Homemade Dog Food and Treats

I'll just state the obvious, our dog is blessed. He's not just spoiled with a couple insanely comfortable beds, an unlimited supply of tennis balls, and toys in every room of the house but he has a life people dream of. Okay, he has the life I dream of!

As I am sitting here writing he is sleeping beside me and is curled up with one of his "rags." Toys aren't truly loved until they are destroyed. He took the concept from the book The Velveteen Rabbit  to an extreme. His day starts with either an early am run with one of us or a game of fetch at the dog park and this happens rain or shine. At lunch time he visits the park again for either a game of fetch or a walk in the woods which in the warmer (by Kona standards) months probably includes a swim too. In the evening after work if we didn't run in the morning he joins one of us for our run or he goes back to the dog park. He eats at least three times a day because if we eat lunch why shouldn't he? He joins us every time we go mountain biking, trail running, hiking, or just a walk in the woods. He's bagged a 4,000 footer, been sailing, been kayaking, gone camping, traveled to 6 states, and been on non-camping vacations.

He is a high energy dog that has the sweetest disposition and loves being outdoors. He loves to run, loves to play fetch, and loves to eat. His love of eating unfortunately can lead to an extremely stinky butt. We still aren't really sure what foods he doesn't tolerate but after a few months and several different brands of dog foods and homemade food we know what he can eat!

After a few months of transitioning him to new foods we realized we were never going to solve this problem if we left him on foods that didn't agree with him. So off I went to do some research. I ended up making his food for him for a little over a month to help clear his system and then so we could tell if the new food we were transitioning him to was actually okay for him.

I did make him two different varieties of dog food at first. One was oatmeal, scrambled eggs, carrots, peas, boiled apples, and boiled pears. He loved it and gobbled it up! The second was boiled sweet potatoes which I mashed, boiled chicken, string beans, cauliflower, and broccoli. He loved and gobbled that one up too! I made a third one with some of the leftover ingredients I had. It was the mashed up sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, and chicken. I have to say, not only did he love it but it was easy to make in a huge batch, portion, and freeze. I still have a few meals in the freezer for him as a special treat or for when we need them.

I have a friend who also has a dog with food issues and she was kind enough to share one of her recipes for dog treats. I took her recipes, made a few minor changes, and whipped up some yummy treats that Kona loved! The of course has sweet potatoes and peanut butter in them, two of his favorite things! The treats that he didn't overly love was the sweet potato jerky, I though he would really enjoy it but he would only eat it if there was another dog also eating a piece of the jerky. Oh well, the other ones were easier to make anyways.

The start of homemade dog food to portion and freeze

Sweet potato slices ready to be dehydrated 

Dog treat mixture 

Dog treat mixture getting rolled out

Dinos and bones, oh no!

Dog Treats

1 cup of diced sweet potato 

1 cup of oat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup of super chunky peanut butter

1 egg

Put the sweet potato, peanut butter, and egg in the  blender and blend until sweet potato is chopped up and ingredients are mixed. Remove from blender and add in oat flour and oats. I mixed and then rolled to cut, I like rolling them and either cut into shapes or cut into squares/rectangles so they are uniform and bake evenly.

Bake at 300 degrees for 40-45 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

New Year's Day and Mount Madison

It started simple, let's spend the first day of the new year outdoors being active.  Great, I thought, I love being outside and I want more adventures. There wasn't any snow on the ground here so xc skiing or snowshoeing were out and there aren't any mountains to hike in the area so we quickly decided to head north to the White Mountains.

We were thinking about bagging my first 4,000 footer (Mount Madison) on New Year's Eve, being at the summit for midnight, and hiking to an AMC hut to spend the night. I didn't own a winter sleeping bag, an ice ax, gators, crampons, or anything else you need for this but the weather was predicted to be mild so we thought let's get the gear and go for it. Plus, I love to hike, have been hiking since I was a kid...but I had zero alpine experience, hadn't been winter camping since I was a Girl Scout, and hadn't hiked a snow covered mountain.. ever. What started as a simple plan to start our year outdoors grew into this adventure I knew I wasn't ready for.

When New Year's Eve arrived and we were packing our gear we checked the weather one last time and it was now predicting light snow and much colder temps for the overnight. I wish this is where I say we stuck with the plan, bagged the peak,  and it was an adventure.  I can say it was an adventure but we didn't stick with the plan. We knew I wasn't ready for this trip, not only was it going to be the highest mountain I'd ever hiked but the first time I was doing real winter hiking.

Our plan changed to turning it into a day hike. We'd still spend the day outdoors being active, it would still be an adventure, and we'd still bag the peak. We got up early(ish), grabbed the rest of the needed gear (you read that right, there were thoughts of heading out the night before without all the needed gear), and hit the road.

