Bucket Stuff

What do you feed your dogs?

We've become "picky" lately. We try to find food made in the USA, wheat free, etc...

For kibble, we discovered Nature's Domain at Costco. It's made in the USA (California, Missouri, or South Carolina). It's grain free too! It comes in two varieties - both in 35lb bags. Salmon meal and Sweet Potato (~$28 a bag) & Turkey meal and Sweet Potato (~$32 a bag).

For a while we were supplementing with a raw diet. Unfortunately the meat is a little to pricey for us right now.

I got tired of feeding the dogs just kibble, so I made up my own amalgam of fresh stuff to supplement their diets. We affectionately call it "Bucket Stuff".

Bucket stuff can be pretty much whatever you want it to be. Here's the mix I made today.

Bucket Stuff:

1 box Quick Barley - cook according to box. I add a little beef stock.

1 box frozen Spinach

1 can pumpkin

2 sweet potatoes

2 apples

2 carrots

1-2 cups butternut squash

1-2 cups broccoli

I cook the carrot, broccoli, and squash in the steamer. I boil the sweet potato.

Here's the final mix. It's a pretty big bucket.

Sometimes I add in flax seed or flax meal. Today I threw in a little of my leftover quinoa. The dogs really love it. I find the big ziploc tub I make lasts us around a week, week and a half.

If you make some up, give me some feedback. Do your dogs like it?

Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups

Bender promised I would share another treat recipe. This is more time consuming than the last recipe I posted in my Sunday=Baking post, but the dogs seem to enjoy the finished product just as much. I got this recipe from Jen over at All-Natural-Dog-Treat. She made treats for her dog Baggins, who sadly passed about a month ago.

Recipe for Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups (modified from Jen's website)

*Note this recipe does take time to complete. You must have time to freeze finished dough!

For the Filling

1/2 c - Oatmeal, powdered (crush it up in the food processor)

2 tbsp - honey

1 tbsp - peanut butter (chunky or creamy is fine, just make sure it's organic!)

2 tbsp - Flax seeds, optional

1 egg white

For the Filling:
Use food processor to turn the oats into powder. Basically you’re making oat flour for the filling. Sift, then measure out ¼ c. of the most finely powdered oats.

Dump this back in the food processor and add peanut butter, honey and egg white. Blend until thoroughly mixed. Add flax seeds then pulse a couple of times to mix but keep mostly whole (mix by hand if you prefer, I'm just lazy).

Scrape out as much as possible into small bowl and set aside. Don't bother to clean out the food processor, you'll be using most of the same ingredients in the next step anyway.

Dough Ingredients:

1.5 c - whole wheat flour

1/2 c - all purpose flour

1/2 c - dry oatmeal

1/2 c - applesauce (puree a small apple as a substitute)

1/4 c - milk

1/4 c - peanut butter

2 tbsp - honey

1 egg + 1 yolk (XL)

For the Dough: Dump applesauce, milk, egg yolk, peanut butter, honey, and oats in food processor and pulse a few times.

Ingredients should be well combined, the oats looking about a quarter of their usual size. Scrape this out into the larger (1.5qt) bowl then add all purpose and whole wheat flour. Mix thoroughly to form a stiff dough. If dough is too dry to stick together, add 1tbsp of water at a time (do not exceed 4tbsp) until moist enough to stick. Knead for about 5 minutes then let dough rest for 10 minutes.

*Note:* Jen prefers to chop up a small apple rather than using applesauce. This leaving small chunks to give the dough more texture. I would have to agree with her.

To Make the Roll Ups:
Roll out dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper, 1/4" to 1/2" thick, forming a rectangular shape about 8" wide, length will vary depending on thickness. Slightly taper both long ends. Now, get out the filling and evenly coat the whole top of the dough, avoiding the flattened edges. (I added a little extra honey and peanut butter for good measure!)

CAREFULLY roll up the dough tightly enough to trap the filling inside (don't let it squeeze out the ends) starting from one flattened edge to the other. (If the end won't stay put, moisten the tapered edge a bit so it will stick.) Once rolled up, wrap the wax or parchment paper around the tube then put it in a plastic bag or wrap it with plastic wrap, and put it in the freezer until firm enough to cut easily (usually 2-3 hours).

Even It Out

If your roll is uneven, you can even it out after chilling by rolling it with your hands against a flat surface.

You can also reduce the thickness in the same way, though I'd do this after chilling one hour then return the roll to the freezer. Using a slight sawing motion, cut slices 1/4" to 1/2" thick.

Baking

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees (325 degrees if using dark cookie sheet), top rack for 30-45 minutes or until tops are slightly golden and bottoms are lightly browned. If you like, turn them for the last 10 minutes baking time so that the filling on the top browns and makes the swirl pattern more obvious. Let cool and then you can feed a healthy,delicious and PRETTY snack to your canine companion. Makes about 28 cookies, 2" wide, 1/2" thickness. (Rachel Note - again, with fresh treats I refrigerate them since they don't have preservatives.)

*Note:* But, they don't have to be roll-ups.

You could also roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness, cut into equal halves, coat the top of one half with the filling, top with second half of dough then cut into squares or strips. That would make more of a peanut butter dog treat sandwich.

Sunday = Baking

Usually on Sundays I find myself writing lesson plans, grading papers, catching up on homework for my class, etc., but on the rare occasion that I am caught up on my work, I like to bake on Sunday.

Today C reminded me that I had peeled some bananas and left them in the fridge. I decided to make chocolate chip banana bread for the humans. After I had finished this I still had a lot of leftover banana. I looked down at the Corgi sitting by my feet, staring at me, begging me to make him some nommy treats.

I dug out a recipe I had for peanut butter dog treats and modified it to include banana.

Lazer beam boys want treats!

Corgi Approved!

Bender's Peanut Butter Banana Treats

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/2 cup peanut butter (all-natural or organic)

1/2 cup mashed banana

1/2 - 3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine oil, peanut butter, banana and water. Mix flour together in a separate bowl, and add flour, one cup at a time, forming a dough. Knead dough into firm ball and roll to 1/4 inch thickness. (I've found you need to add a little extra water)

Use cookie cutter or cut into desired shapes. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes (longer if you desire crunchier treats). I recommend rotating the trays half way through. Makes 2+ dozen cookies. (Note: If you wish to leave the banana out and make plain peanut butter treats, increase water to 1 cup. You can also add a sprinkling of flax seeds. Finally, I refrigerate mine so they last longer.)