What’s the motivation for me to write about this? Well, we got a puppy. She’s 3 1/2 months now and she’s an Akita. She’s gorgeous and her name is Georgie:) We have her on a raw food diet. Right now we are purchasing Mountain Dog Food and Pet’s Go Raw brands but will look into doing it ourselves too. We have a farm here on Gabriola that produces beef and I’ve heard they make raw dog food as well so I’ll be checking in with them too. I have however, started making treats for her in our Excalibur dehydrator. We have a 9 tray so I can easily make enough in one run for quite a while. So far I’ve made beef jerky and some little round cookies that are full of good stuff.
Raw Beef Jerky (you can use other meats here like chicken thigh, turkey, lamb and salmon even.)
Get an inside round roast or other inexpensive lean cut and freeze it partially. You should be able to cut thin slices off it with either a sharp knife or I have a small electric slicer that can adjust the thickness of slices. You don’t want them so thin that you can see through them but not too thick either since this is jerky and should be fairly thin. Cut the slices into strips. You could dry these in the oven at a low temperature but they won’t be considered raw then. I place the strips side by side on a paraflexx non stick sheet (you can use parchment paper too). The roast I got was about 1 K or 2 pounds. I was able to get about 3 trays worth from that which will last quite a while. I start the dehydrator on about 140 F for approx. 45 mins and then lower it to 113 F. Leave it on until the meat will snap in 1/2. I store in zip lock bags in the fridge. They are great for training because you can break pieces easily into small bits. There is no need to add oil or seasoning.
Raw Cookie Treats
This is not rocket science so measurements are at your discretion. I’ll give you some guidelines though.
1 lb ground meat (beef, lamb, chicken, turkey and even salmon) more than one type is ok. I like to use beef and salmon together.
1 lb chicken livers or hearts
1 or 2 eggs
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 apple roughly chopped
couple of handfuls of greens like romaine or maybe kale…not cabbage. I’ve even used a bunch of parsley.
Sweet potato (bake it and scoop put the flesh) not raw I know but that’s the only cooked part
Coconut flour and garbanzo flour (chick pea) no gluten flours please and I’m trying to stay away completely from grains like rice too.
2 tsp oregano
tiny sprinkle of good salt like Celtic or Himalayan
Put everything except the ground meat and flour in the food processor. Blend until mostly smooth. Pour into a bowl with the ground meat. Mix in enough flour (I used mostly coconut and a bit of the garbanzo) to get a consistency that allows you to make little patties about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Place them on paraflexx sheets or parchment paper and do the same as with the jerky. Start at 140 F for 45 min and then down to 113 F. Flip after about 4 hours and keep going until they are still a wee bit soft to the touch but mostly dried. Store in zip lock bag in fridge.
I’d better close now as she is stealing paper from burn basket and I know where that’s going to go!!!
Raw Beef Jerky and Cookies
Nutrition in a Nutshell 