DOG FOOD RECIPES
Satin Balls
I’m always looking for new ideas for home cooking for my dogs. My oldest dog is ailing and is off his feed so I was looking for something that I could make to work up his appetite and to put some weight on him. After speaking with my fellow dog folks, they recommended Satin Balls. Here’s the ingredients and this is exactly what I made…
5lbs of ground beef. The higher the fat, the better.
1/2 a box of Total cereal. I used the Walmart Multigrain generic brand.
1/2 box of large box of Oatmeal. The regular stuff. Not the quick cooking one.
1/2 jar of Wheat Germ.
5 ounces of Olive Oil. The original recipe calls for vegetable oil but I preferred to use something better. I know some folks have used Flaxseed Oil and Canola Oil.
5 ounces of Unsulfured Molasses.
5 eggs.
5 envelopes of unflavored gelatin.
Pinch of salt.
I crunched up the cereal and I mixed all of this up as you would a meat loaf. Roll into 1 inch balls and you have 2 options. You can either feed it raw or cook it. I feed it raw. When I make this, I make double the batch and it lasts about a month. I ration it out by placing a days worth in plastic baggies and I freeze it. I take out 2 days at a time and put them in the fridge to defrost. As far as how much to feed, that really depends on the dog. I give Souffle a total of 6 meatballs a day and Wrigley 8 meatballs a day. This is mixed in with their kibble and a serving of brown rice/canned salmon.
5lbs of ground beef. The higher the fat, the better.
1/2 a box of Total cereal. I used the Walmart Multigrain generic brand.
1/2 box of large box of Oatmeal. The regular stuff. Not the quick cooking one.
1/2 jar of Wheat Germ.
5 ounces of Olive Oil. The original recipe calls for vegetable oil but I preferred to use something better. I know some folks have used Flaxseed Oil and Canola Oil.
5 ounces of Unsulfured Molasses.
5 eggs.
5 envelopes of unflavored gelatin.
Pinch of salt.
I crunched up the cereal and I mixed all of this up as you would a meat loaf. Roll into 1 inch balls and you have 2 options. You can either feed it raw or cook it. I feed it raw. When I make this, I make double the batch and it lasts about a month. I ration it out by placing a days worth in plastic baggies and I freeze it. I take out 2 days at a time and put them in the fridge to defrost. As far as how much to feed, that really depends on the dog. I give Souffle a total of 6 meatballs a day and Wrigley 8 meatballs a day. This is mixed in with their kibble and a serving of brown rice/canned salmon.
HOME COOKING FOR YOUR DOG
Being that my dogs eat better than I do, I feed them a quality kibble(Canidae, which you can read all about that here) but I wanted to add more to their food in order to jazz things up and to help put a little more weight on Wrigley. While there’s a lot of quality canned feed out there that you can add to kibble, it can get quite pricey when you’re feeding a bunch of dogs so I figured that I’d cook something for them. The book contains a really simple beans and rice recipe. Being that I’m Mexican, I’m always eating beans and rice. Being that my dogs are Mexican, they like beans and rice as well, lol….
The recipe for that is really simple…
1 cup cooked beans(kidney, navy or pinto), 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 cups of cooked rice(basmati or brown) and 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
When I first tried out the recipe, I used kidney beans but I switched to pinto beans as we always have those in the house. You can buy them already precooked in the can(which I do if they’re on sale) or you can buy a bag of them, put them in a pot of water and cook them on a low heat for about 2-3 hours until they’re fully cooked. I only use brown rice when I make this. When you cook the rice, you can add beef or chicken bouillon to the water while it cooks as it does add more flavor. Saute the garlic in the olive oil for a minute, add the beans(make sure you drain the water they were canned/cooked in) and then add the rice and stir well. This will make 3 cups. When I cook this recipe, I actually make almost triple which lasts a little over a week.
I currently feed my dogs brown rice mixed with canned Salmon or canned Mackerel. I boiled the rice as described above, however, I also add the garlic to the rice while it cooks. When the rice is done cooking, I drain the water from the canned salmon or mackerel and I add it to the rice. My dogs seem to like this better than the beans.
