Molly’s Food

We have a great black lab, named Molly, best friend at home and in the field.  She is our first and could not have had a better dog.  Since she is so great, I thought I better give her the best food.  This recipe is for her. 

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of meat – chicken, turkey, beef, lamb or fish.   Can be ground or whole cuts. I like including liver and heart if I can find it.
• 1 C of rice mixture – brown (1/2 C), quinoa (1/4 C) and barley (1/4 C)
• Vegies – following is a list I will choose from to use.
  • 1 medium carrots / sweet potato – washed and diced
  • 1 celery stalk – washed and diced
  • 1/2 C frozen squash
  • 1/4 C frozen peas – can use peas and carrots mix and skip the medium carrots
  • 1/2 C frozen chopped spinach
• Fruits – can you all or some of these
  • 1/2 C frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 C frozen or dried cranberries
  • 1/2 diced apple
• 4 to 6 whole eggs tossed in blender, no need to crack, blend smooth.
• homemade no salt broth (chicken, beef, …) (optional, can use just water)

1. I usually use a rice maker to cook the rice mixture, using 1 1/2 C water. Once it is done, turn on rice cooker. If you don’t have a rice cooker, use a pan like you would for cooking just rice.
2. Cook the meat in a dutch oven or large pot which can hold the meat and all other ingredients. If I am using beef or lamb, I will cook it to medium at most. For chicken and turkey, I like to make sure it is well done. Sometimes, I will buy chicken backs or carcasses to roast and braise to make stock, I pull off the meat to use in the food.
3. For the vegies, I usually dice the raw vegies to the size of a pea and cook them for a few mins in a neutral oil. After a few mins, toss in the frozen vegies and fruits cook until frozen ingredients are thaw.
4. Toss veg and rice mixture (do not need to cool it) into the meat and a 1 cup of water or homemade no salt broth   Stir well and heat to get the water bubbling cook for a few mins to thicken. Check ever so often to stir.  
5. The mixture should be moist but not too wet.  
6. Pour in the scramble eggs.  Stir to cook for a few mins.  
7. Turn off the heat.
8. Pack the mixture in jars or containers, I prefer using glass containers.   Extra can be frozen.

I Like serving a similar amount that I would use for dry food.   Sometimes, I will add a couple tablespoons of whole milk yogurt, cottage cheese or plain kefir.  I also add a couple spoons of a mixture of a good quality, grass fed collagen powder with whole milk plain yogurt.

If you can buy chicken feet, roast and braising them will make a great thick collagen jelly. Simple roast the legs for 10 mins at 385 to 400 F ( I like using convection roast). Toss in a pan, cover with water and a piece of parchment paper on top, then simmer/braise until feet fall apart. I remove the large bone. Toss everything into a blend, blend well and put in a jar with tight lid to cool. Once cooled to slightly warm (jar lid should have sealed), put in refrigerator to cool to become a gelatin. Serve a couple good spoonfuls on top of the food.