Homemade chickpea dog food

Homemade chickpea dog food

Yesterday, I showed you how to cook chickpeas for pooches. Today, I will be showing you how you can make nutritious homemade chickpea dog food at home. (This recipe can also be made for cats. Just add the ingredients to a blender or food processor to make pâté.)

I prefer making homemade dog food and homemade dog treats for my sweet fur baby whenever it's possible, and it's as easy as throwing a pound of chickpeas into a crock-pot overnight to cook. When I wake up, all I have to do is finish stirring in a few essential ingredients and tah-dah, it's finished. There is no hurry, no mess, and no extreme prices! Plus, my dog Princess loves her homemade food.

Princess is a very healthy pooch. She weighs in at 89 pounds and all 89 pounds of her is pure muscle. Although, she still believes that she's still a little puppy. She was one out of five newborn puppies that I rescued eight years ago on September 25th. The rescue mission also involved me saving their furry mom that had been severely starved, badly beaten, and then left abandoned. 

I began creating nutritious pet food years ago, because being a (non-profit) animal rescuer was extremely expensive. I continue to make homemade pet food and pet treats now, not only because it's still the least expensive way to go, but I also do it, because it's a healthy option and I can safely check the ingredients that are added to my pets' food. That gives me peace of mind.

Chickpea dog food

This recipe makes a little over eight pounds of dog food. Double the ingredients if you need more, half if you need less. The dog food can be kept frozen for up to one year and kept safely in the refrigerator for one week, maximum. 

For more information about how to cook chickpeas, go back and read my article "Chickpeas for pooches."

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds (48-ounces) of cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) (Provides protein, magnesium, folate, potassium, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin C.)

• 3 pounds (48-ounces) of cooked meat (the meat can be salmon, beef, duck, chicken, turkey, lamb, venison, etc..) (Provides protein, taurine, an amino acid.)

• 2 pounds (10 carrots) of cooked diced carrots (Provides beta-carotene, fiber, and other needed vitamins.)

• 3-6 eggs, boiled or scrambled (Provides protein, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids.)

• Egg shells ground up into a powder (Provides calcium.)

• 2 tablespoons of safflower oil, sunflower, canola oil, or corn oil (Provides certain essential fatty acids.)

Instructions:

Once you have cooked the chickpeas, meat, carrots, and eggs; mix them together. Add in your preferred oil; stir well.

Add the egg shells to a food processor, grind them into a fine powder; add to the chickpea mixture. Combine well.

Place the dog food in airtight containers or individual Ziploc bags. The chickpea dog food can be kept safely inside the refrigerator for one week, maximum. For longer storage life, place it inside the freezer.

Packaging the amount needed per serving for your fur baby for easy storage:

Serving size per your dog's weight:

• Dogs of 3 pounds to 12 pounds need 1/3 to 1 cup serving size

• Dogs of 13 pounds to 20 pounds need 1 cup to 1-1/3 cups serving size

• Dogs of 21 pounds to 35 pounds need 1-⅓ cups to 2 cups serving size

• Dogs of 26 pounds to 50 pounds need 2 cups to 2-2/3 cups serving size

• Dogs of 51 pounds to 75 pounds need 2-2/3 cups to 3-1/3 cups serving size

• Dogs of 76 pounds to 100 pounds need 3-1/3 cups to 4-1/4 cups serving size

• Dogs that weigh 100 plus pounds need 4-¼ cups plus 1/4 cup per every 10 pounds over 

Supplements:

All dogs need supplements when feeding homemade dog food. NaturVet All-in-One Dog Supplement is one that I use and trust.

Note:

One pound of dried chickpeas cooked makes three pounds, four-ounces of cooked chickpeas. I include that extra four-ounces in this recipe. So, once they're cooked, you'll have seven cups of chickpeas.

I find that it's much easier to measure the amount per serving, then package the homemade chickpea dog food per the serving sizes that I need.

This recipe can be fed to both dogs and cats. That's a genius perk! For feral kittens, I process the chickpeas and other ingredients together into pâté, and they love it.

Homemade chicken and sweet pea dog/cat chow

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.

Peanut butter dog biscuits

If pet food prices have you skipping away from the dog treat aisle, then read on. Today, I will walk you through how I prepare simple puppy (dog) peanut butter biscuits. The recipe doesn't require very many ingredients and the treats take about twenty minutes to bake. Your pooches will be so excited that you're making delicious peanut butter treats for them that they'll even try to help you prepare them. Well, maybe not, but I betcha they'll try to give you a bunch of doggy smooches!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour

• 1 egg

• ½ cups of creamy peanut butter

• ¼ cup of warm water

Instructions:

In a bowl, add the all-purpose flour, creamy peanut butter, eggs, and water. Using a mixer or fork, combine until the ingredients are incorporated together.

Lightly dust your countertop with flour and transfer the peanut butter dough to it; roll the dough out. The dough should be kind of stiff and not sticky.

Use cookie cutters to cut out cute shapes, or use one specifically for cutting out dog treats. If you don't have either, don't worry, because you can cut the dough into squared-shapes, rectangular-shapes with a knife, or use a small-mouth jelly jar to cut out circle-shapes.

Next, place your pooch treats on a cookie tray and bake them in a 350 degree F oven for twenty minutes, or until they turn crunchy and golden brown. (I flip mine after ten minutes to make sure both sides are browned well.)

Once the treats are done, allow them to cool completely; then store them in an airtight container.