It's been a while

Wow, what a busy time. Lastnight as I finished up my dinner I gasped; ah I'm out of food. The big thing with cooking for your dog is that you MUST have a protein source to work with. If every once in a while you don't have protein, it's not a big deal but you want to make sure that your dog is getting a good source. And that can be eggs, meat, beans etc.

For the last week I've had premade food for my guys and I was pretty sure I was on my last bag in the morning. If I were just feeding the girls I wouldn't panic but with Luke, a yummy protein is a must. The girls will eat cottage cheese, eggss or whatever, not Luke. So off I go to the garage and into my deep freeze hoping that I missed a bag; and yes I did, one last bag. I'm so happy when I have food made ahead, it's a nice break.

So that means I have breakfast planned and I will need to stop at the grocers and get some meet today. They haven't had raw for about a week so dinner will be raw beef. Hopefully I'll be able to score a deal on some meat and tomorrow I'll cook up a storm again. I also plan on cooking lentils for them, but I need to plan that out. We eat lentils at least once a week but it is filled with onion and things they lots of herbs and spices.

Trader Joe's has precooked lentils which is really wonderful as they take quite a while. They are just lentils and you do whatever you like to them. Lentils are really good for you and a great source of fibre and protein. Try some, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. My favorite is when I make them with applesauce and throw in diced apple at the end. YUM The dogs might like that as well, minus the apple and spices.

Fattening up the hounds

Luke is on a roll, an eating role. So while he is in the mood to eat I will feed, and feed what he likes. So the other day when I scored all the ground beef I also got 2 containers of liver, mmmmmmmmm. I cooked both packages in tinfoil in the oven while everyone else was off at work or school, so no complaining to listen to. After cooking and cooling the liver, I chopped and froze it. This let's me add just a few morsels of liver to Luke's meal and gives it that extra bit of jeune se qua.

This morning Luke came into the kitchen, that's a good sign. When his interest is peaked at the preparation stage then there is a good chance he's in the mood to eat. Tonight I had to call him into the kitchen but that is because he was exhausted from his run and crashed in a very comfy spot.

So when I can I give him what he wants; it's not always possible to cater to his every whim but I try. :)

Big score

Good morning everyone, I scored bigtime at the grocery store yesterday. After getting weird looks from the cashier as I went through with lbs. of hamburger I got home to some very happy dogs. Luke loves when he can smell raw beef. I do not typically give raw hamburger, but it really depends on how fresh it is and where I got it, yesterday it needed to be cooked. It was dated for yesterday which is fine if you are going to cook it right up, which is what I did.

Two giant pots of hamburger and two pans of chicken thighs. Today I have to get some rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes and veggies to mix up their meals for several days. It is some work but believe me over the weekend I'll be really happy that I did it. When I do premake food it is usually a base, sometimes more complete than other times. If I feel that they could use something else then I just toss it in.

This morning I had three hungry faces glued to me as I ate my toast in bed. I don't usually eat toast in the morning; Jessie and I are trying to shed a few extra pounds. But this morning it was toast and believe me that is one thing that will get Mr. Luke out of bed, toast with butter, yum.

Dog food and fallout

Okay, the big difference in feeding "dog food" and real food that I can see aside from the huge difference in nutritional value is the amount of water intake and the piles in my backyard. Yikes, what a huge difference. I have been occasionally feeding dog food so that in a pinch if I need to leave for a couple of days my dogs can eat dog food. I feed Orijen when I do feed dog food which is maybe once every three weeks.

My dogs typically water intake is very low, they rarely drink even after exercise. This is do to the large amount of normal moisture found in real food. When they eat dog food there is a small % of moisture in it causing the dogs to drink alot more. This is very obvious.

As far as the amount coming out of the dogs, I cannot even after all this time believe the difference. Once you get use to your dogs doing one small poop a day, two big whoppers is tough to deal with. Especially when you are talking about multiple dogs. So even though I will keep feeding dog food on the rare occasion so that if I ever have to leave they will be able to eat it and not get upset. It is obvious that "real" is so much better.

It's easy

This is just a demonstration to put cooking for and feeding your dog into perspective. The above plate is what we had for dinner lastnight. The bowl is what the dogs had, very similar but different. If I have not already made a big batch of food for the dogs then I'm thinking about their meal when I'm making ours. It is much easier to just make more than to make something for them that is completely different.

So lastnight we had orange chicken, they had chicken. We had sweet potatoes with butter, salt and pepper, they had sweet potatoes. We had asparagus in brown butter, they had asparagus. After we eat they eat while I clean the kitchen. It is imperative that I am in the room with them while they eat or Jessie will attempt to take everyone's food. Also, who likes to eat alone?

By thinking ahead you can really cut down on the work of cooking for your dogs, just think "big family."

Camouflage

Hiding the goods, sometimes that's what ya gotta do. As a Mom I did this often with my children, hide the veggies. If they don't see it; then they don't know they're eating it and that means they won't complain. Well just like with my kids I don't want to see the complaining and complaining about food comes in many forms. The first is "I'm not even trying it." This one bugs me the most; how do you know you don't like it if you won't even try it?

Ah, so I hide stuff, I hide it under and in amongst the good stuff. For Luke smell is everything, the second I walk in the door with raw meat he is all over me. So yesterday while I was out and about I decided to get him a double quarter pounder, yes that is what you see above (hmmm, wonder who took that bite?). He loves them and they are very fattening so he get's them once in a while. With the quality of food that my dogs eat I am not at all concerned with feeding a good ole burger every so often, especially to Luke.

The girls get a piece, the size of piece so that they know it's there but the calories are saved for Luke. I remove the top bun but he gets the bottom one that is soaked in grease. If he get's it as a lunch snack then they just eat it like it is. But lastnight I mixed it in their dinner. Oh they know what it is and even Luke is standing in the kitchen waiting. They also had apricots, banana, oatmeal, chicken and probiotics.

Luke got 3/4 of the double and even at that I need to do my magician routine. We have the burger, cut it up, put in the bowl with the other items and then stir until it looks like it is only burger. Or at least so that it's what he thinks he's eating. And believe me, Luke can pick up a mouthful of food, eat what he wants and spit out the one item he does not want. He is really amazing to watch, but it get's old really fast.

Feast fit for a dog

Before you read on, the image up top has a bottle of wine in it. The wine the dogs do not get but if you like white wine (I am not a big fan) you will love this La Crema Chardonnay, it is amazing.

Lastnight I made a scrumpshsis dinner for us; and while I was cooking our dinner I was planning the dogs dinner on the side. I am a huge believer of waste not want not so nothing goes to waste in this house. The kids all know not to throw out any leftovers if it is k9 edible. The dogs could not care in the least if they eat something that the humans could not consume because their eyes are bigger than their stomach.

So lastnight we had a chicken dish with mushrooms, capers, parmigana regiano, garlic and asparagus. Beside that concoction was a serving of the wonderfully healthy sweet potatoe. Just check out these stats The dogs also had the tender bottom end of the asparagus which I poached in spring water till tender. I then turned the stove off and allowed the water which was now filled with nutrients to soak into the asparagus.

The dogs meal consisted of sweet potatoe, asparagus, chicken, organic brown basmatti rice, capers (which are a funny little thing) and add a little umph to a meal. Although high in sodium each dog only gets a couple per bowl contents. They also had dired cranberries and of course Luke had a dollup of butter to top it all off.

The girls enjoyed their frozen yogurt mid afternoon which Luke passed on.