We parked at the Great Gulf Wilderness parking area and set out on the Great Gulf Wilderness Trail. We crossed the suspension bridge over the West Branch Peabody River and stayed on the Great Gulf Wilderness Trail until we arrived at the Osgood Trail junction. From here we followed the Osgood Trail toward the summit. The plan, bag the peak, come back down the Osgood Trail,  then take the Daniel Webster Scout Trail to the Great Gulf Link, and then back to the car. What really happened is a little different.

We continued on the Osgood Trail and the views were amazing. We stopped to eat, rest, take in the scenery, and just really enjoy it. I was having a lot of fun and honestly it wasn't even that cold but we waited a long time to put on our crampons and that probably was a mistake. It was taking a while to cover not a lot of ground. Not much snow fell the nigh before so what was on the ground was pretty packed down and iced over. My steps had to be small and foot placements careful while climbing or else I didn't make forward progress. I was having fun but by the time we hit the Alpine Zone I was already tired. We made it past tree line and the temp dropped significantly and the wind was picking up but the views were amazing.

Once above treeline the trail was marked with cairns and was composed of talus and rock slabs. We took off our crampons and kept moving. The wind was howling, our water was now all frozen, it was too cold for our phones to work to take pictures, and the sun was setting. We made it to a sub-summit just before the Daniel Webster Scout Trail when we decided to head back. The wind was making it hard to move safely and navigating this terrain in the dark wasn't going to be fun even with headlamps.

I was bummed, disappointed, and felt like why did we even head out. I could see the summit, I felt like I could almost reach out and touch it. Of course I wasn't close enough to touch it but it was in sight, not that far away but completely unattainable. We made it below treeline just before the sunset and continued our trek back to the car along the Osgood Trail and finally the Great Gulf Trail, we crossed the bridge and walked the 100 or so feet back to the car. I no longer felt bummed, disappointed, or that the hike had no purpose. I felt empowered, excited, thrilled, exhausted, and depleted all at once. I didn't bag the peak but I did do a great day hike and into the Alpine zone. I can't wait to go back and bag the peak. Next time, I start earlier and realize that if it takes 8-ish hours without snow it *might* take longer with snow.

West Branch Peabody River

Taking a break early in the day

Osgood Trail junction

Moose poop, we saw lots and lots of moose poop

Welcome to the Alpine Zone

Mini Road Trip and Another Great Deli

"I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world." Mary Anne Radmacher

This quote resonates with me. We can read all the books in the world, have the highest of college degrees but until we travel we have not truly been educated. I want to see it all, I want to see cities, famous buildings, remote villages, and the wilderness. I want to travel as far and for as long as I can. I want to experience other cultures, I want to know what life is like outside of my bubble. I want to see and know everything the sun touches.

I can't always travel far so between my far away travels I travel near. A couple weekends ago K and I went to Bethel, ME and had a lot of fun getting there and driving home. We stayed at the Bethel Inn. When you stay there they include dinner and breakfast and they have really nice, groomed cross country skiing trails. They are close to Sunday River and in the summer they are close to hiking, golfing, and other outdoor activities.

While the Inn and surroundings were nice I loved our car ride home. We took our time, decided to take route 1 home instead of 95. We saw an Elk farm, lots of ice formed on the rocks on the side of the road, a river that was beautifully frozen and snow covered, and a really cool, old plow truck. I love seeing the sights. When the weather is nice I want to go back to see that frozen river. There was a wooden bridge that crossed it from a picnic area on the side of the road and lead to a park.

When it was time to stop for lunch we found this little deli called Ashby's Deli . I had their Turkey Pesto BLT, mmm! Kai wanted their pulled pork sandwich but they didn't have enough pulled pork left (we did go there 15 minutes before they closed). He ordered a different sandwich, which he liked, but they also gave him the rest of the pulled pork and OMG! It was delicious! The next time we are driving through Maine we are stopping there for another sandwich!

We might not have seen how a different culture or country lives, seen historical landmarks from hundreds or thousands of years ago but we had so much fun exploring a little piece of Maine. If you have the chance to explore something do it, even if it's only a couple hours away from home.

Weekends are for Adventures... and Maybe Making Yummy Food

Last week we had a pretty decent amount of snow dumped on us. We didn't get a couple inches, no not even just under a foot. We got just about 30" of snow dumped on us! While I don't love the two snow days it gave us I love that it allowed me to cross country ski and snowshoe on the trails behind my house as well as cross country ski on trails on a neighboring towns trails. I love being in the woods, there is something so peaceful about it but there is something truly special about being in the woods when everything is covered in snow. Everything looks different, smells different, and sounds different...it's so crisp and clean. I love it even more when I get to be the first one to walk on the fresh snow, I almost hate to ruin how perfect it all looks but I get to be the first one to explore and that feeling always wins.

