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Save more on selected Lamb treats
From May 24th through 30th, you can save more on selected Lamb treats.
*** Memorial Day special free shipping offer ***
Place order over $49* (merchandise subtotal must be over $49) between May 24th through 27th with coupon code MDFRSH,and you will get Free shipping with order over $49 deal.
The coupon code to type in the code will appear on the payment page after typing in the shipping information.
Note: Due to postal holiday falls on Monday (Memorial day), next shipping date is Tuesday 28th.
This offer ends at 11:59pm Est May 27th
***************************************************
**Free-range American Lamb Trachea 5"- 10"
Free Range American Lamb Trachea made in USA.
Trachea provides natural Glucosamine and, it is especially great for Arthritis dogs. This treat is crunchy,and great snack for dogs.
single:Normally,it is $2.00,but with sales price,it will be $1.80
12 pieces:Normally, it is $22.11,but with sales price, it will be $19.79
You can read/watch more on Free Range American Lamb Trachea in the taste testing blog entry titled "Palette's note:Free Range American Lamb Trachea". Please click here to read the entry.
** Puffed USA Lamb ear
Puffed USA Lamb ears made in USA.
This American Lamb ear is soft texture, and it has been one of our k9 executive chef "Palette's favorite chew since when she was a puppy. She still get this old time favorite chew as jackpot treat sometimes.
10 pieces: Normally, it is 8.93, with sales price,it will be $8.36
**Lamb Cartilage
Lamb cartilage made in USA.
This treat is lamb cartilage simply dehydrated,nothing added to them. They are about 4"-5" in length.
Single:Normally,it is $2.99,but with sales price,it will be $2.78
10 pieces:Normally,it is 28.16,with sales price, it will be $27.10
Please enjoy treat hunt for your furry friends!!
** Selected Dog toys on sale. To visit Dog toys page,please click here.
** You can get Free shipping with order over $100 (No coupon code required)
** We ship the order on every Monday,Tuesday, every other Wednesday.
** If you order on Saturdays, you can get free GDK treats. For more information on Snack Saturday offer,please click here.
** You can now sniff out Cat treats, Grooming supplies, Dog toys,Cat toys,Gifts for dog lovers, Training Aids as well.
** You can get FREE one count of Buffalo trachea strip (Buffalo version of Moo-tubes sliced into strip) with every order!
** Watch how much Palette enjoy her Buffalo Trachea strip below.If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
Palette and Buffalo Trachea strip
** We accept only US order,no international order please.
**If you become a fan of our Facebook page,you can get "Fan only" offer,and discounts. Please find "Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen" on Facebook.
To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.
http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc
*** Memorial Day special free shipping offer ***
Place order over $49* (merchandise subtotal must be over $49) between May 24th through 27th with coupon code MDFRSH,and you will get Free shipping with order over $49 deal.
The coupon code to type in the code will appear on the payment page after typing in the shipping information.
Note: Due to postal holiday falls on Monday (Memorial day), next shipping date is Tuesday 28th.
This offer ends at 11:59pm Est May 27th
***************************************************
**Free-range American Lamb Trachea 5"- 10"
Free Range American Lamb Trachea made in USA.
Trachea provides natural Glucosamine and, it is especially great for Arthritis dogs. This treat is crunchy,and great snack for dogs.
single:Normally,it is $2.00,but with sales price,it will be $1.80
12 pieces:Normally, it is $22.11,but with sales price, it will be $19.79
You can read/watch more on Free Range American Lamb Trachea in the taste testing blog entry titled "Palette's note:Free Range American Lamb Trachea". Please click here to read the entry.
** Puffed USA Lamb ear
Puffed USA Lamb ears made in USA.
This American Lamb ear is soft texture, and it has been one of our k9 executive chef "Palette's favorite chew since when she was a puppy. She still get this old time favorite chew as jackpot treat sometimes.
