Homemade chicken and sweet pea dog/cat chow
Today, I am making homemade pet food that can be fed to both felines and pooches. I used grits in this batch of pet food, although I normally use oatmeal. Oatmeal is more suitable because grits are more of a filler. So the healthier option is to use oatmeal. Both aids as a glue to bind the pet food together and both can be fed to cats and dogs. However, grits should only be used in moderation. Pets love them, but since they are a filler, there's really no great nutritional value in them. However, for this recipe, I only used a small amount of grits, and a can of white chicken meat with the broth for the protein.
Ingredients:
1-5-ounce can of white chicken and the broth
2 cups of green sweet peas (drained)
½ cups of grits or oatmeal
2-3 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of water
Instructions:
In a medium-sized bowl, add the grits or oatmeal and water, transfer the bowl to the microwave, and cook the grits (or oatmeal) just until the liquid has thickened the grits (or oatmeal). At this point, you really only want to plump the grains up until they expand, but all the water needs to be absorbed.
Next, add the sweet peas and chicken to the grits (or oatmeal) and stir well. Then add the chicken with the broth and stir.
Now, incorporate the flour into the mixture. Stir until all ingredients are combined well.
Lightly coat a cooking tray with grease. Spoon the oatmeal mixture into the tray, spreading it out as thin as possible.
Transfer the pan to a 450 degree F oven. Bake the pet food for thirty minutes, then stir it. At this point, I used a fork and squashed the sweet peas so that they will become crunchy once the pet food fully cooks.
Place the tray back into the oven and bake another twenty minutes or until the chow has browned and is crunchy in texture.
Once the chow is done, cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes:
You can also dehydrate the pet food on clear tray inserts in a dehydrator. I am baking the pet chow tonight since my dehydrator is tied up. I am in the process of making a third batch of sweet potato chewy dog treats.
Add more chicken to the chow for a higher protein diet.