cat food recall that was in the news today. Scary stuff.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there – I dedicate this recipe to my mom, who would most certainly appreciate my Asian flair in presenting these little Divas.

xo/J

I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist.  This recipe is not meant to replace a proper and balanced diet for your dog.  You should to speak to your own vet before trying new recipes or feeding any home cooked foods to your dog.

>

Veggie Chip Cookies

Posted on by
3

Sometimes I come up with some pretty crazy ideas. I love it when my friends call them “creative”…! For some reason, I have really been wanting to make cookies for dogs that are as fun to look at as those popular and colourful M & M cookies! Candy and chocolate are no’s for Fido, but veggies are a must, so I thought I’d try using them instead of candy. In my mind, I had pictured plump, juicy, jewel-like veggie chips, not shrunken and dehydrated lackluster ones. A bunch of batches later, I finally have a recipe I’m pleased with. After many tests and tweaks, this is as close as I can get to what I had in mind. (Although those darned peas are still a little shrunken looking!) These dog cookies are fairly healthy in my book. You will notice that I indicated that you can use carrot juice or water – I used carrot juice because I have a big old jug of it in my fridge, and it gives the cookies a nice golden hue (in addition to all of the health benefits carrots have to offer). Plain old water is just fine. You could also use your own favorite cookie recipe and omit things like vanilla (it contains alcohol) and skip, reduce or substitute sugar with better alternatives like honey.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup dry milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp. water or carrot juice
2 eggs
1 cup of “Veggie chips”, dealer’s choice – frozen peas, carrots, beets, potato, etc. Basically, cut up tiny chip-like pieces of dog-friendly veggies.

I used these dehydrated ones I bought from my fave Heronview Raw & Natural. This is what they look like dehydrated, you just soak them in hot water and they are ready to use. I also used lots of frozen peas (which I left frozen for additional water content).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by adding soft butter or margarine to your mixing bowl. Give it a good forking until it’s a little whipped! Then, add your carrot juice or water, and the eggs. Beat lightly. Then, add the honey, sea salt, baking soda, and stir together. Finally, in portions, stir in the whole wheat flour. Lastly, add 1/3 of your veggie chips and gently mix into the cookie dough.

Place your cookie dough balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Make them the appropriate size for your dog(s). Mine are huge as my dogs are of the pig variety. Then, place your veggie chips on top of the cookies and slightly press in. Leave most of them exposed as the dough will puff up a bit around them. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool before letting the dogs have a taste.

I leave you with my new favourite shot of Miko and Hank, taken by my new fave photographer, Erin Campbell. She is also a doggie mama, and The Drool Brothers in front of the smeared sliding glass doors was something that really resonated with her, ha ha! Can you relate?

* 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.

Sweet Teddy’s Strawberry Swirls

Posted on by
1

My fab friends Andrea and John cook for their lovable whippet, Teddy. They were kind enough to share their story with me in the Success Stories section of my website! I encourage anyone who has cooked food or even baked treats for their pups to send their stories to me. Help me share it with Joe Public and get more people thinking outside of the Bag.

I thought a cool shout out to them would be to develop a treat recipe just for Teddy. Little Mr. has a bit of a sweet tooth it seems, so I had to figure out a way to make Fast Teddy some sweet treats without using sugar. I find recipes for sweet goods to be the most difficult ones to develop. I was bound and determined to make red velvet pupcakes for our Birthday episode of the show, and I must have spent three entire days trying to get them just right.

And yes, those are bacon sprinkles on the pupcakes:

On the show, we strive to make dishes that both people and pets will and enjoy, and we of the two-legged variety have developed taste buds that have become reliant on Salt and Sugar. The four-leggers can’t handle a lot of either substance. When it comes to sweeteners, I try to attain sweetness by using fruits, and if I have to add an extra hit of sugary goodness, I use honey.

I had some strawberries in the fridge that were just about to get mushy, so that was my starting point. Definitely wanted oats in the cookies…but needed something extra spesh for Ted – enter coconut!!

Coconut is great for dogs – lots of benefits, especially in terms of their coat. I wish you could inhale the aroma of these cookies right now, it’s helping lighten up this dreary winter day. Oatmeal, strawberry, coconut, cinnamon.

So dear Edward – I hope you enjoy these scrumptious Strawberry Coconut Cookies. They’re not just for dogs, by the way, they’re actually quite tasty when soft and warm out of the oven!

SWEET TEDDY’S STRAWBERRY SWIRLS

For “Jam”

1 1/4 cups strawberries, chopped

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

For dough mixture:

1 1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)

1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 mashed up banana

1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Mix together the chopped strawberries with the cornstarch in a saucepan. Over medium heat, let them cook together until it reaches a jam like consistency. It should be thick but not too chunky.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, then add the canola oil, honey, and mashed banana. Add this wet mixture to the dry and mix ‘er up.

Cut a large sheet of parchment paper (about the size of a baking tray). Spread the “dough” mixture onto the parchment, then spread the strawberry jam on top evenly – it should look like this.

Now, use your parchment to roll this into a log. Start by lifting the parchment (the side nearest to you) and proceed to roll the dough away from you. After each roll over, lift the parchment off and begin another roll. This is akin to rolling sushi. Here is what it looks like as you’re rolling.

Firm it up into more of a cylindrical shape, then wrap the edges and let it cool and set a bit in the fridge for half an hour.

Unwrap your bundle of strawberry coconut joy and place the parchment with log on a baking tray. Gently, and with a sharp knife, cut your cookie rounds. Lay your cookies out on the parchment paper. Sprinkle a little coconut love on top of each cookie, and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Let them cool and let your dog drool before giving them a Strawberry Swirl.

Teddy – I hope you enjoy your Swirls!

UPDATE – FEBRUARY 25th – Teddy’s mum baked him some swirls – we know he loved them because he’s a treat hoarder. A buried Sweet Teddy’s Strawberry Swirl means it’s a treasure, lol!!

* 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.