adventures in vegetable dehydrating, part 1

We have been wanting to try dehydrating vegetables, and fruit, for a while now. Since we do not have an electric food dehydrator, and it was a cold day in Chicago, we decided to give dehydrating a try via the oven.

First, start by chopping up the vegetables. We used carrots...


Place them on a baking sheet... *we added a dash of garlic powder for flavor*


Bake in the oven. You want to keep the door cracked open a bit.
With this batch, the carrots were in the oven for 6 hours on 200 degrees. The carrot sticks turned out better than the round ones, which really shrived up!
Here is an excellent link on how to dehydrate all sorts of fruits and vegetables.



It was fun to experiment with a new treat, but dehydrating isn't really energy efficient.

Typically we serve carrots raw... sticks or pureed.
We like to mix them with other vegetables, meat, poultry, acv, and/ or whatever else we have around.
It's easy to make small batches that last a few days in the refrigerator.
You can also make up larger batches and freeze in smaller batches. Of course that would be more economical.
We really want to give canning a try. Would love to hear if anyone has had adventures in canning?

* pureed carrots with acv...

another peanut butter treat recipe...

baking dog treats...

* peanut butter and oatmeal dog treats *

* cranberry biscotti dog treats*

Vicktory dogs wine collection supporting Best Friends Animal Santuary...

The Dog Lovers Wine Club has teamed with Best Friends
to create the signature wine series – a special two-case collection celebrating
the 22 dogs who were rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation and who
now live at Best Friends.

* more info click HERE

If you haven't already heard, Obama is looking for a shelter dog to bring to the White House. Yay! But it needs to be hypoallergenic.
Click here for a list of 'possibly' hypoallergenic dog breeds.

Bye bye Barney (you too Miss Beazley and Willie). We are going to miss Barney Cam and the cute little holiday videos.
Check out naughty Barney...


Click here to read an interesting article on Pet Food Recipe Changes and Challenges with the rising costs of food.

doggie linky- poos

Make your own All-Natural Dog Shampoo. Lots of great recipes HERE.

Make & Build Dog Stuff- great site to learn how to make almost anything for your pet.
We found tons of cool patterns.
Here are some we want to try...

- make your own dog booties

- agility equipment patterns & DIY instructions

- dog harness DIY patterns here and here

- leash & lead DIY patterns


Here is an adorable free dog sweater pattern to knit.



We found some great dog treat and food recipes at Recipe Zaar. These pumpkin biscotti dog treats sound delicious.

Don't have time to commit to a pet full time? No worries. You can now rent pets at FLEXPETZ.

This K9Grass looks interesting.

Check out these home 'mudrooms' and 'showers' for dogs, found via Apartment Therapy. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Enjoy the links & have a great week!

chicken and rice stew for the dogs...

It's time for us to do a little grocery shopping, but we were able to throw together a little chicken and rice dish for Meena and Heidi, with some items on hand.


Here is what we did...
- started with one large pot
- added 2 pounds of chopped raw chicken *NO BONES*
- 1 cup of uncooked rice
- topped with about 6 cups water
- threw in a dash of olive oil & salt
- covered. boiled, then simmered for approximately 20 minutes
- added a chopped apple
- 16 oz chopped green beans
- tossed in a dash of oregano, parsley and garlic
- added a couple more cups of water, and simmered for about another 20 minutes.
- let it cool off. served. stored leftovers in the refrigerator. super easy!

cranberries for dogs

Meena has had chronic UTIs since she was a puppy. She used to take meds from the Vet a few times a year, but they always came back. It seems like less grains and cranberries seem to help. I must say I'm not a Vet, but if your pet has chronic UTIs, then perhaps you may want to take a look at their diet.

fresh cranberries...


pureed...



cranberry cubes... * serve defrosted with regular diet


We just add defrosted cubes, as well as yogurt, to their regular raw food diet when necessary. Plus, we add some to their regular veggie mix. It's great to buy them in season and freeze. I really want to learn how to can fruits and vegetables.
Also, you can mix them with yogurt and make frozen treats. We did that here.

feeding your dogs kale...

In the summer and fall, we feed the dogs kale as a green in their veggie mix. (we mostly rotate between kale and collard greens this time of year)

Kale is high in fiber, super nutritious, has lots of vitamins and minerals. Plus, kale has a little 'kick' to it, so it adds some flavor to the mix.

We usually just puree and serve it fresh, along with other componants of their RAW food diet.
You could also try steaming kale, or using it in a stew. I found a great recipe using Kale in a stew, the 'A*starz Dog Stew', via this site.

3 lb. meat (chicken or turkey, cooked)
1 lb. raw organ meats (livers, kidneys, hearts)
2 c. peas
2 c. brown rice
1 c. lentils
4 garlic cloves
3 c. raw veggies (kale, carrots, parsley, tomatoes, sweet potatoes)

Bake the non-raw meats along with any dry vegetables such as split peas.

Debone the meat and shred pieces by hand.

In a food processor, mulch up raw meats.

Cook the brown rice and lentils together.

In a food processor, mulch up vegetables and garlic.

Mix it all together and serve!

Freeze the leftovers.

* Originally from Donna Stekli

Be sure to check out DragonBear Dog Treat & food Recipes. They have a really wonderful compilation of dog food and treat recipes.

butternut squash for dogs

Butternut squash is one of the healthiest vegetables you can serve. Nutritionally, butternut squash has more vitamin C and beta-carotene than any other winter squash. We've found that it also seems to help with constipation, and releasing anals naturally. Of course, talk to your Vet to see if squash is right for your pet.
We baked this squash, removed the seeds, and pureed it...

