RUFF RECIPES

 

 

Healthy Delicious Treats for a Happy Bully!

 

 

All the recipes on this page are grain and dairy free for healthy skin and digestion – safe for the most sensitive of bullies.

 

 

Homemade Jerky

 

This is Lulu’s absolute FAVOURITE treat. And it’s the easiest of all to make! I use a dehydrator – much easier and more energy efficient than using the oven (which you can use in a pinch if you don’t have a dehydrator). My dehydrator is a really basic three tier model with a top temp of 70℃, designed for home use. I picked it up locally for just $30 on Gumtree (Australia’s equivalent to Craigslist) and it’s been going strong for years now churning out jerky!

 

I like to use free range, antibiotic/hormone-free chicken breasts (leaner cuts are better for making jerky). Making the jerky is as simple as slicing the chicken, lying it flat in the dehydrator and turning it on. BUT there are a few little tips that will streamline the process and help promote you from Initiate to Jerky Master!

 

1. I par-freeze the chicken breasts beforehand for about an hour which makes it much easier to cut thin slices. The thiner you can cut the slices the more jerky you’ll get out of each portion, the faster they’ll dry, and the lighter they’ll be as a snack for your dog.

 

2. I lightly grease the surface of the dehydrator trays with coconut oil beforehand which makes the finished jerky super easy to remove (they can stick a bit otherwise).

 

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I didn’t have a chance to pre-freeze these portions before photographing, so they’re thicker than I’d normally cut – but will still make great jerky (see the jar below)

 

3. I set my dehydrator to 70℃ and find it takes 8-12 hours to cook depending on how thick I’ve cut the strips and whether all the trays are full (the thinner the strips and the less full the dehydrator the faster they dry).

 

4. I always place my dehydrator in the bathroom on the tiled floor to run it so we don’t have to listen to the fan constantly and the tiles help keep it cool (avoid using it on carpet to prevent it overheating and turning off). I leave the windows open for ventilation and close the door as the jerky starts to smell pretty good pretty quickly making it easy for canine noses to sniff out! Lulu’s food etiquette is excellent so if the door is left open she never actually touches the dehydrator she’ll sit about 3 feet away, wag her tail and bark… “I found the magic box full of chicken!!”. If you’ve got a convicted food thief in the family it’s extra important to keep that door closed or put it up on a table or bench.

 

5. With other types of meat you can generally choose whether you want to take it out earlier for a softer chewier jerky, or leave it longer for crunchy crispy jerky. With chicken I like to make sure it stays in until the crunchy stage because a) Lulu loves it best that way, b) crunchy is better for dental hygiene, c) the dryer it is the longer it’ll store for longer outside the fridge (I keep it in a big jar on the kitchen bench) and the more hygienic it is for us humans to handle.

 

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If you don’t have a dehydrator and want to try making jerky in the oven just place the chicken strips on grease-proof baking paper and slow-bake at about 80℃ (180℉) for 4-5hours (checking intermittently) until it’s reached the desired crunchiness. Having never made jerky in the oven I’m just going off online guides I’ve read – so it may be more or less than 4-5hours (I’d predict maybe longer?) but as long as you just keep an eye on it as you go you’ll be able to leave it in there until it’s reached the perfect consistency.

 

For those who’d like to feed jerky as a natural hypo-allergenic treat but don’t have the time or inclination to make it themselves Barking Obito does a wonderful chicken jerky with turmeric and ginger (soothing for canine tummies!) made from Aussie chicken right here in Brisbane, available online HERE.

 

 

Bully Biscuits

 

It’s so hard to find dog biscuits (cookies) that are free from dairy, grains, preservatives and nasty fillers like corn or beet meal. But luckily it’s pretty easy to make super-delicious, seriously healthy and hypoallergenic biscuits at home! (Update: There’s a wonderful new company from New Zealand called Sunday Pets, making healthy, delicious, hypo-allergenic, quality grain-free dog biscuits. So if you’re in Australia or New Zealand and don’t have the time to make your own, Sunday Pets Tasty Holistic Grain Free biscuits have Lulu’s seal of approval!)

 

My recipe for bully biscuits is a little different every time, as I generally just throw it all together off the top of my head. There are, however, core ingredients and basic quantity ratios that I can share to help you on your way to your own bully biscuit adventures!

 

Core dry ingredients: 

 

1cup Linseeds, freshly ground

1/3cup Chia seeds, freshly ground

3/4 cup Sweet Potato flour (equivalent to 1kg fresh sweet potato if you’re making your own flour in a dehydrator/spice grinder as I do)

Pinch of unwashed, unrefined sea salt (if you your dog gets a lot of people-food snacks leave this out to prevent sodium overload)

 

Core wet ingredients: 

 

500g Fresh minced meat – Lulu prefers chicken, turkey or lamb, but be creative – just make sure it’s good quality, preservative free and free range if possible

2 Eggs

2 tbsp Coconut Oil

Water as needed to mix

 

Instructions: 

 

For the freshly ground seeds (and dehydrated sweet potato if you’re making your own flour) I use a little domestic coffee/spice grinder. They’re easy to find in the kitchen appliance section of most department stores, or online, and are relatively inexpensive. I use mine daily for grinding the seeds and supplements I add to Lulu’s food and for heaps of other stuff – my little Sunbeam spice grinder has been going strong for at least 12years now with no signs of quitting.