10 pieces: Normally, it is 8.93, with sales price,it will be $8.36
**Lamb Cartilage
Lamb cartilage made in USA.
This treat is lamb cartilage simply dehydrated,nothing added to them. They are about 4"-5" in length.
Single:Normally,it is $2.99,but with sales price,it will be $2.78
10 pieces:Normally,it is 28.16,with sales price, it will be $27.10
Please enjoy treat hunt for your furry friends!!
** Selected Dog toys on sale. To visit Dog toys page,please click here.
** You can get Free shipping with order over $100 (No coupon code required)
** We ship the order on every Monday,Tuesday, every other Wednesday.
** If you order on Saturdays, you can get free GDK treats. For more information on Snack Saturday offer,please click here.
** You can now sniff out Cat treats, Grooming supplies, Dog toys,Cat toys,Gifts for dog lovers, Training Aids as well.
** You can get FREE one count of Buffalo trachea strip (Buffalo version of Moo-tubes sliced into strip) with every order!
** Watch how much Palette enjoy her Buffalo Trachea strip below.If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
Palette and Buffalo Trachea strip
** We accept only US order,no international order please.
**If you become a fan of our Facebook page,you can get "Fan only" offer,and discounts. Please find "Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen" on Facebook.
To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.
http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc
Bonefish Grill menu: Bang Bang Shrimp Yassy's version
As you already
know, I like re-creating meals from restaurants or eatery places that I
have visited. It is fun to brain storming what is in the dishes I like.
It is also fun to order the same dish at different restaurants to compare, and find their own personality in the each dish served.
One of the restaurants I like to go to is Bonefish Grill.
This restaurant would have been one of the first restaurants I was taken to when I came to the states.
If you ask me what they do best, I think they probably do great on sauce that goes with dish they serve,along with seafood dishes.
If I had to pick the type of dish they do good on, then, probably salmon, shrimp,and scallops dishes.
Just recently,I have visited the restaurant and, I have ordered Grilled Arctic char topped with sauteed spinach and lump crab meat served with Lime Tomato garlic sauce.
It was on special menu, and even though I was not sure if I like the Arctic char or not,I tried them.
The dish was great. The server explained that the fish "Arctic Char is mild fish with taste cross between trout and salmon.".
The color of the fish was pink/orange color like salmon and, to me, it tasted sweet,mild,very tender flaky salmon. Wikipedia site says the fish "Arctic char" is salmon family, and has close fat content to sock eye salmon.
I loved them. If you love salmon, you would love the fish. I hope they will keep the menu in the regular menu.I loved them that much.
Palette the Corgi had a little bit of Arctic char nibble and she went crazy for it too.
She loves seafood, just like me.
When you visit the restaurant, and look around, many table has their famous shrimp dish called "bang bang shrimp".
I like their bang bang shrimp,too.
Only problem that I find is that they plate the hot shrimp over lettuce and, the bed of lettuce gets wilted by the time we get close to them.
Therefore,while I think lettuce has great color to use as garnish to make the shrimp stand out, I think it would have bee better if the lettuce was plated on side instead of being plated as bed for the star of the dish.
That way, diners can enjoy lettuce with the same tasty dish without removing wilted warm lettuce from the plate.
If you are not familiar with bang bang shrimp, "Bang Bang shrimp" is the shrimp dish where tender shrimps are deep fried and coated with spicy creamy sauce.
Recently, I tried re-creating their bang bang shrimp to see if I can make it as close as theirs taste wise, and possibly can make it as main meal by adding vegetables to it.
I wanted to use the flavor but wanted more healthier,substantial meal people can enjoy for dinner.
Overall,I think I came to close although maybe breading is different. Maybe if you tone it down a notch of sweet chili sauce, and Sriracha, the sauce I made might be close enough to Outback steakhouse's seared Ahi Tuna dipping sauce "Creamy soy- ginger sauce" as well.
