Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Winter veggies beef casserole

1/4 cup pepitas (can get at Trader Joes/they are the inside of the pumpkin seed)
1 pound 4% chopped beef
1 pound butternut squash (I buy already cubed)
2 medium green zuchinni's
2 cups yellow string beans
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 cloves garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put butternut squash on sheet pan and drizzle with EVOO and bake for 35 - 40 minutes until tender.

Put the pepitas in the food processor and combine until ground up a bit.  Add this to a big bowl.

While the squash it cooking , put 1 Tablespoon Coconut oil and 1 Tablespoon EVOO in frying pan and saute beans for 4 minutes.
When beans are done, just place them in food processor.

Put cubed zuchinni in the pan and when partially done, add the beef and garlic and stir until the beef is cooked and add to food processor with the beans  along with frozen blueberries and process.

Add the mixture to a big bowl.

  Then put the butternut squash, cottage cheese and process and add to the big bowl.

Add the parsley, garlic and basil that has been chopped to the bowl and mix all up.

I pre-measure serving sizes and put in freezer bags and freeze.

Always alternate your meals, so if one night they get beef, the next night they should get a turkey or salmon casserole with different veggies.  No one wants to eat the same thing over and over!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Autumn up with Fennel and Butternut Squash!

The leaves have turned bright red and orange color and the fruit and veggies at the market are also reflective of the season.  I just bought some Fennel, actually I bought it for my human family.  Growing up in an Italian Family, Fennel was always presented on the dinner table along with nuts and oranges.after the meal was done.

You ask, why would one give Fennel to a dog?  You may even ask what is Fennel?

Well first of all, I consider Fennel a high class celery with a split personality!  It is crisp like a celery but has MUCH flavor.  Eaten raw, Fennel has a nice licorice flavor. Once roasted, Fennel takes on a sweet flavor.

Why give it to your pooch?  Fennel aids in the digestion process and rids the body of toxins, so why not?

Below is the recipe I created today; of course you can substitute ingredients, you can put pasta in or leave it out if your pooch is allergic to wheat; in the recipe I used brown rice pasta, so there is no wheat.  Have fun while creating your own recipes for your pooch!  You can go to my back postings to see what NOT to feed your pooch.

Autumn Casserole with Fennel:

1 lb 4% ground beef
1 bulb of fennel with tops
2 cups cubed butternut squash
ExtraVirgin Olive Oil EVOO
thyme
1 clove garlic
2 cups Kale (I buy frozen from Trader Joes)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups (uncooked) brown rice Pasta
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Cut up the fennel. Reserve the ferns.
Don't know how to cut it, look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPTZDvdKYcM

Put cut up fennel and butternut squash in a pan with parchment paper (for easy cleanup)  and coat with EVOO.  I put my oven on Convection Roast at 375 for like 20 - 25 minutes until the butternut squash is soft




Cook the meat and when half way through, put in the garlic and chopped up ferns that I asked you to reserve along with the thyme.



Meanwhile cook the frozen Kale in a microwave container around 4 - 5 minutes.  Add 1/4 cup of water to it.
After the meat and veggies are cooked, add to a food processor along with the kale and the water that you added to cook the kale.  Mix and also add the blueberries.

Cook the pasta with the most time allowed on the directions.

  Drain and toss with the coconut oil and add to the mixture that has already gone through the food processor..  I don't like to put the pasta in the food processor cause my dogs like to eat the pasta in its orginal form,  but right before serving, if the pasta is big, I do run my fork through it to cut up a bit.



When all finished, you can pre-measure all meals in sandwich bags and put in freezer along with your other meals and you can alternate what you give your dogs!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Salmon with good stuff!


How does this look for the start of a nice healthy recipe... can't go wrong with blueberries, zuchinni, asparagus, sweet potatoes and garbanzo beans, just need to add the salmon and we are done!




RECIPE for Salmon Dinner:

1 block of salmon (I buy the frozen prepackaged frozen raw salmon from Costco)
1/2 package Trader Joes roasted asparagus (or a bunch of fresh)
1 sweet potato, or 2 cups carrots
1 zuchinni that I roasted in toaster oven
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed to take salt out
1 1/2 cups of Italian 5 grain pasta that I found at Costco (see pictures below)

See below to see the good ingredients in this!