 

Mix all the measured, freshly-ground dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix through the fresh minced meat of choice, then add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Generally at this point the mixture will be quite dry – ultimately we’re after more of a standard cookie dough consistency – so the next step is to incrementally add small amounts of water and mix (don’t add too much at once) until a good cookie-dough-esque consistency is reached.

 

Now that the mixture is ready you can either roll it out with a rolling pin between two sheets of grease-proof baking paper (use a little ground linseed as rolling-flour as needed) or just squash it flat with your hands over an area of baking paper and cut with a cookie-cutter (I find a plain round cookie-cutter  is the easiest). Alternatively you can just make little balls of the dough and squash them down flat with your hands on some baking paper for a super-fast and delightfully rustic option.

 

I used to bake my bully biscuits at low-ish heat (ie. 140℃) for about 30-40mins, but I now prefer to load them into the dehydrator and dry them out at 70℃ over a few hours, until crunchy, to retain maximum nutritional value. Once cooked, or dried, I store them in a snap-lock container in the fridge.

 

 

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Chia and Green Apple Birthday Cake

 

Ingredients:

 

CAKE:

 

500g Turkey Mince  (can be substituted for other varieties of minced meat to suit your dog)

1/2 a Green Apple, freshly chopped

1/2 cup Linseed (Flaxseed), freshly ground

1/2 cup Chia seeds, freshly ground

3 Eggs

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2g Green Lipped Mussel extract (optional – great for senior joints and arthritis prevention)

Pinch of unrefined Sea Salt (if your dog gets a lot of people-food snacks leave this one out to prevent overloading on sodium).

1/2 tsp Black Pepper, freshly ground

 

ICING (FROSTING):

 

3/4 cup Sweet Potato flour (if you don’t have access to buy it, you can make it yourself using a dehydrator and a spice grinder)

1/3 cup Coconut oil

1g Turmeric powder (optional – great for optimal health and a natural anti-inflammatory)

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

For the freshly ground seeds (and dehydrated sweet potato if you’re making your own flour) I use my trusty little domestic coffee/spice grinder – an inexpensive pickup from any department store and really useful for heaps of stuff.

 

To make the cake, it’s as simple as putting all the measured, chopped and ground ingredients (leaving the icing ingredients aside) in a bowl and mixing them all together! Sort of akin to a meatloaf, really. Tip the mixture into a cake tin greased with coconut oil and lined with baking paper.  Bake for 40mins @ 150C (my oven is fan-forced so just adjust time to suit yours if necessary) – check intermittently by poking a knife or skewer into the centre of the cake. It’s important not to over-cook it, it should be no more than ‘medium’ (if it was a steak) in the middle – if the meat is over-cooked it becomes harder for dogs to digest. I’m a big advocate of raw feeding, but once a year it’s ok to break the rules for the sake of a little turkey birthday cake!

To make the icing (frosting) mix the sweet potato flour (and optional turmeric) together with the coconut oil in a small bowl. The consistency will be a little like oily sand – but don’t worry, the transformation into a delicious mouldable icing happens with the next step. Once the coconut oil and sweet potato flour are thoroughly mixed you can start slowly adding a little water – first add one spoonful and mix through, you’ll notice the consistency starting to change. Add another spoonful, mix and repeat until the icing takes on a PlayDoh-like consistency, making it perfect for moulding around the cake.

 

NB. It’s very important to add the water after the oil’s been mixed through. If the water is added first the consistency will become mushy like mashed potato (rather than mouldable like a fondant) making it very difficult to use for decoration (other than perhaps for piping).

 

I used a spoon and my hands to apply and mould the icing to the cake.

I decorated the finished cake with Ivory Coat Turkey & Duck dry biscuits (which have a strong resemblance to chocolate buttons!) and candles.

 

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One very happy 13y/o with her Chia, Turkey and Green Apple birthday cake with Sweet Potato and Coconut Oil frosting!
https://vimeo.com/153101420

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Lix North | Artist, Illustrator, Photographer. Owned by The Lulu Bully.

 

I grew up on a farm in rural New Zealand. Forever fond of my gumboots and jumping in muddy puddles, my childhood best friends were the farm working dogs (huntaways, bearded and border collies) and the family spaniels. Animals have always been an intrinsic part of my life, I spent a lot of my youth caring for farm and domestic animals, hand rearing orphaned animals and watching and assisting farm hands and vets. One of my earliest memories is the magic and awe I felt as a toddler watching my grandmother help a litter of puppies into the world. As legend has it, my first word was ‘woof’.

 

My passion for holistic health was born from the challenge of living with a bunch of pesky polymorphic gene mutations. 20+ years spent studying holistic principles and gaining a basic understanding of metabolic, enzymatic and genetic processes empowered me to manage my own sensitivities, methylation and immune issues at a level that conventional medical science alone was unable to offer. So, as Lulu’s sensitivities became apparent the most obvious solution seemed simply to apply the very same level of research and holistic care.

 

For fine art by Lix North visit www.lixnorth.com. For illustration, graphic art and photography visit www.lixcreative.com

 


Disclaimer: The content on lulubully.com is a fluid, living collection of notes, personal thoughts and experiences, regularly edited, tweaked and updated as my ideas evolve. All opinions are my own and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, nor prevent any disease. Information provided and products mentioned are not necessarily approved by any governing body or health professional. Discretion, common sense and personal responsibility are advised when applying any of the ideas expressed to your own personal situation.