So even though there was a feel like temp of negative 1 on Saturday two of my friends and I, oh and Kona, bundled up and hit the trails in a neighboring town to xc ski on trails in one of their land reserves. It's one of my favorites with a few different well marked trails, a few bridges, a pond, streams, and some fun little hills. We had so much fun xc skiing for three hours. We laughed as we made our way up little hills, talked about anything and everything, and enjoyed the sights around us.

Sunday morning I went xc skiing with Kai and Kona and we explored a new (to us) set of trails behind our house. They belong to a land trust in town. They were fun, pretty, and we can't wait to explore them more. Kona and I again went out with two of my friends and we went snowshoeing on a different set of trails in the woods behind our home. We mainly followed the main trail that I typically run on because a lot of the smaller trees were bent over due to heavy snow on them but it was so much fun and so pretty back there. Kona had a blast playing and rolling in the snow.  The snow was pretty deep for him though and he ended up being one tired puppy and slept through the whole Super Bowl. You should all go and search online to see if your town or the towns around you have nature preserves/reserves, land trusts, or parks with trails. Search for state parks too! You never know, you might have an outdoor adventure waiting for you a lot closer than you thought.

While this past weekend was about being outdoors and having fun it was also a little bit about food. It was really nice to come back from xc skiing Saturday and be able to just pull a bag of Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice soup out of the freezer and heat it up. It didn't take long and was so much better than stopping for a cup of soup or opening up a can of soup. I really like soup, it's one of my favorite things to have for lunch in the fall and winter but this one is one of my favorites, one of my top three. Dinner was equally easy since all I had to do was boil water to make pasta and pull a bag of left over chicken for Chicken Enchilada Pasta. Less than 15 minutes and dinner was on the table! It worked well since I was starving on Saturday! I hope you enjoy the following chicken recipes as much as I do!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (freezes well)

Ingredients

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups of water

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 package of Uncle Ben's Chicken and wild rice

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 portobella mushroom caps diced

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups of heavy cream

Directions

Combine the first section of ingredients together in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6 hours. Take out the two chicken breasts and shred with two forks. Return the chicken to the crockpot. In a bowl add the flour and some of the hot liquid from the crockpot. Mix together until well mixed and add a little more of the hot liquid from the crockpot until smooth. Stir the cream into the mixture and then add it the crockpot.  Cover the crockpot and let it sit (turned off) for 15-20 minutes to thicken.  

Chicken Enchilada Pasta (freezes well without pasta)

Adapted from

Ingredients

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1- 4 oz can diced green chiles
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 batch of homemade enchilada sauce

Pasta

Toppings (optional)

Shredded cheese

Sour Cream

Avocado

Green Onions

Directions

Place the first section of ingredients together in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken with two forks.  

Boil water for pasta, cook according to box directions.  Top pasta with chicken mixture, top with favorite toppings, and serve. 

Enchilada Sauce (freezes well)

Ingredients

3 cups vegetable broth 

1- 6 oz can of tomato paste

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cumin

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4-1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper

Directions (on stove top)

In a medium sauce pan heat the tomato paste and whisk in the flour. Cook 1 minute while whisking. 

Whisk in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add spices. Cook about 8 minutes or until slightly thickened. 

Directions (for crockpot with Chicken Enchilada Pasta)

Add all ingredients except flour to crockpot with the other ingredients from the Chicken Enchilada Pasta recipe.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours just like the previously stated recipe calls for. After shredding the chicken, remove some of the liquid and whisk in the flour until combined. Add that mixture back to the crockpot and mix. Let it sit (with crockpot turned off) for 10-15 minutes. 

Santa Fe Chicken

Ingredients

2-3 pounds of chicken breasts

2 cups of black  beans (or 1 can if you prefer canned)

2 cups of fresh cut from the cob or frozen corn (1 can if you prefer canned)

2 cups of salsa

1- 8 oz package of cream cheese

Directions

Place the first four ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Pull the chicken with two forks, add the cream cheese, let sit for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted, and mix. Serve over white rice or pasta or inside a wrap. 

Feed the Freezer, Free up Your Time, AND Stop Binge Eating Fast Food

Ever have one of those days where you come home from work and you don't have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to do ANYTHING? Me too. Those are the days I'm always tempted to stop for fast food, a pizza and wings, or Chinese take out on the way home. Then I eat All.The.Food. while in front of the television and crash. I usually don't sleep well and always wake up feeling crappy the next day. I know eating poorly after having a rough day is not the answer. I know it just spirals my mood and how I feel physically but I just can't help it. But, when my freezer is filled with healthy food or just healthier than the stuff I would have picked up food it's easier to avoid the crap food. I can have homemade spaghetti and meatballs on the table in about 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES! I can't order, pick up, and get back home with a pizza in 15 minutes.

