How does this recipe sound? Anything...not good?

[Donna Vee]

sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, chicken gizzards and hearts and organic, free range broth.

Can I add chopped spinach?

 

~D

[Melissa]

you had me until you said chicken gizzards and hearts!  LOL!

[Donna Vee]

hahahaha...I know huh? Well good to know they're not going to waste. If we won't eat them, it's nice that someone can get some use out of them.

Embarrassing note: My family is from the south, my grandmother used to use every part of every animal in some fancy southern feast.  I can't believe she was such a slim beautiful belle her whole life...lol.

[F, Calla & Luca]

The biggest use of spare animal parts, it seem to me, is selling them as dog treats for a lot of money!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's hard to tell without knowing the percentages of each ingredient. Also, organ meats should be fed sparingly, and not on a daily basis. But there's nothing listed that would be harmful as part of a dog's diet.

[Donna Vee]

Eeek, well, it's actually a whole package of giz and hearts but the veggies and sweet potatoes far out weigh it (making it in a big dutch oven).  This recipe should last a few of weeks.  I'm going to freeze portions and add them sparingly with their kibble.  Good to know though, I will be careful from now on.  I also bought some lower fat ground turkey for the next batch.

 

What about the spinach Karen? I didn't put it in this batch because I wasn't sure. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Spinach is fine in moderation. Like most things, lol.

[F, Calla & Luca]

But hearts and gizzards are primarily muscle unlike liver or kidneys let's say. So wouldn't that make a difference?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Different kind of muscle, which I know you know. Don't know why that makes a difference nutritionally, but it does. Chicken hearts are very low in cholesterol and saturated fats, but the hearts of four-legged food animals are much higher than an equal amount of the flesh from that animal. And gizzards are higher yet. Chicken gizzards have about 2.5 times the amount of cholesterol per ounce as plain cooked chicken or even plain cooked beef. And turkey gizzards are even higher.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, it is different muscle at least in people hearts are cardiac mucle and gizzards I imagine are smooth muscle. But I wonder if thats what makes the difference or more to do with the coverings of the muscle or something. When I have more oomph maybe I'll try to figure this out. I know for people liver, pancreas, brain etc all bad stuff, comparatively. Those organs are not muscular of course and are very high in cholesterol.

[Diane Margetts]

Hey--great timing!! We're cooking for Dakota tomorrow. In another topic I reported that I was in the process of "selling" my husband on switching to Taste of the Wild. We bought it last Friday--got the salmon. I have a totally new approach for "handling" my hubby; I am having my "retired" husband cook the "additives" for Dakota's food thereby, getting him involved so he has a stake in this nutrition project! He is grabbing on and suggested himself that we add some sweet potatoes and a few fresh veggies like carrots and green beans to Dakota's fresh chicken breast "mixer"!! Good plan, huh???!!!

Sooo, Donna, my husband is somewhat tracking with your ideas. I agree with you that all parts of an animal -- or at least most parts -- have a use somewhere. I do agree with Karen that organ meats are best used in moderation because they are very rich . . .

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I love it that your DH is cooking for Dakota! I predict that your husband will soon be lecturing other dog owners on proper canine nutrition!

[Donna Vee]

My DH loves these dogs more than life, but he is soooooo old school.  He never had indoor dogs because his family was raised on a farm and they really didn't encourage getting close to pets because.....well, they slaughtered a a lot of what they raised....YIKES! ........He is finally learning how precious pets can be and our girls are totally house dogs with a big yard to play in. They are totally part of our family now....BIG step for him.  I'm showing him threads on this site that talk about the danger of commercial foods and he's actually becoming concerned.

I hope, like yours, that my DH gets really active in their health. Our girls are goldendoodles and they can live 15 years if well cared for.

 

Thanks for the feedback ladies. :)