My husband thinks that their breading might be ground rice puff,but we will see. We will try his idea next time.
Unfried Shrimp with creamy sweet chili sauce..
Ingredients for shrimp marinade;
1 tbs sake
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs corn starch
10 shrimp (I usually use 10 shrimp for this)
3 tbs water
1. In the small container, add 1 tbs sake,1/4 tsp kosher salt,1 tbs corn starch and 3 tbs water, and mix well.Then, add peeled,divined shrimp and massage shrimp with your hand and marinade them in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
** Marinading shrimp make shrimp crisp tender
2. Wash the shrimp very well under running water, pat them dry,and season it as your recipe instructs you for the dish you will be making.
Ingredients for Unfried Shrimp with creamy sweet chili sauce;
12 medium shrimps, peeled and divined
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs plus 6.5 tsp sweet chili sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha* (recommend Huy Fong Foods brand)
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp lemon zest
1.4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch plus some more for dredging shrimp
Morton's Natures Seasons
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1 carrot diagonally sliced
1 clove garlic chopped
1/8 tsp grated ginger
1/4 red pepper sliced
1/4 green pepper sliced
1 tsp frozen green peas
2 tbs ketchup
1/2 tsp sesame oil* (Optional)
1 tbs chopped green onion
1. Marinade shrimp* (recipe above)
2. In the small container, mix 1 tbs mayonnaise, 6.5 tsp sweet chili sauce,1/2 tsp Sriracha, 1/4 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice,1/8 tsp lemon zest, and 1.4 tsp soy sauce
What is Sriracha sauce?
Sriracha is a Thai version of hot chili sauce. It is a little thicker consistency than regular American hot sauce, and it has much different flavor to it. With consistency wise,it is more like a consistency of tomato paste if you will.
You can get the Sriracha chili sauce at International food aisle at the local grocery store or at Target. If you live near Asian stores, they should carry the condiment as well.
My favorite brand for Sriracha chili sauce is by Huy Fong Foods. You can look for green top squeeze bottle with white letters on. Below is a picture of Sriracha.
Sriracha sauce..
3. Wash the marinaded shrimp under cold running water very good, and pat them dry, season them with Morton's Nature's seasons, and dredge them in the cornstarch
4. Drizzle Extra virgin olive oil in the skillet, and add shrimp that was coated with cornstarch
** Cook shrimp only single layer at a time, so you can get the crisp outside,and not steaming them
5. When one side got brown/crisp, flip them over to cook the other side
6. When shrimp got cooked through take them all out on the plate
7. Add 1 clove of garlic chopped, 1/8 tsp grated ginger,and stir and let it get fragrant
8. Add 1/2 sweet onion thinly sliced, 1 carrot diagonally cut. When carrot started to tender, add 1/4 red pepper thinly sliced, 1/4 green pepper sliced, and stir
9. When vegetables are almost cooked, add 1 tsp frozen green peas and stir
10. Add 2 tbs ketchup, 2 tbs sweet chili sauce and stir
11. In the small measuring cup, add 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tbs water and stir. Then, pour it over the vegetables in the skillet and stir. Let the sauce thicken
12. Add mixture of mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce that you have made at step 2, and stir
13. Add cooked shrimp back in to the skillet and gently toss to coat the shrimp with the sauce
14. Add 1 tbs chopped green onion, and gently stir and plate them up
** If you like, at the very end, you can add a drip of sesame oil as well.This is optional.
Makes about 2-3 serving
Enjoy!
My husband suggested that this dish may go well with coconut rice. I agree with that.
If you like to make coconut rice, here is how you make it.