Spaghetti and meatballs is actually one of my favorite I've had a crappy day comfort meals. I take the quart sized bag of meatballs and sauce out of the freezer, open it and rip it down one side. Place it in a skillet, cover the skillet, and heat it on medium/medium low heat until thawed and heated. Don't forget to start the water for your pasta right after you cover the frozen meatballs and sauce. Sometimes I stir the meatballs once or twice, sometimes I'm lazy and don't stir them at all. It honestly doesn't get much easier than that. I think it's even easier than takeout because lets be honest if you already made it home before picking up the takeout who wants to go back out. The most important part of preparing this meal is opening the bottle of wine. Sometimes I open it once I have the meatballs and sauce as well as the water started. Sometimes it's one of those days where you open the wine first and then worry about the food.

Not only does feeding the freezer help on my I have no energy days but it helps me to stop losing all my free time to cooking and food prep.  I shared a couple of the recipes I used that froze and thawed well in my last post but said I would share more later. Well here are a couple more I mentioned.

Meatballs (freezes well)

Ingredients 

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 small onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano (or a small amount of fresh oregano finely chopped)

1/2 cup bread crumbs 

1 egg

Directions

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Once mixed form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place them in crockpot.  Add ingredients for marinara sauce and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Pasta Sauce (freezes well)

Ingredients

3-28 oz cans of "Kitchen Ready" ground peeled tomatoes

3- 6 oz cans of tomato paste 

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or through a garlic press

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or a small amount of fresh oregano finely chopped)

1/4 teaspoon onion powder 

Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped

Directions

Add all ingredients to the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Bolognese Sauce (freezes well)

Ingredients

3- 28 oz cans of "Kitchen Ready" ground peeled tomatoes

3- 6 oz cans of tomato paste

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or through a garlic press

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped 

3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

3 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 cups of dry wine

1 1/2 pounds ground chuck

1 1/2 pounds ground pork 

1/4 cup parley, chopped

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

1 cup of heavy cream

Directions

Place all ingredients EXCEPT meats and cream in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. With an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the sauce to remove chunks.  While doing so brown the meats on the stove. Once sauce is blended and meats brown combine the two and add the cream. Serve over pasta with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  

Eating Good Food Shouldn't Eat Up All Your Free Time!!!

I love to eat, I love good food, and I really enjoy making good food. However, I hate that it usually means that I spend at least an hour sometimes two hours making dinner nightly plus several extra hours on the weekends making breakfasts and lunches for the week. I felt like I was losing all my evenings and half my weekend to preparing food, not even eating it but preparing it. Late November I decided something had to change because I missed having my evenings being filled with fun things, my weekends being just for adventures, and being an adult not feeling so, well...boring. I decided I was going to go back to feeding my freezer but with more purpose.

I have always made double batches of soup and feed half of it to my freezer so I have it for later use for workday lunches. When I lived alone I would even freeze some of my leftovers from time to time to consume on an evening I didn't have time to cook but only did that every so often. December was going to be my month, my month to reclaim my free time and it went swimmingly. I spent a couple hours sifting through my favorite recipes and Pinterest for new recipes to find ones that I could make in the crockpot, make double or triple of and freeze the extras, and recipes that were delicious but quick.

While I still made some of my time consuming favorite recipes I reserved those for the 2 nights a week I scheduled in for longer cooking nights. The rest of the week were meals to feed us and the freezer, pulled from the freezer, a crockpot meal, and an occasional quick meal recipe. It. Was. Awesome! I had more time, I felt like I was always served a complete, healthy, and tasty meal, and I didn't feel like I was taking the easy way out.  December and January felt so much easier with January feeling even easier than December since I already had meals in the freezer.

By far my favorite meals we made were ones I could make in the crockpot AND freeze some of it. In the crockpot with extra to freeze I made Swedish Meatballs, Bolognese sauce, Meatballs with Marinara sauce, Chicken Enchilada Pasta, Chicken Fajita Soup, Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, and Black Bean and Salsa Soup. When I made Hippy Loaf (vegetarian meatloaf),  Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers, and Chicken Tikka Masala I made extra and froze them. In the crockpot I made Chicken Parmesan and it was alright but not a favorite, Smothered Chicken (I felt the same way as the Chicken Parm), Santa Fe Chicken (yum!), and Honey Mustard and Herb Chicken (so delicious!)

I linked three of the recipes for now and will post the other recipes soon. :)