Mixed Whole Grains with Pumpkin, Mint, Apple, and Parsley Dog Treats

Mixed Whole Grains with Pumpkin, Mint, Apple, and Parsley Dog Treats

 Nourishing your beloved best friend with unprocessed, whole food.

How authentically do we live our lives? As we strive to nourish our selves and family with unprocessed, whole foods do we carry that out in all areas of our lives? Would you eat the food you provide to your pets?  Do you really know what exactly it is that you feed your pet? 

I have enjoyed making dog treats for many years. At first it was just a fun thing to do as I love to bake. I soon discovered that it was more economical for me to make them verses buying them and the love of making things myself for my beloved deepened. It just simply feels good to make my own foods/treats. 

As I began to think in terms of living in all ways authentically I made the connection that I can't just focus on local, whole foods for myself and family. I need to practice this in all ways. How is it that I can hold myself so accountable in some areas but yet feed my dog such junk? I do not deny that budgeting for extras can be a very difficult dance when having to think about all the dancers at the party. So with that in mind, I have become very skillful at using up leftover grains from my pantry.

There is a lot of research regarding proper diet/nutrition for dogs. Their systems are very different from us humans, thus they do require a different nutritional focus. Here are a few links to sights that you can peruse to better understand what diet needs dogs have:

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/dog-nutrition-tips 

http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_carbohydrates_key_to_balanced_dog_food#

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/canine-nutrition/dog-food-carbohydrates/

Over the years I have collected dog treat recipes and continue to search for new ideas. Earlier in the week I found this wonderful recipe  and put my own spin on it specifically for my dog: http://damndelicious.net/2015/09/29/pumpkin-apple-doggie-mint-treats/
My Max tends to get weird rashes and scratches a lot when he has a lot of wheat in his diet so I have intentionally reduced the amount of wheat he consumes. Plus I have a ton of mint and parsley in my garden.

In my twist on this recipe, I decided to go with a mixture of brown rice and sorghum. Sorghum for it's nutty aroma and flavor because what dog doesn't like a nutty scent/flavor? And it is a great way to use up the extra leftovers I seem to have accumulated. I made the flour fresh from the whole grains by placing them in my blender/juicer. I started out with thinking I would just only use those two grain but ended up adding cornmeal at the end b/c the dough was a bit to sticky. I needed to firm it up to hold shape. 

My recipe is: 

Ingredients

• 1 can of Pumpkin Puree
• 2 eggs 
• 1 meduim size apple
• 1 1/2 cups Sorghum flour
• 1 1/2 cups Brown Rice flour
• 1 cup Cornmeal
• 1/2 cup Flaxmeal
• 1/2 cup Mint (I used spearmint) 
• 1/2 cup Parsley (Italian flatleaf) 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*. Shred apple, squeezing out moisture; set aside.  Blend eggs and pumpkin. Add fours by 1/2 cup until dough forms/not sticky. Add in shredded apple, mint, and parsley. Mix until well blended. If dough becomes sticky from moisture of apple just add a bit more of flour of your choice. Roll dough into 1/4 inch thickness, cut our with your favorite shape cookie cutter and bake for 20 minutes. I didn't need to use parchment paper or any oil on pan as the cornmeal helped the cookies not stick. If you are not using cornmeal I recommend parchment paper or greasing the pan. 

Store a week's worth in air tight container out of the sun and freeze the rest in weekly amount batches in air tight container. 

Making your dog treats helps the bonding experience and you best friend will be very thankful of your efforts! This is also a great activity to include your kiddos in!

Enjoy!