calliecritturs
Posted : 10/21/2008 9:12:58 AM
Okra is about the size of a man’s index finger - has little round seeds in it. Generally it’s sliced and rolled in corn meal and then fried. VERY yum (very very "Southern" thing). Or it’s put in soups, etc. – but when cooked alone in water it gets ... like Megan says ... slimey. But the dogs absolutely love it.
As I’ve said before – look online for a calcium/phosphorous ratio list. You’ll see things like carrots, peas and butternut squash (the EZ things to fix ??) tend to not have a great ratio so you don’t feed those frequently. Peas are a protein by the way (a legume).
You can mash veggies with pretty much anything – just use a heavy mug and you can mush them easily.
I don’t peel ANYTHING (well I would rutabaga because they dip that in wax to preserve it) unless, like some varieties of pumpkin, the skin turns to a hard shell when cooked. You’ll find it’s the cutting up that takes the time! Which is why everyone’s talking food processor.
I might cut something like a sweet potato up a bit more than a white potato simply because the skin is more tough and THAT is what I want to break up (cos mashing doesn’t break up the skin enough). But it’s also that kind of stuff that gives the dogs the bulk and fiber they need.
You won’t have to worry about them eating it – I cook everything together sort of in stages. Cook the hardest stuff first (squash, shredded cabbage, shredded broccoli, kale, heavy greens). Stuff like collard greens can be leathery so I usually put that specifically in a food processor.
Then I add the stuff that cooks faster like white potato. If the pot gets full when the stuff is cooked I just spoon it out and put it into the container I mix stuff in. Just add more veg to the same water (the water has a lot of vitamins – don’t throw it out!!). The last to cook is the meat - you don’t want to cook it any more than necessary. "rare" is fine - you’re just killing bacteria at that point.
I only use grain occasionally – particularly if I have a LOT of liquid left over. I use frozen veggies a lot – no salt. French cut green beans break up easier than regular ones.
But by the time stuff is all mashed together the dogs just eat it. Dogs tend not to like bumps and chunks – BIG chunks of a veggie might get derailed.
Brussels sprouts are YUM (and the dogs like any head-growing veg and cruciate – cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale).
Don’t try to cook the veg IN the meat. You’ll cook your meat to death and that’s losing a lot of nutrition.
Don’t forget cheap cuts of meat like beef heart ($1.69 a pound) -- super excellent for them and very cheap meat source. If you don’t see sliced heart in the meat case, ASK for it and see if they’ll order it for you.