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.

Planning ahead

I usually cook everyday for my dogs. Sometimes I will cook meat in the morning for the whole day, other times I cook at ever meal. And sometimes I just chop because I'm not cooking. And then there are other times when I buy a whole whack of meat and cook it all. So what do you do with it?

I've found that it is much easier to cook the meat and mix it with everything else before freezing. Above is an image of what I do with the prepared food. Yesterday I cooked several roasts and chicken thighs which I got on a good deal. It is too much for a week so I prepared several meals and freeze it in icecream scoop size balls.

The mixture this morning was a bit wet but it'll be yummy. I put all the broth from the roast into the food. First I scooped off the fat from the top so that I could use the broth. There was a mixture of beef, chicken, dried cranberries, apricots, wheat grass, oatmeal and basmati rice today. If I want to add anything else I'll do it before I feed them. So I make the ice cream scoop balls and place them onto naturally waxed paper and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen I put them into a freezer bag or container and keep them in the deep freeze.

This is especially good for when I'm feeling very lazy.

Raw day

Yesterday was a raw day; just raw beef for breakfast and raw beef, whole wheat pasta, green pepper and craberries for dinner. Luke loves these days but I cannot always have raw on hand. If you are going to feed raw it must be fresh; so on the way home from the gym I stopped into the grocer to stock up. It always causes a stir in the store as I go through the cash. Piles and piles of fresh beef and chicken and a small pack of yogurt (for me).

I've been putting organic goat yogurt in the dogs food lately as well as a probiotic supplement. Everyone is doing great on it; no problems. So back to the raw; the dogs had it yesterday and they will have a morning meal of it today. The rest will be cooked, prepared and packaged away in the freezer.

If you take the time and prepare several meals ahead it really makes feeding the dogs this way easy. Just like when I make a big stew for us, it ends up being dinner and leftovers the next day. And in my books leftovers just simply means less work for Mom, that's me!

Can you cut corners?

Can you cut corners when feeding your canines? Most definitely. Do you eat a completely balanced meal everyday of your life? I know I don't; I try to feed my family really well but sometimes its Jalepenos or Pizza hut. So if somedays you are running short on time then cutting corners is fine. Of course well balanced each and every meal is much better but when you see what the finickiest of dogs can exist on you realize that a quickie once in a while is okay.

So what is a quickie meal for the dogs? Somedays it's raw meat, oatmeal and apple. Other days it might just be some raw beef; and believe me they do not mind those days. If your dogs like egg; then some hard boiled egg, ham and oatmeal.

Feeding your dogs isn't a science; although you should feed the best quality and do your research but on those days when you're in a pinch, don't panic, stress or guilt out, make them a couple of fried eggs and green beans.

Lentils for dogs

I made a delicious pot of lentils, quinoa and dumplings lastnight. It was all very healthy except for the dumplings; but hey I am of Scottish heritage and LOVE dumplings. So that said the dogs had some lentils as well, they get the veggies, the broth, the quinoa and some of the spices but not the onion or the dumplings (those babies are mine alone.)

They actually enjoyed them and I am eating my lentil leftovers as I type, delicious. My dogs also love other types of beans like; pinto, black and especially chick or garbonzo beans.

This is a great article on Vegan dogs. It is full of great info on what dogs can eat.

You can prepare beans from scratch but I buy either canned or packaged. The lentils we eat most of the time are from Trader Joe's and ready to put into a pot. They are delicious and a great source of protein and fibre for both dogs and us.

The tomato

I love tomatos, there is nothing better than a summer fresh tomato. They are sweet and juicy and delicious. I am constantly searching for a really good tomato. The tomatos on a vine come very close to that Northern summer tomato taste. Another favorite variety of mine is the pearl tomato which I can now get on a regular basis at Trader Joe's and an organic version.

What is in a tomato that is great? Nutritional info

So do dogs enjoy tomatos? My girls do but not surprisingly Luke does not. Although if they are in his food he will eat them. When I offer them whole to the girls they gentle take them from my hand and carry them off where they proceed to carefully burst them. Jessie will sometimes just pop a small pearl tomato and startles as it bursts in her mouth.

I often add this amazing fruit to the dogs morning or evening meals. I always chop the tomato, even the small ones as the skin is often difficult for the dogs to digest. Better still is to give stewed or slightly simmered tomatos.

There has been much research done on the effects of vitamin C and Hip Dysplasia. Tomatos contain vitamin C. If you research hip displaysia and vitamin C you will find a plethora of information on the subject.

Hip Displaysia

Hmmmm, tomato sandwiches for breakfast sounds good. :)