Brush salmon with Extra Virgin Olive Oil  and cook in toaster oven on 350 until done.
Cook pasta in extra water and cook for 25 minutes, not the 15 minutes on the directions.  Grains are great for dogs, lots of fiber but they just need to be cooked longer in more water so they can easily digest.
Microwave potato and cook zuchinni however you want, I roasted it in toaster oven.

Put all ingredients in food processor (not the pasta) and mix.  Hand mix the pasta.
I use a large cookie scoop dropper which measures a 1/4 of a cup and pre-measure for each meal.

This recipe makes 6 meals for two dogs.  My dogs are 11 pounds and 16 pounds and they get 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup twice a day.


My finished product, all premeasured .  Each bag has 1 meal for both dogs in it.  I just take out of freezer in the morning and defrost and its done!


























Sunday, June 17, 2012

Turkey meatball snacks


1 pound ground turkey
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 tablespoon blueberry flaxseed
1 egg
1 tablespoon parsley
1 carrot
1 green zuchinni
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup mozerella
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Place bread in food processor to make bread crumbs and then mix with flax seed.  Put in bowl.  Grate zuchinni and carrot, place in bowl; chop parsely and garlic in food processor; put in bowl.  Add egg and turkey and EVOO and mix all together. 

Make into small meatballs and bake at 375 until done, maybe 20 minutes.









Cook and put some in refrig and the rest in freezer.  Freezes well!




Monday, June 4, 2012

To Supplement or not?

I have a love/hate relationship with vitamins.  Before I begin, let me stress that I am not a doctor, just a person with my opinions based on experiences.
I used  to sell Shaklee vitamins back in the day and take a ton of them.  Just two years ago I had some bad blood circulation in my arms and I purchased this vitamin that claimed to help blood circulation.  After being on it for two weeks I got my menstrual period and I proceeded to get my period twice a month for three months before I went to the doctor who was perplexed.  I came home after a wasted doctor's visit and I read the back of the bottle of the vitamin to improved blood circulation and it read "increases blood flow"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well it sure did increase blood flow with me!  I went off that vitamin and my periods went right back to normal!  This experience really made me think how vitamins can effect your body.

So a little over a year ago my holistic vet suggested that I home cook for my bichons cause one of them was always vomiting.  I did ask her if I should supplement and she said "as long as I give them plenty of fruits and vegtables, ect I will be fine.

Well I did that for a whole year and my dogs were so healthy but I was reading some articles that said people who home cook for their dogs are causing their dogs to have brittle bones, ect ( you can't always believe what you read and you need to know ALL the facts) ... so I went out and purchased a cocktail of a powder with everything in it including nutritional yeast.

Three weeks after giving the powder supplement one of my dogs got a yeast ear infection.  My vet said the supplement did NOT cause the yeast infection but rather it was caused from stress of having a foster dog in the house for two weeks.  I do believe her but still it gave me doubts about the supplements and I do give my dogs fresh produce, beef, turkey, salmon, oils, ect so I really think they are eating probably just as good if not better than we are so I am not going to supplement anymore.

What is your take on supplements?

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Beef Zuchinni casserole



1/2 pound ground beef (only 7% fat) hard to find 1/2 pound so buy the 1 pound and freeze half of it for another time!
2 teaspoons of thyme
1 tablespoon each of extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil
2 green zucchinis
1 bag frozen carrots cooked in microwave
1 cut quinoa (rinse well before cooking)
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
1 egg
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 tablespoon flax seed
1/3 cup low sodium beef broth

Rinse the one cup of Quinoa very well to get all the bitter taste out of it and cook it in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes.  This is NOT the recommended cooking time on the box but the recommended cooking time for this particular grain for dogs. I am seeing this grain in my local Safeway now so it should be easy to find though you can substitute couscous if you can't find.


Shred the two washed zucchinis with a box shredder.  You can use a food processor but it gives my right boob a good workout! 




 Sautee the zucchini in the oils for five minutes and then add the diced garlic and cook until all in tender on medium heat.  Be careful, garlic can burn if cooked too high and it taste nasty then and even a dog won't eat it then!



Now cook the meat in the same pan that you cooked the zucchini and add the thyme.
Add the cooked quinoa to the cooked zucchini and then add the cooked beef breaking up all the clumps of beef to evenly distribute the beef.


