Chicken Liver Jerky

So the next recipe on my list was Chicken Liver Jerky.  I have never tried touched or cooked liver before, and I must admit, the whole idea skeeved me out.  I don't know what it is about internal animal organs, but I've never had the slightest desire to try to cook or eat them.  But I managed to get through the process unscathed, and these might be Melvin's new favorite treats!

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken liver
2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp garlic powder

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2.  Drain liver. (I just put it directly into a strainer to avoid touching it. yucky) Put water and chicken broth in a pot.  Add liver, bring to boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

3.  Drain liver once more then cut into bite-size pieces for your dog.  Spread the pieces out on a sprayed or greased cookie sheet.

4.  Cook 1.5-2 hours.  If you have bigger pieces for a bigger dog, you may need to cook them an extra half hour.  If your dog likes super crunchy treats, then turn off the oven after 2 hours and let the pieces sit overnight or for several hours.

5.  These can be stored in a ziplock bag or other storage container.  It doesn't have to be completely air tight since it's jerky.  These also do not have to be refrigerated and should last 3 weeks, if your dog doesn't eat them all by then!

This recipe only cost me $2.49 (for the chicken liver) because I had chicken broth and garlic powder in my pantry.  That's much more cost effective than the $5.99 I pay for commercial, all natural dog treats.

This recipe can also be adjusted for other types of liver such as beef or duck (if you want to get all fancy).  For beef, I would also substitute the chicken broth for beef broth, and for the duck, I would just use water.

Bone Appetit!

Meet Melvin

Before I blog about my text baking attempt (which will be chicken liver jerky later this afternoon. yum), I wanted to let you all get to know Melvin.  I adopted Melvin from Tallahassee Animal Aid on January 14, 2010.  When I adopted him, I was told he was around 1-2 years old, but over the past 14 months, he's been turning white, so I'm quite certain that he's at least 5, if not older (or just turning white prematurely).  For the first 6 months I had Melvin, we had to overcome some health hurdles.  First, he was at animal aid because he was found on the side of a highway, only 4 lbs and paralyzed.  The vet refers to him as "the miracle dog" because no one expected him to live.  But after 3 months at the vet, he gained 4 more pounds and everything was looking good.  He was still having problems walking for months after I brought him home, and he still has a slight limp, but he is a million times better than what he was. 

Here's our first picture together:

He was also heartworm positive.  After being on heartworm preventative for a few months, he received his first Immiticide shot, which is basically a shot of arsenic that breaks up heartworms.  During the treatment, which takes 3 months from start to finish, Melvin couldn't get his heart rate up for fear that a piece of a heartworm would travel to his heart and cause it to stop.  He only was allowed outside to potty without any long walks.  I had to carry him up and down stairs because he couldn't do it.  A month after the first Immiticide shot, he went into the vet to get two more.  When given the second of three shots, he immediately went into anaphylactic shock and had to be intubated.  Obviously the vet decided not to give Melvin the third shot and just continue with heartworm preventative.  Because he wasn't able to finish the treatment, it took almost a year to completely rid Melvin of heartworms, but he's completely healthy now!

Because of his hyperactive immune system, the vet refuses to put Melvin under anesthesia since he may have a reaction and not wake up.  So Melvin isn't neutered.  I'm one of those bad people.  I promise, if I could neuter him, I would.

Melvin and I have had an awesome 14 months and hopefully many more! He's definitely a spoiled dog, but it's so hard not to spoil such a sweet and cute boy!

Do I Smell Bacon?

So I decided that my first documented endeavor would be bacon flavored biscuits.  I used bone-shaped cookie cutters to make bones, but any shape or size would do.

Bacon Flavored Bones

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour (whole wheat is the most nutritious, but my dog is allergic to wheat, so I used regular flour)
1/4 cup milk (whatever type you'd like)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 large, beaten egg
2 tbsp of bacon fat
1 piece finely chopped bacon
1/4 cup water

This is definitely an easy recipe, and since I was so excited to get started on baking for the blog, I completely forgot to take pictures until the end.  I promise there will be more pictures in the future.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress.  Lightly spray or grease a cookie sheet, and lightly flour a surface to roll the dough.

2.  Mix all the ingredients.  This dough should be pretty stiff, so if you add too much water it'll become sticky.  If that happens, just add some more flour.

3.  Roll out dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick.  Use whatever cookie cutter you'd like to make different shapes and sizes and place them on the cookie sheet.

4. Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on how soft or hard you'd like the biscuits.  Melvin prefers softer treats, so I baked them for 22 minutes.

5.  Let the biscuits cool completely before sharing them with your dog.

And here's the final product:

If I had only used the small bone cookie cutter, then this recipe would have made about 2 dozen bones.

And Melvin loved them!!

Welcome to Great Danishes!

After so many attempts at baking homemade dog food and treats for my precious Melvin, I've decided to share my successes and failures with the world. Ok, maybe not the world, but I'm sure at least my friends and family will follow the blog. ::fingers crossed::  Melvin is a very picky eater, so I may give some of the treats to friends to see if their dogs are fans before considering a recipe a failure.

Here's my Melvin, so you know who I'm cooking for:

Yes, he's wearing a snuggie. Don't judge.