Saturday, March 29, 2014

hodgepodge beef liver cakes!


To make this recipe grain free, substitute quinoa for the oat flour

Liver is an organ meat.  I would prefer using chicken liver as the chicken does not live as long as a cow so it has less toxins in it.    If your dog is not allergic to chicken, please use chicken liver.  If you pick and choose which organic food you buy, picking an Organic Liver is the way to go since the organ filters all the toxins out of the body.   My Bella is allergic to chicken so I choose beef liver.  I always make sure I have liver cakes on hand, if not for treat but also to add to my egg casseroles.  I trade off liver cakes to sardines to put in those egg casseroles.

Never use the liver as the main ingredient for your dogs meal!  I would not make a meal with liver being the protein of the recipe but rather offer it as a treat.  Liver is rich and if you give too much your dog can get pancreatitis.  I remember when I was a novice dog cooking freak, Snow was celebrating his fifth birthday and I went hog wild and made him both liver cakes and salmon cakes, and let him eat both.   Liver and salmon are both rich and oh boy did I learn my lesson!!! I was so lucky he did not get pancreatitis!

I do not want you to be afraid of liver, it is good for the dog and they love it, just use it as a treat!

I have blogged liver cakes before but this is a new recipe.  I wanted to get rid of a few ingredients in my kitchen.  I know I cook grain free but I did put oat flour in this recipe.  If you want to do a grain free version, you can add some cooked quinoa just make sure you cook ALL grains extra long so they can be easily digested by your pooch.

1 pound of beef liver (I buy it in the freezer section)  *use chicken livers if you dog is not allergic
1 cup of oat flour (I make my own, just put in a Vitamix or a food processor)
1 carrot cut up
1 banana
1/2 cup apple sauce to give moisture *
2 teaspoons of blueberry ground flax seed (can get at Trader Joes)
1/4 cup of parsley
1 clove of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of tumeric
2 teaspoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil **

*can substitute blueberries
** can substitute extra virgin coconut oil

Make your oat flour in a food processor, then add all the other ingredients and pour onto a non stick pan with short edges or use parchment paper.
Cook at 350 for 20 minutes.
Let it cook and then cut into tiny squares using a pizza cutter (if your pan does not stratch) and freeze and take out four at time to store in frig.










Monday, February 24, 2014

New found love: Beets!!!

I ALWAYS get excited when I discover a new food to add to my bichons diet!  I came across some organic cooked beats (four to a vacuum pack) and actually bought it for myself to put into my smoothies.  But after doing some research I found out that beets are great for dogs!!!  Beets are exceptional for a healthy liver and are packed with many minerals and vitamins.  I would suggest NOT using canned beets because they have way too much sodium.  If you can not find already vacuum packed beets with "beets" being the only ingredient, cook your own.

Go slow at first when introducing a new food to your dog.  A good way to start out would be to either add a slice of chopped up beets to your dogs food topping or just give it as a snack.  It really is yummy!


Here is a recipe for a little "beet treat"

2 cooked beets (I buy organic beets at Costco already cooked up in vacuum sealed pouches)
1 can of garbanzo beans (rinsed to take of sodium)
1 egg
1 teaspoon of blueberry flax seed
1 1/2 Tablespoons of natural peanut butter

Put all in food processor and then spread on a small baking pan with parchment paper and bake at 350 until done, maybe 30 minutes or so***.

*** Keep in mind that all my dog treats do not get get hard like a biscuit because I do not use grain in the recipes and in addition, Snow is minus 21 teeth so I do make his food soft.

It even looks pretty!!!


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Cheese patties

1 can rinsed Garbanzo beans
1 egg
1 teaspoon blueberry ground flaxseed
1/3 cup grated romano cheese
1/2 quinoa
1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 sweet potato

This recipe is gluten and grain free but does have dairy in it.

Cook the quinoa for 30 minutes (I had some left over from a dog casserole I was making at the time).  Mix everything but the quinoa in a food processor and then add the quino and mix for a second.

drop by teaspoons on  parchment paper and bake at 375 until done.

I do not make any of my snacks hard because Snow does not like hard stuff, so mine is the consistency of a cookie.

Keep some in frig and the rest can be put in freezer to keep longer.