Put the cooked carrots, garlic and parsley in the food processor (you can even put the beef in here)






Now mix everything up including the egg and cottage cheese and beef broth.





place it all in a well oiled pan and bake for 20 minutes in a 375 over




With my dinner casseroles, I measure out servings and freeze each serving.  This way I can give them an a variety of foods.  Bella is allergic to chicken and Snow is not crazy about fish, so that leaves turkey, lamb, beef, vegetarian and egg casseroles.








Asparagus omelet

1 tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
8 large eggs
one bunch fresh asparagus (I prefer the pencil size)

1 tablespoon of ground flax seed
1 medium sweet potato cooked in microwave
1/2 cup low fat ricotta

Melt the oils in a pan that can be put into the oven to bake later at 375.  I just open the jar of coconut oil 
and the dogs come running for a taste!



cut the asparagus small and cook in the oil for five minutes and then add the diced garlic and stir frequently on medium heat until the asparagus are tender.




  Then add the cooked sweet potato and mash in pan to eventually distribute. 







 In a bowl, scramble the eggs with ricotta and flax seed and add to pan.
Cook in oven for around 375 until it looks set.













Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Turkey Casserole

Funny thing about turkey, if you talk to people they will say "be careful, don't let your dog eat the turkey for Thanksgiving, it will get them sick".  Well, that simply is NOT true.  As with anything, you need to consider your source.  Turkey has L-tryptophan in it  which is a natural tranquilizer.  My own vet says she tells her clients to feed their dogs turkey if they are nervous dogs. It calms them down.  There is no harm at all giving your dog turkey!  I have to say that the very first time I gave my dogs turkey, it really made them sluggish.  I fed them at 5:15ish and Daddy came home around 5:40ish and when he walked in the door, he is always greeted with wags and kisses but this time, the dogs did not budge, they just laid on the couch!   It does not really hit them that hard anymore and honestly I do not see any signs of slugishness (is that not a word)?  Anyway, for those dogs that can not eat chicken, turkey is a great alternative.  Here is the recipe I made this evening.

1 pound turkey
1 Tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 pound asparagus/EVOO for coating
2 cups cubed butternut squash
3 cups cooked whole wheat couscous
1 egg
1/2 cup ricotta
2 teaspoons ground flax seed
1/2 cup sweet potato puree (I get at Trader Joes but you can use low sodium beef broth

Cook the turkey with the thyme and garlic powder and drain off the fat.











 Put in food processor to make the turkey smaller. While turkey cooking, roast the asparagus (coated in EVOO/Extra Virgin Olive Oil) in a 425 oven for 10 - 15 minutes






and micowave the butternut squash which is covered in water for 11 minutes or until soft.




 Also cook the coucus for five minutes (1 cup coucus to 2 cups water, let come to boil and take off heat for five minutes and its done!).
Put the turkey in a big mixing bowl and put the cooked asparagus and squash in the food processor.
Add the ricotta, egg, flax seed and puree to the vegetable mixture and mix all together.
Add this mixture to the turkey and add couscous and mix all up.

Put in a greased 9x13 casserole dish and bake for around 20 minutes.



When cool, you can pre measure out portions and put in sandwich bags and store in freezer until ready to use!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Beef Liver roll overs!

I named this recipe Beef Liver "roll overs" because the aroma of this recipe made the dogs doing "roll overs" while I was still cutting the cooked liver into little squares!
I have made chicken liver treats in the past but was starting to think that Bella is allergic to chicken and even though she was not getting sick on the chicken liver treats I thought it would be best to make it with beef liver!  I always loved when my mom would make beef liver and onions with a splash of red wine vinegar on Friday nights!  Yummo!
So I went to the grocery store to find beef liver; they were sold out of calf liver.  Next time I make this recipe I will find ORGANIC Calf liver.  The reason:  the liver is the filter of the body and a calf lives less longer than a full grown cow so their will be less toxins in a calf liver and buying organic makes it even have less toxins.  I am not a big proponent of Organic simply because I can not justify the cost of organic foods however when it comes to liver I think it would be best to buy organic liver!

So here is the recipe:

1 pound of beef liver (calf liver preferred and organic if you can find)
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon of parsley
1 head of broccoli (cooked in microwave)
1 cup of uncooked oatmeal (not quick oats)
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of ground flax seed
1 1/2 Tablespoons of EVOO

Take out your food processor (I swear my food processor is my number one favorite kitchen appliance)!  Cut the liver into sections to make it easier to process and process it with the two garlic cloves.