The recipe for that is really simple…
1 cup cooked beans(kidney, navy or pinto), 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 cups of cooked rice(basmati or brown) and 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
When I first tried out the recipe, I used kidney beans but I switched to pinto beans as we always have those in the house. You can buy them already precooked in the can(which I do if they’re on sale) or you can buy a bag of them, put them in a pot of water and cook them on a low heat for about 2-3 hours until they’re fully cooked. I only use brown rice when I make this. When you cook the rice, you can add beef or chicken bouillon to the water while it cooks as it does add more flavor. Saute the garlic in the olive oil for a minute, add the beans(make sure you drain the water they were canned/cooked in) and then add the rice and stir well. This will make 3 cups. When I cook this recipe, I actually make almost triple which lasts a little over a week.
I currently feed my dogs brown rice mixed with canned Salmon or canned Mackerel. I boiled the rice as described above, however, I also add the garlic to the rice while it cooks. When the rice is done cooking, I drain the water from the canned salmon or mackerel and I add it to the rice. My dogs seem to like this better than the beans.
HOME MADE COOKIES FOR YOUR DOG
A while back, a friend who owns a bookshop sent me a few dog books and one of those books is “Natural Dog- A Holistic Guide for Healthier Dogs” by Dr. Deva Khalsa. It has a lot of great information regarding canine health and nutrition and it has quite a few recipes if you want to home cook meals or treats for your dogs. Being that I bake cookies every Christmas, I figured I’d bake some treats for the dogs. I made oatmeal cookies as the recipe was fairly simple and I had most of the ingredients already stocked….
8 ounces unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg, 3 tablespoons of honey, 4 cups of rolled oats, 2 eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups of pecans and 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the honey and eggs until smooth. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and stir into the butter mixture. Add the oats and pecans and stir well. I didn’t use pecans and the cookies still came out nice.
You can shape the dough into 1 inch balls and flatten with a fork or you can do what I did and that’s roll out the dough and use a bone shape cookie cutter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until light brown. This recipe will make about 3 and 1/2 dozen cookies depending on if you roll them out or use a cookie cutter. My dogs went insane for these cookies and I’m sure your dog will too!
8 ounces unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg, 3 tablespoons of honey, 4 cups of rolled oats, 2 eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups of pecans and 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the honey and eggs until smooth. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and stir into the butter mixture. Add the oats and pecans and stir well. I didn’t use pecans and the cookies still came out nice.
You can shape the dough into 1 inch balls and flatten with a fork or you can do what I did and that’s roll out the dough and use a bone shape cookie cutter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until light brown. This recipe will make about 3 and 1/2 dozen cookies depending on if you roll them out or use a cookie cutter. My dogs went insane for these cookies and I’m sure your dog will too!
Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Dog Cookies
4 cups Whole wheat flour.
2 cups Rolled oats.
1 cup Peanut butter. You can use smooth or crunchy. I prefer smooth.
1/2 cup Honey.
1 and 1/2 cups hot water.
Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the flour, oats, peanut butter, honey and add the water little by little until it's fully mixed. You may find that you'll need more or less water. You want to make sure the dough is fully mixed but not too thin or sticky. Roll it out to to the desired thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Depending on how thick you rolled it out, bake between 20-45 minutes. The cookies may feel soft when they come out of the oven but they do harden up. Depending on the size of the cookie cutters you use, you can get at least 3 dozen cookies out of this.
2 cups Rolled oats.
1 cup Peanut butter. You can use smooth or crunchy. I prefer smooth.
1/2 cup Honey.
1 and 1/2 cups hot water.
Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the flour, oats, peanut butter, honey and add the water little by little until it's fully mixed. You may find that you'll need more or less water. You want to make sure the dough is fully mixed but not too thin or sticky. Roll it out to to the desired thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Depending on how thick you rolled it out, bake between 20-45 minutes. The cookies may feel soft when they come out of the oven but they do harden up. Depending on the size of the cookie cutters you use, you can get at least 3 dozen cookies out of this.
Banana and Apple Dog Cookies
3 Bananas
4 and 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons Honey
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Applesauce. I prefer unsweetened.
