The Healthy Hound Cookbook: Over 125 Easy Recipes for Healthy, Homemade Dog Food--Including Grain-Free, Paleo, and Raw Recipes! (15 page)
Authors: Paris Permenter,John Bigley
This recipe is a great use for bananas that are getting a little mushy … the dogs won’t mind!
YIELDS: 3 cups, or 42 ice cubes
3 cups plain yogurt
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 large mango, peeled
2 bananas, peeled
- Toss all of your ingredients in a blender and blend for 1–2 minutes until smooth.
- Pour mixture into ice cube trays or small plastic tubs and freeze for a cool island treat for you or your dog!
You can always substitute other fruits (just
never
grapes or raisins!) and you can leave out the unsweetened coconut flakes if you don’t have any on hand.
Black beans are a canine superfood. Their role in regulating a dog’s blood sugar can help prevent diabetes. Black beans contain resistant starch that acts like fiber to reduce blood sugar as well as help with weight management for your dog—and they’re even packed with antioxidants!
YIELDS: 9 flautas
2 cooked, deboned chicken breasts
1 cup cooked black beans, drained (canned are fine)
9 whole-wheat flour tortillas
1
⁄
2
cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
- Shred chicken using two forks. Use a fork to mash black beans.
- Spread each tortilla with a thin coat of black beans, then add shredded chicken and cheese. Roll tightly. Secure with a toothpick.
- Place flautas on cookie sheet, seam side down, and bake for 20 minutes until tortillas are golden brown and crispy.
- Remove toothpicks and cool completely before serving. Refrigerate for 3 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
To help reduce gas emissions from your dog, soak dried beans overnight to rid the beans of raffinose, the sugar complex that causes much of the gas. Pour off the water, add new water, and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam and discard, adding more water as needed.
Pineapple is a good source of calcium and potassium for your pooch. You can prepare these nuggets with all-beef, turkey, or organic hot dogs.
YIELDS: 100 treats
1 package (10) all-beef hot dogs
1
⁄
2
pineapple, peeled, cored, diced, and drained
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice each hot dog into 10 pieces. Place hot dog slices on cookie sheet and top with pineapple. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Cool completely before serving. Refrigerate for 3 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
If your dog suffers from coprophagia—eating his own or other dogs’ feces—pineapple can be a good solution. Although most dogs like to eat pineapple, it is not appealing to the dog the second time around, and it can help break this difficult habit.
We first discovered pumpkin rice when traveling in Jamaica. This canine-friendly version omits the traditional spices and the Scotch Bonnet peppers.
YIELDS: 9 cups
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (without onions)
1 cup Pumpkin Purée (see
Chapter 15
)
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups uncooked instant brown rice
- In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add vegetables, Pumpkin Purée, and broth, bringing to a boil. Stir occasionally.
- When mixture boils, stir in rice and again bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow mixture to stand for 10 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed by the rice and vegetables. Fluff with a fork.
- Allow dish to cool completely before serving to your dog. Refrigerate for 3–4 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Sharing meals and treats with your dog is fun, not just for international fare, but also for many of the dog dishes in this cookbook. You’ll find that only two aspects of your portion and your dog’s portion differ: the amount of spice and the temperature at which the dish is served. The recipes in this cookbook are nonspicy, definitely preferred by dogs, and both meals and treats are intended to be served only slightly warm. You might find that you want your version a little spicier and served warmer.
Here’s a traditional British favorite that you can share with your pooch.
YIELDS: 4 eggs
1 pound mild ground pork sausage (without onions)
3
⁄
4
cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
4 hard-boiled eggs
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Shape sausage into four patties. Pour bread crumbs into a small bowl. Pour flour into a separate small bowl. Pour beaten egg into a third small bowl.
- Roll each hard-boiled egg in flour to coat. Place egg on a sausage patty and shape the sausage around the egg.
- Dip the sausage-covered egg into the beaten egg, then roll in the bread crumbs until entirely coated.
- Place coated sausage-egg on cookie sheet and bake for 30–40 minutes until sausage is entirely cooked.
- Cool before serving to canines. Refrigerate for 3–4 days.
This grain-free dish can be shared with your four-legged family members.
YIELDS: 3 cups
1 teaspoon olive oil
1
⁄
4
cup diced zucchini
1
⁄
4
cup diced green bell pepper
1
⁄
4
cup diced carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 plum tomato, diced
1 tablespoon water
2 cups cooked spaghetti squash
1
⁄
4
cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Heat oil over low heat in a medium skillet. Add zucchini, bell pepper, carrots, and garlic, cooking until tender. Stir to prevent sticking.
- Add tomato and water; cook an additional 5 minutes.
- Serve over spaghetti squash, topping with cheese.
- Cool to room temperature before serving dog’s portion. Refrigerate for 5 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Meaty Meals
Would you like to prepare a special dish for your dog for Sunday dinner? These meaty meals—including many fishy meals—appeal to your little carnivore with tasty ingredients ranging from lamb to sardines and beef to salmon. We’ve included a wide variety of recipes: traditional, raw, Paleo, and grain-free. As we mentioned in the introduction to this book, if you choose to go an entirely homemade route with your dog, you’ll want to speak with your veterinarian for information on supplements, including calcium supplementation, an important element if your dog is not being fed digestible bones.
Using a slow cooker is a great time saver; it’s essentially a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. While you are sleeping, your cooker gradually melds the ingredients into a delicious meal. In the morning, your kitchen will smell amazing!
YIELDS: About 9 cups
1 cup uncooked brown rice
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 carrots, cut into 1 rounds
1 sweet potato, cubed (unpeeled but with any green parts removed)
1
⁄
2
cup cranberries
Water, as needed
- Add all ingredients to a 4-quart (or larger) slow cooker and cover with water.
- Cook on low overnight, about 12 hours.
- Cool before serving or refrigerating. Refrigerate for 3 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Make sure your slow cooker can fit these ingredients; it should only be about
3
⁄
4
full when you begin cooking. The low setting on most cookers is about 200°F.
You can serve this chicken dinner boneless, with finely ground bones, or with whole bones, depending on your dog’s eating habits and your comfort feeding your dog digestible bones. Many raw feeders feed edible bones—chicken wings and necks—either by giving them to the dog as part of the meal or grinding them first. Bones include important nutrients that otherwise must be provided in supplements.
YIELDS: 3 cups
1 pound raw chicken, chopped
2 whole chicken livers, rinsed and chopped
1 egg
1
⁄
2
clove garlic, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons low-fat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon raw honey
1 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar
1
⁄
2
teaspoon flaxseed oil
1 teaspoon kelp seaweed powder
1 teaspoon alfalfa powder
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a spoon, then portion meal based on your dog’s size.
- Refrigerate for 3 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.