 Add the broccoli and parsley to the liver and mix well.   Then add the rest of the ingredients (minus the EVOO).
Pour the EVOO on the bottom of a cookie sheet that has sides and pour the mixture onto the cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until desired texture.  I like mine firm so it can cut into nice squares without crumbling.
Let it cool and cut into desired squares and store some in frig and freeze the rest.



Remember a dog should have only 5% of his daily diet from liver.  You do not want to over feed a dog liver or foods with a high fat content  or they can get pancreatitis.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Pumpkin Peanut butter cookies

A cold March morning after warm days inspired me to make this recipe this morning to warm the house up.  I doctored up this recipe from a facebook friend, Anita who has two Black Scotties.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons of ground flax seed or ground flax seed with ground blueberries*
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 Tablespoons coconut oil that has been melted in microwave
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not the pie filling)
1 egg
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (for extra sweetness) or Kefir
1/4 cup peanut butter (soften in microwave)

* I got the ground flax seed at Trader Joes but I am sure other stores like Whole Foods/Wegmans  or health food stores will carry.  I use REAL peanut butter, Costco now sells it, it has no hydronated oils! Coconut oil  has a higher melting point so make sure you melt it all!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine flour with all the dry ingredients.  Mix all the wet ingredients together and mix into the dry ingredients until well mixed.  Form into little balls and put on cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Flatten out a bit and bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

Store some in frig and freeze the rest!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Recipe for a first aid kit for you car!

I can not take credit for this video, I stole it from another group I am on but I think this is a great idea:
a few more things I would add to this first aid kit are:  Lotrim (in the liquid drop form) for ear infections and maybe some kind of treat that is not perishable like a tube of peanut butter, something to give as a reward for the doggie being brave and good for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu_cFcSR5bc

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Yogurt Peanut butter treats!

Now that the weather is getting warm (70 degrees) on Feb 23 here in Virginia, when our babies come home they are hot! What can you give them to keep them hydrated?  Of course fruit is always a great answer but for a special frozen treat, I would like to share a recipe given to me from a facebook friend, Carol Jayne.
It is the most easiest treat you can make!

 Get 1/4 cup peanut butter (I like to use real peanut butter without hydrogenated oil/ Costco now has it back in stock!).

Anyway put the 1/4 cup of peanut butter in microwave around 38 seconds until nice and soft and then add 1/2 cup Plain Yogurt.  Mix together and drop by portion size onto a piece of foil and freeze a few hours until firm.  Store in container in your freezer until ready to serve!!!

Since we are on the topic of keeping your dogs hydrated, remember to change your dogs water bowl twice a day and I don't mean just adding water to it or emptying it out, WASH the dish and then add nice cool water.  When really hot I add a few ice cubes, but Bella makes a complete mess trying to take the ice cubes out.

You may also want to have water bowls in several areas of the house when the weather is really hot and humid but we do have a few months to go for that!  For now, make these simple treats and take one out after your walks, your dog will love you for it but of course your dog loves you already!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Fresh Salmon Casserole (with pictures!)

Ok guys, I finally got my camera back from my 14 year old daughter, she needed it to make a video of a science project.  I have been telling her for the past three days that I need my camera back and then today while the veggies were sauting for this recipe I was screaming to her to bring me my camera!!!!  So here it goes for the recipe plus pictures!

1/2 pound fresh salmon (check to see where it is from)  I do not buy from far away lands and like farm raised if possible
1 cup brown rice (rinsed)
1 sweet potato (skin off)
1 zucchini grated
1 bunch of tender asparagus cut in very small slices
2 gloves of garlic minced or put through a garlic press
2 teaspoons of EVOO for sauting
2 Tablespoons of plain Kefir
2 eggs

Cook the brown rice in a pot of water covering the rice two times.  Cook for 70 minutes!  Yes cook the rice that long so it is easily disgestable and I say to put that much water in so you don't burn your pot.  I do put a swig of EVOO in the water.





While cooking the rice,baked the salmon with some EVOO on 375 until cooked around 15 minutes and








boil the sweet potatoes in water until tender.





Put the cooked salmon and sweet potato in a food processor and mix with the Kefir.







Cook the zucchini, asparagus and garlic until veggies are tender.





When the rice is done, mix it with everything including the eggs.

Place in a 9x13 baker with EVOO on the bottom and cook at 375 for around 25 minutes!