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 cups Hot water
Preheat the oven to 350. Mash the bananas until smooth and add flour, honey, vanilla extract, applesauce, baking powder and slowly add water until all ingredients are mixed. You may have to add more flour and/or less water as I have found that this mixture is very sticky and you may have to freeze/refrigerate it for a while so that it can be easier to roll out and cut out. Depending on how thick you roll it out, bake for at least 30 to 45 minutes. They do harden up a bit once they're out of the oven but there is some softness to them, especially in the middle. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter you use, you can get at least 3 dozen out of this.
4 and 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons Honey
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Applesauce. I prefer unsweetened.
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 cups Hot water
Preheat the oven to 350. Mash the bananas until smooth and add flour, honey, vanilla extract, applesauce, baking powder and slowly add water until all ingredients are mixed. You may have to add more flour and/or less water as I have found that this mixture is very sticky and you may have to freeze/refrigerate it for a while so that it can be easier to roll out and cut out. Depending on how thick you roll it out, bake for at least 30 to 45 minutes. They do harden up a bit once they're out of the oven but there is some softness to them, especially in the middle. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter you use, you can get at least 3 dozen out of this.
Sweet Potato and Apple Dog Cookies
5 Sweet Potatoes. I used 5 because they were small in size.
2 and 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour.
1/2 cup Applesauce. I prefer unsweetened.
4 teaspoons Honey.
1 and 1/4 cup Hot Water
Peel, cut up and boil sweet potatoes until soft. Drain the water and mash them up. Preheat the oven to 350. Add sweet potatoes, flour, applesauce, honey and slowly add the water.You may have to add more flour and/or less water as I have found that this mixture is very sticky and you may have to freeze/refrigerate it for a while so that it can be easier to roll out and cut out. Depending on how thick you roll it out, bake for at least 30 to 45 minutes. They do harden up a bit once they're out of the oven but there is some softness to them, especially in the middle. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter you use, you can get at least 3 dozen out of this.
2 and 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour.
1/2 cup Applesauce. I prefer unsweetened.
4 teaspoons Honey.
1 and 1/4 cup Hot Water
Peel, cut up and boil sweet potatoes until soft. Drain the water and mash them up. Preheat the oven to 350. Add sweet potatoes, flour, applesauce, honey and slowly add the water.You may have to add more flour and/or less water as I have found that this mixture is very sticky and you may have to freeze/refrigerate it for a while so that it can be easier to roll out and cut out. Depending on how thick you roll it out, bake for at least 30 to 45 minutes. They do harden up a bit once they're out of the oven but there is some softness to them, especially in the middle. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter you use, you can get at least 3 dozen out of this.
Strawberry and Oatmeal Treats
1lb strawberries, finely chopped
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 to 1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients. You may fiind that you don't need as much milk as when I used 1 cup, the mixture was a little thin. The next time I make this, I'm going to try 3/4 cup and see if that comes out better. You want the consistency to be thick so it's easy to roll out little balls. I used a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop out balls and I placed them on a cookie sheet. Bake between 10-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the balls. This yields about 4 dozen treats.
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 to 1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients. You may fiind that you don't need as much milk as when I used 1 cup, the mixture was a little thin. The next time I make this, I'm going to try 3/4 cup and see if that comes out better. You want the consistency to be thick so it's easy to roll out little balls. I used a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop out balls and I placed them on a cookie sheet. Bake between 10-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the balls. This yields about 4 dozen treats.
BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR YOUR DOG
This is a very simple recipe. This is the full recipe, however, when I make it, I cut it in half because the full recipe is just way too much for my dogs. Instead of using a cake pan, I use a muffin pan and make birthday muffins so that each dog can get one.
