Turkey Kidney Bean and Kale Dog Food
Homemade dog food for my 3rd child.
I like the idea of making homemade food for my dog. I can see the protein, the veggies and the good carbohydrates, because I chose them, which makes me feel good about the quality of what he is ingesting. I do want to ensure that he is getting all of the vitamins and minerals he needs so I typically blend my whole foods with a decent quality dry dog food. It's the balance I feel good about! I will caveat that I am not a vet nor a nutritionist and I absolutely recommend everyone do their own research... specific to their own breeds before feeding your dog anything. I craft these as some inspiration for food combinations that can be put together in consideration of a dogs own specific required ratios.
For a carbohydrate base I chose organic oatmeal in this case. I intentionally swap around ingredients from one meal to the next so that Finnegan benefits from the nutrients that come from overall food variety that I simply can't pack into a single meal. The variety then comes to my developed meal stock allowing him to eat several different meals in a week!
I stove cooked 1 1/3 cups of quick oats in 3 cups of water until completely cooked! I set the oatmeal aside in a large bowl.
From there I prepared a large Turkey breast. This one was at least 12 ounzes.
I cut it into smaller chunks to allow it to cook faster and boiled it in water until fully done. You may have noticed I used the same pot to boil the Turkey as I used for the oatmeal and ... did... not... clean... the... pot!!! I would never do this for a human meal, but I figured you'd all forgive me, given I am mixing this all together in 10 minutes anyways!
I also used ground chicken in this meal and kidney beans. Because I used the can variety of beans, I did wash them off and boil them again in water to ensure they were "very cooked" and almost overly soft, just to ensure they were easily digested. It is recommended that any grains or legumes are cooked more than the usual done-ness if you are feeding them to a dog, to facilitate easier digestion.
I get a serious kick out of how Finnegan seems to know that I am cooking for him lol! He's just watching from the couch and waiting for his invite!
I cut the turkey breast into small cubes while I boiled down some kale in a covered pot of water and mixed well
I vacuum seal individual portions with my food saver name and date them and plunk in the freezer to be pulled out each evening to thaw in the fridge for the next day.
A Hit!
The Recipe: (to be modified to your specific breed, size and age based on your own research)
12 ounces of turkey breast - boiled
1 pound of ground chicken - pan fried in dog safe oil... I chose Safflower oil.
1 can of kidney beans - rinsed and then boiled in water again tro ensure very soft and done.
1 1/3 cups of quick oatmeal in 3 cups of water, boiled until done.
Sauté 2 cups of cut kale in a shallow pan of water covered. Cook until fully wilted!
Chop the turkey into small chunks , ensure also the kale is in small bite sized pieces and mix all the ingredients together. Cool and store. This will last 4 days in the fridge (although portion sizes will create more than 4 days worth).. or place in a freezer safe container and freeze. Generally storable for 6 months.
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