We made Isaboo's Butternut Squash Mac and Cheddar by Rachel Ray.
Click HERE for the recipe. It's delicious!
* we did have to substitute some of the ingredients and we did not use onions.


we added some of the baked squash to our current veggie mix...
* kale, cranberries and squash


- more squash dogfood recipes Here.

- this spring chicken loaf with squash recipe looks good.

We really want to try these Autumn Harvest dog snacks from Charlies Market ...

easy peanut butter dog treats

random pet related info...

Fresh vegetables and berries in our current batch of homemade dogfood.

Puree and mix the produce.
Serve with raw or cooked meat.
Refrigerate or freeze small batches.


Tragic dog grooming story involving a heated cage dryer...

Click HERE for more details.


Check out The No Kill Blog- Working to end the systematic killing of animals in U.S. shelters.


Bob Barker pushes for law on spaying, neutering pets in Chicago. Click HERE for the details.



How cool is this?
Make a chaise bed out of cardboard for your pet.
Click HERE for all of the details.



Have you seen "A day in the life a Mr. Lee"?
It's super cool. Click HERE to find out how you can make your pet a photographer.
Also check out, Mr Lee- Projects for pets HERE. There is a GPS tracking device and spy camera for your pet.

Mee & Dee's recipe for an easy summer salad...

This week we made a salad using organic kale, carrots and parsley.
We tossed everthing into the food processor for a nice puree.


Then we made a salad dressing using safflower oil, apple cider vinegar, and a bit of fresh garlic.


Mix everything together...


Toss and serve with fresh meat.
Easy, healthy & delicious!


* we try to change up our vegetable mixes every week for a nice variety of flavor and nutrients.

fresh blueberries and yogurt...

Here are some easy dog treat ideas for those hot summer days. No oven required.

Start with a batch of fresh blueberries...


mix/puree with a large tub of yogurt...


and serve...
* Meena loves it
* Heidi will only eat it mixed with her regular food, on a treat, or frozen



we poured some of the mix into an ice cube tray for some freezee pops.
we did some with treats and some without.
toss into the freezer and serve as a snack on a hot day...


while they chill, we used some of the mix to drizzle over these regular store bought treats...
* store these in the refrigerator

m & d's muesli

We made up a big bowl of muesli to add to the dog's diet this week. They rarely eat grains, mostly just meat & veggies. But now that Meena has recovered from her bout with giardia, we thought it would be a good idea to clean out those intestines.
As far as grains in their diet, we use mostly oats. Oats are inexpensive and easily digested.
This time we decided to add some flax seed since we had some on hand....


First we pureed the seeds (I feel like it's easier for the dogs to digest)...


then added the seeds to the oats...


next, water was added to the grains to soak...


Once the grains have been soaked, it's easy to add in our veggie mix and meat.

** BTW, we added fresh garlic to the mix.
Click here for more info on garlic for dogs.


Here is a list of grains we have used in the past to make our muesli:
- rolled oats
- rye flakes
- barley flakes
- buckwheat
- quinoa
- millet
- wheat bran
- flax Seeds

If you don't have the time or patience to make your own, there are some good muesli mixes for dogs that you can purchase. Check out these...

Monzies Organic Muesli for Dogs and Europeon- Style Dog Food Mix from Sojos- Click here .

help! my dog got skunked!

1 mosie26 2 enamor 3 jewelsbydesign 4 kitschpatches
5 ossiegirl46 6 anatomy of a skirt 7 tugboatprintshop 8 retrochalet
9 jellyshoerebellion 10 moonshinebluebirds 11 erinaellis 12 sick on sin

We couldn't resist the cute skunks. The shop names are listed above. Just click on the name to view something close-up.
Anyway, back to de-skunking...
Believe me, as a dog groomer, I have heard this plenty of times. I have tried different dog shampoos on the market that are specifically formulated to remove the skunk smell, but haven't found any that work as well as the old school remedies.

our favorite deskunk shampoo recipe:
- ingredients include:
1 quart hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tsp of gentle dishwashing liquid (we have used Ivory or Dawn in the past)
* these are approximate measurements, you may have to make a larger batch for larger dogs, and to do a second bath.

- take a bucket and mix together the ingredients.
- carefully coat your pet with the mixture. dogs typically get sprayed in the head and neck the heaviest. try to get face, but be very careful around the eyes.
- let mixture stand in coat for approximately 10 minutes.
- rinse really well.
- repeat if necessary.

Also, you will need to clean your dog's ears.
Here is an easy ear cleaner recipe (also works well on dog's with yeasty ear infections):
- mix equal parts of vinegar and water
- pour into a squirt bottle
- gently squirt into ear and massage
- back up and let your dog his head
- gently wipe out any gunk with cotton balls. you want to be careful as to not lodge anything into the ear canal
* make sure the mixture is warm (not hot) before squirting it into the ear

To freshen up their skunk breath, we absolutely adore Spot Organics Peppermint Dog Breath Spray.

Hopefully, you will not need to use these recipes, but they are here if you do. We would love to hear your de-skunk suggestions & recommendations!

ps we have tried the tomato juice concoction, and also the vinegar douches, but neither worked as well as the recipe we use.