If your dog can't do dairy, don't put in the Kefir; if you don't have those veggies, use other veggies.  Just cook for your dogs, they will thank you and you will be providing them with the healthiest food ever!














Sunday, February 19, 2012

Garlic: raw or cooked ?????

My holistic vet and the book that I have referred to at the beginning of this blog states that 1 clove raw garlic a day is fine for dogs and actually good for their coat.  I am 100% Italian and I always cook with garlic and always put raw in our salad... my kids don't like it cause it gives you bad breath but it is so good for you.  Anyway, I will have to say that from now on I will NOT put raw garlic in the dogs food bur rather sautee it in EVOO with the meat or veggies that I a cooking.. this is my findings:


All the meals I make I have been sauteing the garlic with the meat or veggies but THIS week, I was chopping up the garlic RAW and putting it in the food. Bella, my two year old sucked up her meals but she will also eat dead worms on the side walk!  Snow, who is my picky eater, loves all the meals I cook but the switch this week was to put RAW garlic in it.  So this week, he goes up to it and sniffs it (we all know the best sense for dogs is SMELL) and he sniffed it and walked away because he did not like the smell of raw garlic!  From now on I will cook the garlic in his food!


Garlic is so good for humans, it has a natural antibiotic called ACILLIN.  I used to get this freaky magazine way back in the day like 26 years ago that would treat vagina yeast infections with raw garlic.  You would thread a clove of garlic  and put it up your vagina and let it say for a day and then put another one up the next day with one cut in the garlic and continue for five days with new garlic and more cuts!  I thought it was crazy but not anymore, not that I have tried it nor have I had any yeast infections but I do believe in the natural healing properties in garlic!  


Just this week I have a story to share with you and i know this has nothing to do with dogs but still would like to share since we are talking about garlic.




My son had planter warts 10 years ago and after 12 freeze dry attempts by a food doctor AND surgery to remove the warts, they still came back!  We did duct tape and that worked.  Now my daughter recently  has planters wart and after everything I went through with my son I vowed I would not go to doctor.  We tried the duct tape for three months with no improvement, I purchased the over the counter stuff which smelled horrible and made it worse.  After reading on my wonderful Bichon List Serve about coconut oil and the benifts for dogs and some googling, I mixed up coconut oil and crushed garlic and had her apply it to the wart twice a day.  Keep in mind that after having duct tape on her foot for three months, she had all this skin that had the first layer come off where the duct tape was where there was not a wart since the skin was covered for so long.... anyway, within two days the warts were disappearing and within 2 weeks all her skin that had the layer off was back to normal and as of this writing, the warts are 95% or maybe even all gone!

WOW, coconut oil is the best!  I did go to Whole Foods and buy EXTRA Virgin Cold Press for $15 for her treatment, Yesterday I was at Trader Joes and the had Virgin (not Extra Virgin) for $6, I did get that cause i am  cooking with it for the dogs and giving them some for a treat, they love it! I personally tried it on my own hair and it did great for my hair making it shiny and manageable but I don't wash my hair every day so the next day it looks greasy... I may go put some coconut oil on my hair right now!











Friday, February 17, 2012

Swai (say what) with couscous

1 pound of swai or any white fish
1 cup whole wheat couscous cooked with 1 T EVOO
2 yellow squash
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups frozen peas/carrots

rub the fish with some EVOO and bake until done.  Cook the couscous with some EVOO and flake the fish into the couscous.  Sautee the squash with the coconut oil and 2 cloves of garlic and thyme.  In a food processor mix the peas and carrots that have been microwaved with the cooked squash.  Mix the veggies with the fish mixture

Meat casserole with a touch of cinnamon

Hey I am not a vet, just someone that wants my dog to eat real food, without chemicals and by products.  I am just offereing suggestions, of course you can substitute whatever you have in the house.  Like I added some broccoli because I had some left overs in frig.



1 pound lean ground meat
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup uncooked orzo
1 bag frozen string beans
1/2 cup brocolli (had left overs)
1 egg
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup Trader Joes sweet potato bisque
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
cook meat with garlic.  Cook pasta.  In food processor  mix pasta with remaining ingredients.  Place in 13x9 pan that has EVOO on bottom and then spread some more sweet potato bisque on top.

Cook at 375 for 20 minutes

Let's go Vegetarian with Lentils!

