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!