Cake: 1 and 1/2 cups melted unsalted butter. 3 teaspoons baking powder. 1 and 1/2 cups of honey. 1 teaspoon cinnamon. 4 eggs. 4 cups whole wheat flour. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
Icing: 16 ounces cream cheese. 8 ounce stick of unsalted butter, softened. I have used peanut butter instead of cream cheese and butter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one large bowl, mix together butter, honey and eggs. In a seperate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and slowly mix in the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Do not beat. If you're making the full recipe, you'll need to grease one large pan or 2 round cake pans with butter or non-stick spray. If you make half the recipe, you can use 1 round cake pan or a few small/large muffin pans. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. If you aren't sure if they're fully cooked, I use the toothpick method. I stick a toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, they're done baking. Allow to cool before you apply the icing. If you're using the cream cheese/butter mixture, mix the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and then apply it to the cake. If you're using peanut butter, apply it straight from the jar to the cake. My dogs love this recipe and I always make it whenever one of them has a birthday.
Cake: 1 and 1/2 cups melted unsalted butter. 3 teaspoons baking powder. 1 and 1/2 cups of honey. 1 teaspoon cinnamon. 4 eggs. 4 cups whole wheat flour. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
Icing: 16 ounces cream cheese. 8 ounce stick of unsalted butter, softened. I have used peanut butter instead of cream cheese and butter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one large bowl, mix together butter, honey and eggs. In a seperate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and slowly mix in the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Do not beat. If you're making the full recipe, you'll need to grease one large pan or 2 round cake pans with butter or non-stick spray. If you make half the recipe, you can use 1 round cake pan or a few small/large muffin pans. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. If you aren't sure if they're fully cooked, I use the toothpick method. I stick a toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, they're done baking. Allow to cool before you apply the icing. If you're using the cream cheese/butter mixture, mix the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and then apply it to the cake. If you're using peanut butter, apply it straight from the jar to the cake. My dogs love this recipe and I always make it whenever one of them has a birthday.
HOME MADE ICE CREAM FOR YOUR DOG
When it's hot out, ice cream is a nice treat for the dogs. So far, the only ice cream for dogs I know that's available to purchase is Purina Frosty Paws. I am not a fan of Purina products, for various reasons, and the fact that they do not list the ingredients of Frosty Paws on their website is a HUGE red flag for me. After doing some searching, I found the ingredient list and based on what's in them, I would not feed these to my dogs. I decided to make my own which is WAY healthier, not to mention safer as they do not contain BHT and BHA, and my dogs absolutely love them! Here's what you need to make them...
32 oz. yogurt. I use vanilla flavored Greek yogurt as it's nice and thick. Be sure you read the ingredients as some yogurts contain Aspartame. While it's not toxic, it can cause stomach upset in some dogs and I prefer to not use artificial sweeteners at all when making dog treats.
1 banana, very well mashed.
1 teaspoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon honey
Optional fresh fruit. I have used blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries and peaches.
Optional dog bone. I use the dog bone as an "ice cream stick". I used Milkbone Healthy Favorites in chicken flavor as they were the "healthiest" bones I was able to find at the grocery store.
3 oz. size Dixie cups.
Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and use a mixer to mix the ingredients well. If you are adding fresh fruit, and I highly suggest you do so as the dogs seem to love it even more, make sure you cut up the fruit into pieces/chunks before you add it to be mixed. Once the ingredients are well mixed, fill up a Dixie cup about 3/4's to the top and add a bone in the middle of it. Put them in the freezer and wait until they are well frozen before serving. This will make about a dozen treats.
32 oz. yogurt. I use vanilla flavored Greek yogurt as it's nice and thick. Be sure you read the ingredients as some yogurts contain Aspartame. While it's not toxic, it can cause stomach upset in some dogs and I prefer to not use artificial sweeteners at all when making dog treats.
1 banana, very well mashed.
1 teaspoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon honey
Optional fresh fruit. I have used blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries and peaches.
Optional dog bone. I use the dog bone as an "ice cream stick". I used Milkbone Healthy Favorites in chicken flavor as they were the "healthiest" bones I was able to find at the grocery store.
3 oz. size Dixie cups.
Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and use a mixer to mix the ingredients well. If you are adding fresh fruit, and I highly suggest you do so as the dogs seem to love it even more, make sure you cut up the fruit into pieces/chunks before you add it to be mixed. Once the ingredients are well mixed, fill up a Dixie cup about 3/4's to the top and add a bone in the middle of it. Put them in the freezer and wait until they are well frozen before serving. This will make about a dozen treats.