<Coconut rice>
Ingredients for Coconut rice:
1C Jasmine rice (recommends dynasty Jasmine rice)
2/3C water
1 C unsweetened coconut milk
pinch of kosher salt
1. In a sauce pan, add 1C Jasmine rice,2/3C water,1C unsweetened coconut milk,pinch of kosher salt and put it on medium high heat
2.Once the rice started boiling,turn the heat down to medium low heat and cover the pan with lid and cook for 10 minutes,and lower the heat to simmer and cook another 10 minutes
Makes; 3 servings
It is also fun to order the same dish at different restaurants to compare, and find their own personality in the each dish served.
One of the restaurants I like to go to is Bonefish Grill.
This restaurant would have been one of the first restaurants I was taken to when I came to the states.
If you ask me what they do best, I think they probably do great on sauce that goes with dish they serve,along with seafood dishes.
If I had to pick the type of dish they do good on, then, probably salmon, shrimp,and scallops dishes.
Just recently,I have visited the restaurant and, I have ordered Grilled Arctic char topped with sauteed spinach and lump crab meat served with Lime Tomato garlic sauce.
It was on special menu, and even though I was not sure if I like the Arctic char or not,I tried them.
The dish was great. The server explained that the fish "Arctic Char is mild fish with taste cross between trout and salmon.".
The color of the fish was pink/orange color like salmon and, to me, it tasted sweet,mild,very tender flaky salmon. Wikipedia site says the fish "Arctic char" is salmon family, and has close fat content to sock eye salmon.
I loved them. If you love salmon, you would love the fish. I hope they will keep the menu in the regular menu.I loved them that much.
Palette the Corgi had a little bit of Arctic char nibble and she went crazy for it too.
She loves seafood, just like me.
When you visit the restaurant, and look around, many table has their famous shrimp dish called "bang bang shrimp".
I like their bang bang shrimp,too.
Only problem that I find is that they plate the hot shrimp over lettuce and, the bed of lettuce gets wilted by the time we get close to them.
Therefore,while I think lettuce has great color to use as garnish to make the shrimp stand out, I think it would have bee better if the lettuce was plated on side instead of being plated as bed for the star of the dish.
That way, diners can enjoy lettuce with the same tasty dish without removing wilted warm lettuce from the plate.
If you are not familiar with bang bang shrimp, "Bang Bang shrimp" is the shrimp dish where tender shrimps are deep fried and coated with spicy creamy sauce.
Recently, I tried re-creating their bang bang shrimp to see if I can make it as close as theirs taste wise, and possibly can make it as main meal by adding vegetables to it.
I wanted to use the flavor but wanted more healthier,substantial meal people can enjoy for dinner.
Overall,I think I came to close although maybe breading is different. Maybe if you tone it down a notch of sweet chili sauce, and Sriracha, the sauce I made might be close enough to Outback steakhouse's seared Ahi Tuna dipping sauce "Creamy soy- ginger sauce" as well.
My husband thinks that their breading might be ground rice puff,but we will see. We will try his idea next time.
Unfried Shrimp with creamy sweet chili sauce..
Ingredients for shrimp marinade;
1 tbs sake
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs corn starch
10 shrimp (I usually use 10 shrimp for this)
3 tbs water
1. In the small container, add 1 tbs sake,1/4 tsp kosher salt,1 tbs corn starch and 3 tbs water, and mix well.Then, add peeled,divined shrimp and massage shrimp with your hand and marinade them in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
** Marinading shrimp make shrimp crisp tender
2. Wash the shrimp very well under running water, pat them dry,and season it as your recipe instructs you for the dish you will be making.
Ingredients for Unfried Shrimp with creamy sweet chili sauce;
12 medium shrimps, peeled and divined
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs plus 6.5 tsp sweet chili sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha* (recommend Huy Fong Foods brand)
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp lemon zest
1.4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch plus some more for dredging shrimp
Morton's Natures Seasons
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1 carrot diagonally sliced
1 clove garlic chopped
1/8 tsp grated ginger
1/4 red pepper sliced
1/4 green pepper sliced
1 tsp frozen green peas
2 tbs ketchup
1/2 tsp sesame oil* (Optional)
1 tbs chopped green onion
1. Marinade shrimp* (recipe above)
2. In the small container, mix 1 tbs mayonnaise, 6.5 tsp sweet chili sauce,1/2 tsp Sriracha, 1/4 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice,1/8 tsp lemon zest, and 1.4 tsp soy sauce
What is Sriracha sauce?
