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!

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!