Lentils vegetarian meal

I just whipped this up with ingredients in the house.  Got to tell you, Bella licked her dish clean but Snow is so funny with new food... I had to sit down on the floor (and it is hard with my knees to get up from the floor) and spoon feed him the food!  Well he also told me today to turn on the fireplace for him... OMG he has me trained, don't you think?


1 cup lentils
1/2 brown rice
1 bag frozen spinach that has been microwaved and taken all the liquid out
1 sweet potato
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup parsley
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup feta cheese
2 Tablespoons Plain Kefir
1 Tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)


cook lentils and rice together for 70 minutes (brown rice must be cooked longer for dogs for digestion).  Add cooked drained spinach to food processor with the remaining ingredients and then mix it with the rice/lentil mixture.
You can serve with a topping of chopped hard boil eggs if you have some around.


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Greek Lamb Pie




1 pound ground lamb or ground beef cooked and drained of fat
2 cups uncooked brown rice
2 cups beef broth (low salt)
2 teaspoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
2 ½ cups water
4 eggs
2 Tablespoon parmesean cheese
4 cups frozen string beans
½ cup feta cheese
¼ cup parsley plus 1 Tablespoon
1 Tablespoon plain Kefir
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Cook brown rice in both the beef broth and water for 70 minutes. You read it right, this is not a typo! When cooking brown rice for dogs, you need to cook it extra long so it is digestable. Make sure you just don't put the timer on the stove and walk away, you should check it every 15 minutes after the first 30 minutes and if there is no more liquid, just add some water. You could make the rice a day ahead if you want.

When rice is cooled, mix with 2 eggs and the 1 Tablespoon of parsley.  Place all in a baking dish that has been rubbed with EVOO and press down to form a crust.

Mix the meat with the remaining two eggs, string beans that have been micowaved and either chopped small or put through a food processor, cheeses, remaining 1/4 cup parsley, Kefir and cinnamon.  

Put mixture in baking dish and spread all around covering the rice.

Bake at 375 for 30 - 45 minutes.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Brocolli Egg Salad for breakfast

I just did another twist on egg salad for the fluffs and wanted to share with you... I feed them, made them breakfast for the next five days and now writing to you as I eat my own breakfast!

Broccoli Egg Salad:
9 hard boiled Eggs
1 1/2 heads of broccoli with stems (microwaved)
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup parsely
3 stems of celery
3/4 cut low fat ricotta
1/2 measure of raw orzo (cooked in low sodium vegetable broth)
1 Tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oi)

Cook pasta three minutes over the time said on box.  While cooking pasta, micowave brocolli and process celery, garlic and parsley in food processor.  Then process brocolli with the celery mixture. Take all out of food processor and process the cook eggs and ricotta and then add the broccoli mixture back in to mix all together with the EVOO.  Add to storage container and mix in pasta.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

List of good and bad fruits and veggies for your pooch

Do you remember your Mom telling you, "don't believe everything you hear or read".... well it is true especially on the internet. In addition, you can go to one doctor for yourself and he will tell you to take something for your asthma and another doctor will tell you to take something else!  You can drive yourself crazy and the same goes with our dogs.  Like I said in my first blog ... our first vet told me not to give Snow more than a 1/2 fingernail of food a day!  Wow does THAT sound crazy now!  Below I will give you the list based on the book I recommended in my very first post:

 Good fruits for dogs:  apples, avocados, bananas, berries, figs, melons including watermelon, oranges, peaches, pears.

BAD fruit (do not give to dogs):   Grapes, raisins

Good Vegetables for dogs:  asparagus, brussel spourts, beets (in small amounts), beans (soak beans or lentils overnight and cook), broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, cucumbers, kale, kelp, lentils, garlic, green beans, parsnips, parslely, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, seeweed, sprouts, squash, tomatoes, turnips, yams.

BAD fruit (do not give to dogs):  onions

Remember, everything in moderation and that goes for us humans too!


Friday, February 10, 2012

Good Morning!

