I made dog food!

Alright. This is hardly some crowning achievement- but small victories are worth sharing too, right?

We've had our dog Sadie for a little over a year now. As adorable as she once was, she is now so much more of a trusted friend and as such, I felt a little bad about feeding her kibble. I've seen my friends on Facebook dutifully make a giant pot of rice and lentils on Monday, and split it between their family and their pup. After reading the ingredients on my dog food, I thought "why not?" Which is how I found myself this morning, spatula and le cruset in hand, making dog food.

*** I am not, nor have I ever had veterinary training. I don't claim to know what is healthy or right for your dog. Follow this at your own risk! ***

With some research online, I came up with a mix that sounded yummy- good incase I made a huge pot and she decided to not eat.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef

1/2 pounds Ground Turkey

1/2 pounds ground chicken

1 pound baby carrots; chopped

1 cup broccoli; chopped

1/2 cup mixed carrots and peas

3 cups brown rice; uncooked

32 oz chicken broth (low sodium)

2 eggs

40 oz water ***

4 tbs Olive Oil

4 tbs Hemp Oil

I cooked the meat in the pot first, adding in 2 tbs of BOTH Olive Oil and Hemp Oil. Turn the stove to HIGH heat and break up the handfuls of ground meat into individual pieces. I used an 80/20 ix of beef in order to give more fat content. The chicken and turkey were both leaner cuts that were ground up.

Once the meat was 95% cooked, I added in the vegetables. The carrots chopped into thin rounds to offer texture, and the broccoli broken down into managable, toddler bite sized pieces. Once the frozen veggies had defrosted, I deglazed the enamel pan with some chicken broth and added the rice. I filled the pot with the rest of the chicken broth, and added water to cover. (For me, like 30 oz) After stirring the rice into the veggies and meat, turn the stove to LOW, cover, and walk away.

*Note: I used TJ's quick cook brown rice, and it was supposed to take 15 minutes.**

This is where I kind of messed up- the lid I used on my pot was a little too big, and the steam escaped. I added more water, (10oz) folded it into the rice and prayed I didn't blacken the bottom. After a supervised extra 5 minutes, I added the egg. Each was cracked in a seperate bowl, scrambled, and then folded into the dog food mixture.

At this point, I turned off the heat, put the lid back on, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, I scooped it into tupperware containers and popped them in my fridge.

It has been two days since I switched her food, and I WILL tell you that it is awesome to have a soul that is genuinely excited to have you cook all the time. (W & Lane are picky, picky eaters!) I'm really excited to make this a weekly ritual for the girls in the house.I don't know that I'm saving money, but if we are healthier as a family, I think it is worth the added expense.

What do you do? Do you have any recipes I should try?