As promised; a fun, easy and healthy treat for dogs, with some serious benefits, and a few variations so you can make it to suit your own dog’s unique tendencies.

I made this for my three, not as a meal (it’s not a balanced diet!) but to use as topper for some of their meals, and as a special treat. If you offer too much to a dog who is, say, used to a cereal-based kibble, it can upset their digestion if you overdo this one, and gas is usually the reaction. If your dog is used to a home made diet, is ok with these foods,  just offer a little  to start and see how she reacts. I gave a twelfth of the recipe to each of my 85-100 pound dogs with no gas, but they are sued to all these foods.  When any treat is rich like this one, it just makes sense to go slow! Trust me, they will love this one.

Ingredients

one and a half pounds raw round beef (I used 10% fat, you could use 5% for a lower total fat count)

one and a half cups cooked quinoa, 228 grams

two whole large eggs, beaten

one cup finely diced organic celery

one cup chopped apple, include skin only if organic

one cup peeled, boiled and mashed sweet potato

one Tbsp tomato paste

one quarter cup organic, diced parsley

one cup (roughly, I didn’t weigh) diced greens – I used baby bok choy, but kale, spinach, chard, beet greens, collards, all ok too

 

Method

Oh, this is so easy. 🙂 Beat the eggs, and stir in everything else. It’s meat loaf! So mix with your hands and then pat into a greased (I used coconut oil) loaf pan, and bake for about a half hour at 350 degrees.  Cool, slice, treat! My guys were crazed for this, and no gas (I have two with sensitive tummies).

Divided into 12 servings, this recipe provides:

160 calories

7 grams of fat

9.5 grams carbohydrate

170 mgs phosphorus

2 mgs iron

34 mgs magnesium 245 RE VitaminA

and

384 mgs lycopene and 210 mcgs lutein!

 

Variations

Fat content is the first thing that springs to mind here. Some dogs can thrive on high fat diets, others may get a little loose stool and still others, who have a health condition that indicates fat restriction, shouldn’t really have even the leanest version of this. Made with 10% fat ground beef, the total for the recipe is 84 grams of fat; with 5% fat content it’s only 50 grams. You can reduce fat even more by taking out the eggs, or using 4 whites and no yolk.

Other things to do…use oatmeal in place of the quinoa…eliminate quinoa and double the sweet potato…add a can or two of drained, water packed sardines (for Vitamin D and Omega 3 fatty acid boost) leave out the parley and try a mixture of garden herbs, I like thyme, basil and oregano especially here. The lovely thing about a “recipe” like this is, it’s really a template you can gear to your dog’s unique needs. And since it’s not a balanced recipe at all, but used for a special lunch or for snacks here and there, you don’t need to stress it. you can also add one and a half level teaspoons of a calcium supplement (I like the NOW brand carbonate) to make it a little closer to balanced if you like. Meat loaves are great carriers for herbs and antioxidant rich foods like greens and tomato paste and apples.
Please  have fun, and let me know what your own variations are. 🙂