Beef and Pumpkin Crock Pot Recipe

This recipe was a little different than the other recipes that I have posted so far because it was completely grain free!  It came out from smooth and was perfect to mix with kibble (I mixed it with grain-free Merrick).

For the beef, I was looking around for a low-fat cut that wasn't too expensive.  Here are some options -- note, some can be pricey, you don't need to buy that!  Look around!

• Eye of round roast or steak
• Sirloin tip side steak
• Top round roast and steak
• Bottom round roast and steak
• Top sirloin steak

Ingredients

1 pound of lean beef

1 can of sugar-free pumpkin puree

2 large carrots

1 small-medium sweet potato or 1/2 large sweet potato

Handful of green beans

1 beet

Directions

Put crock pot setting on high for 4-6 hours.  You mainly need to wait for the root vegetables to soften because the meat will cook rather quickly.  Cut the meat up in cubes or leave as thin slices.  Stir occasionally.  Check at the end of the crock pot cycle that the vegetables have softened.  Blend everything together and it should be a thick and pasty.  If too watery, you can add cornstarch, about a tablespoon, or leave back on the crock pot to evaporate some of the liquid.  Refrigerating the food will also make it firmer and less watery as well.  

Feel free to serve as-is or mix with kibble or add rice or other grains as with other recipes on this site!

Homemade Dog Food Portions

With homemade dog food, you have to be aware that portioning may differ from canned and dry food.  One of the easiest ways to portion your food is to consult with your veterinarian.  There are also many other shortcuts that you can take to figure out portioning.

One great dog food provider is Merrick -- "organic" enough for your fur babies that you can't hate them!  One reason why I started to make my own dog food, however, is because Merrick is so expensive.  Most of Merrick is grain-free as well, so you can use their dog food portion calculator to determine the amount of food that you can use for your dogs if you are not adding rice, oats or grains.  Merrick goes by can size -- each can is about 13 ounces.  That is about 1 and 2/3 cups of food.  Remember to compare your food to Merrick's to see the consistency (dense, blended vs. chunky in gravy).  That will matter greatly for the calories along with the ingredients!

If you are adding rice, oats and grains to your homemade dog food, you need to use a different calculator.  Searching around for a high quality canned dog food, I found Nutro -- and I often feed my dogs the kibble from them.  If you look at their many types of canned dog food, you should be able to match one close to what you are making.  You can then check the feeding guidlines and go from there!  Their can size is similar to Merrick and each can is equal to about 1 and 2/3 cups of food!

When combining the homemade dog food and kibble, always use a high quality kibble.  Grain-free or not, make sure you are picking a dog food with healthy ingredients.  I often lower my dogs' canned food recommendation by about 1/4 of a cup and mix only about a handful or so of the kibble with the soft food to add some crunch.  Note that they are chihuahuas!  You may have to play around with your own mix -- some even get dental dog food to mix to sneak in some health benefits!

Gizzards and Liver Crock Pot Dog Food Recipe

This was actually my first attempt at homemade dog food.  It almost has a beef look to it, but is way better for your dogs!  Less fat, more nutrition!  I would definitely recommend a blender for this recipe as the livers and gizzards can be a little tough to chew for some dogs.

Ingredients

4 cups of gizzards and livers, any mix you would like

1.5 cups of brown rice

1 large sweet potato, chopped

1 cup of green beans, whole

1 beet, chopped

1-2 large carrots, chopped

Additional dog-friendly vegetables if you desire

Directions

Place the livers and gizards in the crock pot.  Surround with all the vegetables.  Leave out the rice for now. 

Cook on high for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.  The vegetables should start getting mushy and all the juices should be settling at the bottom.  Because we are blending, you don't have to worry about the vegetables getting super soft.  By 4-6 hours, you should be ready to go.  Add contents of the crock pot in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Now, prepare your rice as specified on the bag or box.  After the rice is cooked, you can fold your blended ingredients in with the rice.  This gives the food a nice texture vs. blending the rice as well.  If your dog prefers a "chunkless" food, go ahead and blend the rice with the ingredients.  I find the mixing to be a little nicer as the ingredients adhere to the rice and flavor it well.  The food should last up to 5 days in the fridge.  I often portion it up in baggies and put it in the freezer if unused.  This recipe will make about 5 quarts of food, so it will last beyond 5 days for small dogs and be just about right for large dogs for that time period -- especially if you mix with some dry food! 

Full Chicken Crock Pot Dog Food Recipe

Mmmmm (to a dog).

The dogs LOVE this homemade dog food.  NO BLENDER NEEDED unless you have tiny dogs -- but even my chihuahuas can chew the bones once tender (and the "hand chopping" breaks them up enough).  See recipe below for more details.

Ingredients

1 full chicken 3-5 pounds (fits in a 6 quart crock pot)

1.5 cups of brown rice

1 large sweet potato, chopped

1 cup of green beans, whole

1 beet, chopped

1-2 large carrots, chopped

Additional dog-friendly vegetables if you desire

Directions

Place full chicken in the crock pot.  Surround with all the vegetables.  Leave out the rice for now. 

Cook on high for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  The vegetables should start getting mushy and all the juices should be settling at the bottom.  At this point your chicken is ready for consumption minus the bones.  This is when I put the crock pot on for a 8-10 hour setting, overnight.  This allows the bones to soften.  You should also see your liquid simmering (if not, turn to a higher setting).  Near the end of the 8-10 hours with about 2 hours left to go, add the 1.5 cups of rice.  Stir occasionally.  Add water when the rice soaks up all the juices.  After the 2 hours of the rice being added, your food should be a nice, sloppy-looking mess of homemade dog food.  Be sure to run your mixing spoon through all the ingredients and use a chopping motion as well to make sure the bones are broken up into fairly small pieces.  Remember -- if your dog does not do well with bones, even when tender, use boneless chicken or see my Gizzards and Livers Dog Food Recipe!  A blender is always an option, too!  The bones add an extra nutritional bonus and you can also see my Marrow Dog Food Recipe if you just want the marrow added.  After you play around with a few recipes, you will see that you can mix and match with no problem!  This recipe will make about 5-6 full quarts of food.  You can portion up the food in baggies or tupperware containers and freeze, too!