DOG FOOD

My Poindexter is a rescue dog.  Found on the streets at four weeks old, raised in a foster home and placed in the pound where my husband and I fell in love with the Bassett eyes. The county lock-up provided basic dry food for the animals. The foundlings gobbled it up gratefully until…

Paul, my husband a Saratoga native, believed the food should be nutritious and set about finding the best food for our mutt. We tried a wide variety of canned and dried foods, settling on two different brands. Unfortunately, the cost of the food eked up a bit every year. The bag of dried food now is a whooping $18 a bag and the canned $2.79 to $2.99 each.  On a widow’s budget that is extreme.

I haven’t helped matters by providing a lamb shank once a month or an occasional steak. To be fair, the lamb shank on sale comes in at $2.79 to $3.00 and does a great job of cleaning up the tooth plaque from his giant teeth.

To hold the household to a budget, I started with mixing Poindexter’s high end dry food with the cheap Kibble and Bits—half and half. He likes it better than the plain but cuts my costs by almost thirty percent. The meat and canned food he got at night killed the budget.

I snagged a recipe provided by a committee at my church. (Thank you Razzle Dazzle). It seemed doable and with some modifications I made the recipe for my fifty-pound hungry dog.  The Dog Food Casserole called for garlic cloves. Sorry but my vet and ASPCA has garlic on the toxic food list for canines.

I also left out peas because Dex hates them. You can give him soup, dog food, or pot roast. If he finds a pea, he spits it out, amazing for a creature that cleans his entire body with his tongue. I also left out wheat germ because I didn’t have any.

Poindexter showed up in the kitchen once the rice was done and I started mixing the turkey meat with the egg. He stood guard over the oven until I finally served him his meal. He has scarfed down the dog food each time and licked the bowl clean. He is a big fan.  

Here’s the modified recipe.

Dog Food Casserole:

4 lbs ground turkey meat

1 lb canned Navy or Red Beans

1 lb frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, green beans)

2 cups cooked brown rice (which is 1 cup uncooked) *I used Wild Rice instead in my rice cooker.

1 cup cooked oatmeal *I used Trader Joe’s Organic Multigrain Hot Cereal with rye, barley, oats, & wheat. Microwaved one cup with 1¼ cups of water.

1 cup 2% fat cottage cheese

2 large eggs

¼ cup nutritional yeast

Cook rice and oatmeal then allow it to cool. Find a very big bowl. Mix all the ingredients together until blended. You will need two large baking or lasagna pans sprayed with oil. Spread the mixture into the pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60 to 90 minutes. This is a basic meat loaf recipe and will cook about the same. Cool and cut into dog can portions. If you have a little dog you should get 36-48 squares (42 to 31 cents per serving). Poindexter’s size was about 12 squares ($1.42 per serving). Pop into plastic freezer bags and freeze.  I like to heat a portion in the microwave before serving.

BTW I took a bite. It is delicious. So if I end up being Old Mother Hubbard at least I will be eating quality dog food.

According to the ASPCA:

Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet

•           alcoholic beverages

•           avocado

•           chocolate (all forms)

•           coffee (all forms)

•           fatty foods

•           macadamia nuts

•           moldy or spoiled foods

•           onions, onion powder

•           raisins and grapes

•           salt

•           yeast dough

•           garlic

•           products sweetened with xylitol (04/06/2007)

Blackberries

            My sister-in-law and her husband sent me a Trader Joe’s gift card for Christmas. I picked up a replenishment of spices emptied during the holiday food orgy, some veggies, and a quart box of super-ripe blackberries. Each berry was iridescent black and size of my thumb—well almost.

            “Wow those are black,” said the TJ clerk.

            “I was surprised to see them. Aren’t they supposed to be out of season?” I looked over the cover and saw the marking. “Oh, Mexico. That explains it,” speaking to myself more than the young man.

            The cashier scanned my items. I had winced a bit on the $3.99 price for the blackberries. I know I shouldn’t have. That’s a terrific in-store price.

My mind wandered instead to the American River. My brother, Steve—Gary he was called back then, and I picked sun-baked berries off the thorny vines that grew in huge mounds around the edges of the rocky beach.  We fished or threw rocks or dragged in crawdads that hung like grapes off a piece of bacon stolen from Mom’s kitchen. We drank the river water and munched on wild fruit—our fingers and nails stained purple. We forgot to fight like siblings and soaked up the summer.

            I eat blackberries year round. There are ones from Washington, Oregon, California and then Mexico. Soon we will see Chilean and Australian then where ever—Asia I guess. The availability is staggering.  One pint sells for $6.99 in the off season. The two-fer bargains happen when the Californian crop is bursting. Mexico, reliable Mexico, steps up in winter to offer my one quart for $3.99 or free if you have a TJ gift card from your in-laws. 

            It’s the flavor that I miss.  The intense sweetness could never be recaptured with an adult tongue—spoiled by drink, hot spices, and ludicrous mixtures of flavors at every meal. Yet, I remember the experience of finding a sweet blackberry after tasting a few sour not-quite-ripe ones.

            Twenty years ago, my dear friend Suzanne invited me to visit her at a cabin above Los Gatos. Her family had rented the location for a week. It was their good-bye to Suzanne who was moving with her husband to Carroll, Iowa. After spending a bit of time with her folks, she and I walked arm in arm along Saratoga Springs. The day seemed hot for the Bay Area. I sported a cowboy hat and sunglasses. I thought I looked cool in the ninety degree weather.  We crossed a bend in the creek. The bank was tangled with blackberry brambles.

            I started munching off the vines and then found myself explaining to a California native what I was eating. Suzanne, a decade my junior, had never picked blackberries. Sad but true. We gathered my hat full of berries. She wisely suggested that we wash the fruit before eating. I had to wait until we got back to the cabin and rinse the bounty before I could see her face light up when the hot syrupy goodness hit her taste buds. It was worth it. No one’s face can light up like Suzanne’s.

            I am eating my Trader Joe’s blackberry now. The taste will never be quite as good as the memories it evokes.

Thanks, Ann and Phil for the gift card.

We Talked About Food

I met with a young woman at Church on Sunday. She sat with her six-year-old and her twin babies of just three months. Slowly, she gave up the story of her also young husband that has contracted a near-fatal heart condition causing him to quit work and go on disability. His illness is so severe that he cannot pick up his newborn sons.

The wife now has three children and a extremely sick husband to care for full-time. Her concern? What to fix for supper. The husband is limited to red meat twice per month, fish and chicken once a week, no packaged or processed foods, with the elimination of fats, eggs, and sugars. We talked about food.

Our angel-of-a-Parish Assistant organized volunteers to bring vegetarian meals to their home. She looked for someone to help do a few chores.

I promised to bring recipes. I dug out my copies of Dr. Timothy Brantly’s book The Cure and Ann Wigmore’s The Hippocrates Diet to give to the young family. Wigmore’s book covers the basics of eating healthy, the curative powers of juicing, and provides some recipes, The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen also made it into the box. Though not wholly vegetarian, the cookbook offers excellent food choices and a wide variety of flavors. The couple stated they liked all types of food.

I decided to give them a starter pack of things I found valuable in my diet. From the health food store I included—powdered wheatgrass juice, mung beans for sprouting, and organic veggies. From Trader Joes—Daily Bread brand sprouted wheat-bread, organic peanut butter, soy butter, almond milk, raw milk cheese, Pure Maple Syrup, Agave Syrup, and Brewers’ Yeast. She said she had sea-salt at home otherwise I would have included it.

The items get dropped off tomorrow. Please pray for the family.

Oh and I lost a pound this week.