Breakfast foods:
I don’t know about you but I don’t think dogs should eat meatloaf for breakfast, it is just not a morning food, you know what I mean?  Well what is the first thing you think of when you think of breakfast food?  Yes, the incredible egg!  Well everyone knows how to make scrambled eggs but it wasn’t until I started cooking for my dogs that I first made my first strada:

Mediterrian Strada:

2 Tablespoon olive oil (do not use EVOO or you will burn the strada)
2 cloves of garlic diced smally
1 cup diced aspargus (use fresh)
1 cup left over sweet potato or white potato
½ cup feta cheese
6 eggs
¼ cup chopped parsley

Heat oil in a round 10 inch skillet.  When the oil is hot, turn to medium and sautee the garlic making sure not to burn the garlic.  Then place the asparagus in the pan and sautee until soft but not limp.  Add the cut up or mashed potota and then pour the eggs and feta over the vetables.  Put a lid on the pan and cook for around 7 minutes until the sides are cooked and then get a dish a little bigger than the pan and carefully flip the mixture onto the dish (don’t do this over the stove or you could have a disaster!).  Then cook the other side without the cover on for two minutes and you are done!

Vegetable Omelet:

2 Tablespoon olive oil (do not use EVOO or you will burn the strada)
2 cloves of garlic diced smally
1 cup chopped brocollli stems
2 Tablespoons parsley
½ cup ricotta
5 eggs

Heat oil in a round 10 inch skillet.  When the oil is hot, turn to medium and sautee the garlic making sure not to burn the garlic.  Then add the brocolli stems and sautee a few minutes.  Add the rest of the ingrediants. Put a lid on the pan and cook for around 7 minutes until the sides are cooked and then get a dish a little bigger than the pan and carefully flip the mixture onto the dish (don’t do this over the stove or you could have a disaster!).  Then cook the other side without the cover on for two minutes and you are done!




Egg Salad:

7 hard boiled eggs chopped up, 2 cups frozen peas (cooked and put through food processor), 1 cup cooked small pasta like Ditalin, 3/4 cups of cottage cheese or plain yogurt or Kefir and 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO).  Mix all together and store in frig. I heat it up for 15 seconds, you never want to give your dog something that is COLD or HOT!












Garlic, Yogurt, Pumpkin Oh MY!

Ok, I am not a vet but I am a dog owner that wants the best for my dog. My holistic vet suggested that I read Natrual Dog, A holistic guide for healtheir dogs, by Dr. Kahlasa. You can get it on Amazon for $12.71 at


http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Khalsas-Natural-Dog-Healthier/dp/1593786476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328887585&sr=8-1


I would strongly recommend this book! If you know of any other great books, please comment at the end of this so we can SHARE information!


Now, for some information that I would like to share with you!


I am sure you all know about the foods to keep away from your pooches including grapes and chocolate.  Well I got a funny story to share and I am sure you have your own stories that you laugh about after the fact.  So one day my daughter was eating green grapes and one of the grapes was soft so she threw it in a trash can but Bella ran right over and dodged into the can to get the grape.  We were horrified since she was only 10 pounds so we called the emergency vet who said we needed for her to vomit.  So we mixed together hydogen perixode and baking soda and somehow we needed the little booger to drink it.  Lena had a great idea to use the turkey baster, so she held her mouth open and I squirted the concoxtion down her throat and within a minute she was vomiting!  Yeah, we thought we solved the problem.  An hour later, I went out shopping and Lena calls me that she is vomiting again.  I hurried home and called the vet and she asked me if Bella vomited the grape.  I said “that is a good question, I have no idea”.  The vet said “well we need to know if she vomited the grape or not”... so the search started to go through the trash outside to find the paper towels and guess what?  The grape was not in the outside trash, she never vomited the grape!!!  After putting on our Sherlock Holmes cap I went to the initial trash can where Lena disposed of the grape and it was STILL IN THE TRASH!  

I have said that we have a rule since then that we won’t have grapes in the house but there is a certain time in the summer when the grapes are oh so crisp and crunchy that I must get them but let me reassure you, I am a witch when anyone is eating them!

Garlic, the wonder vegtable!  You can google what foods not to feed dogs and garlic will come up on the list.  Well according to my holistic vet, a dog can have one raw clove a day.  It is good for the coat and the blood.  Garlic has anicillin it in, a natural antibiotic that is healthy for everyone.  We all should eat a clove a garlic a day.  I actually know some garlic freaks that shove a clove of garlic up their vagina to cure a yeast infection!  Just thought I would throw that out there to you!

Yogurt... oh to be living in the Mediterran and enjoying all the benifits of a Mediterran diet!  Yogurt is so benifical for everyone.  Just make sure it has the live cultures of alfodophilus and make sure you give your pooches only plain yogurt.  All other yogurts have way too much sugar and sugar is very unneccesary for pooches or they can develop diabetes and so can you!

Pumpkin:  wouldn’t it be great if there was a magic food that us humans could take to stop diahera and constipation?  Well Pumpkin is the magic food for dogs.  EVERY dog owner should get at least a can of PURE PUMPKIN in their pantry.  Make sure you are not buying the canned pumpkin with  the spices in it for pumpkin pie; it must say 100% Pure Pumkin.  Anyway, I would suggest opening the can and filling an ice tray full of the pumpkin, freeze it and when solid, dump into a freezer bag and save in freezer until you unfortunatly need to use it.  
Now of course it is obvious when to use it but the reason I had to start using it was because little Ms. Bella has an obsession with paper towels and napkins and until someone can train my husband not to keep paper towels lying around, we will be using pumpkin!  If Bella eats some paper, I give her some pumpkin (maybe a Tablespoon) and it does magic to the paper towel and prevents me from pulling a paper towel out of her butt!


How and why I got started cooking for my dogs

Way back when I was five years old, I can vividly visualize in my now somewhat forgetful brain the dinner times when Mama Marie Mancini would be making a homemade dinner for Daddy (Amedeo) and me and I would go to get a bowl and pour some cereal for my stuffed basset hound and feel so happy to be feeding him. When I was a little girl, like many little girls, I wanted a dog.  We could not get one because Daddy was allergic.  I waited 47 years to get my first dog, Snow, a Bichon Frise and then three years later, just like a potato chip, I could not just have one and I got another Bichon, called Bella.


Not ever having a dog, the first vet I saw told me never ever to give more than half a finger nail size of people food to Snow.  That concept was difficult for me since I am Italian and food is such an important part of our daily lives. I could not understand why the previous owner of Snow gave him Beniful. It was so colorful and appealing to the human eye. But it was also so full of color dye's! I did not feed my kids stuff with color dyes and was not going to feed my dog anything with color dye.  

 So off to the petstore I went trying to find the best wholesome kibble on the market.  Now I had nothing against kibble but I sure think Snow did!  There were times when Snow simply would  not eat.  I called the company and told them that my dog would not eat; they said to add some water to the kibble to bring out the flavor.  That worked for maybe a week and then he went back to his stubborn self.  I tried adding special toppings of some carrots (forget about that first vet’s advise)! But it got to the point that I was fighting with the dog yelling at him to eat his food when meal time should of been a joyful experience.

Then we got Miss Bella.  Actually when we “rescued” her from her owners at 4 months old she was called Brokyln, never understood why they named her after a bridge but we switched her name from the start.  So here I was with a new puppy and I give her a edible bone when we get home and she devoured half of it; I thought she would just nimble on it so I quickly took it away and the first night she slept with Lena and during the night she vomited and that is when I got the light bulb in my head that food is an important part of a dogs life.


I was horrified that she vomited, was it from the bone?  Was she sick and that is why the owners got rid of her?  Well, her vomiting would come and go the next 9 months, maybe happening twice a month.  But then Bella went in for her rabies shot and Distemper and the “vet” arbitrarily gave her a combination shot with Liptosporisis without consulting with me and that night she vomited unbeliebalby and within four hours her face, eyes and lips were swollen!  

It was a Friday night and we needed to take her to an emergency vet and both my husband, Adrian and I took her.  Funny, when our kids were ill, we never both took them to the emergency but for this little angel, we both went.  We found out Bella had a very bad reaction to the Lepto shot.  I was so upset that the vet did not consult with me first that I looked for another vet.  I put a shout out on Facebook to my 1079 dog friends, and found a wonderful holistic vet who recommended a book to keep your dog healthy and there was a chapter on cooking your own dog food and from that moment on, we have not had an ounce of vomit or kibble in our house.

I got to tell you, I fell so happy cooking for my dogs.  I was the type of Mom who nursed all three of my kids and they never had a bottle.  I also love to cook.  I started looking on line for dog food recipes and was shocked what junk was out there.  Some sites simply recommended mixing ground beef with ground up kibble!  So here I am, sharing all my recipes with you and truely hope you give it a try!

Please don’t be intimidated about cooking for your dogs.  Depending on the size of your dogs (mine are 11 and 17 pounds) I can cook a recipe one evening and I divide the portions up and put them in the freezer and it will last an entire week.