Sriracha is a Thai version of hot chili sauce. It is a little thicker consistency than regular American hot sauce, and it has much different flavor to it. With consistency wise,it is more like a consistency of tomato paste if you will.
You can get the Sriracha chili sauce at International food aisle at the local grocery store or at Target. If you live near Asian stores, they should carry the condiment as well.
My favorite brand for Sriracha chili sauce is by Huy Fong Foods. You can look for green top squeeze bottle with white letters on. Below is a picture of Sriracha.
Sriracha sauce..
3. Wash the marinaded shrimp under cold running water very good, and pat them dry, season them with Morton's Nature's seasons, and dredge them in the cornstarch
4. Drizzle Extra virgin olive oil in the skillet, and add shrimp that was coated with cornstarch
** Cook shrimp only single layer at a time, so you can get the crisp outside,and not steaming them
5. When one side got brown/crisp, flip them over to cook the other side
6. When shrimp got cooked through take them all out on the plate
7. Add 1 clove of garlic chopped, 1/8 tsp grated ginger,and stir and let it get fragrant
8. Add 1/2 sweet onion thinly sliced, 1 carrot diagonally cut. When carrot started to tender, add 1/4 red pepper thinly sliced, 1/4 green pepper sliced, and stir
9. When vegetables are almost cooked, add 1 tsp frozen green peas and stir
10. Add 2 tbs ketchup, 2 tbs sweet chili sauce and stir
11. In the small measuring cup, add 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tbs water and stir. Then, pour it over the vegetables in the skillet and stir. Let the sauce thicken
12. Add mixture of mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce that you have made at step 2, and stir
13. Add cooked shrimp back in to the skillet and gently toss to coat the shrimp with the sauce
14. Add 1 tbs chopped green onion, and gently stir and plate them up
** If you like, at the very end, you can add a drip of sesame oil as well.This is optional.
Makes about 2-3 serving
Enjoy!
My husband suggested that this dish may go well with coconut rice. I agree with that.
If you like to make coconut rice, here is how you make it.
<Coconut rice>
Ingredients for Coconut rice:
1C Jasmine rice (recommends dynasty Jasmine rice)
2/3C water
1 C unsweetened coconut milk
pinch of kosher salt
1. In a sauce pan, add 1C Jasmine rice,2/3C water,1C unsweetened coconut milk,pinch of kosher salt and put it on medium high heat
2.Once the rice started boiling,turn the heat down to medium low heat and cover the pan with lid and cook for 10 minutes,and lower the heat to simmer and cook another 10 minutes
Makes; 3 servings
Palette's note: Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully Sticks Junior
When you pick up treats for your
dogs, what would you look at?
Ingredients? Fancy looking pictures?Description of the products?
Have you ever wondered if you could actually see how other dogs are enjoying them? Not pictures, but in the video so that you can actually HEAR and feel the treats' textures?
Some of you may have already recognized I have been putting up treats' video on youtube so that people can hear the sound, see Palette in action and get more detail on products we offer through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
With "Palette's Note" series, I would like to put Palette's taste test videos.
This time, "Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior 12 oz."
Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully Sticks Junior 6"..
Grass-fed Moo! Odor free bully sticks Junior is Moo! Odor Free line products, and they are made in Argentina. It is made from beef that received no antibiotic or growth hormone in their life.
Our K9 executive chef "Palette" the Corgi, loves this bully sticks, and she gets so excited and chew on them very enthusiastically with very wet nose and some drool bubbles around her mouth.
The Grass-fed Moo! Odor free Bully sticks Junior comes with 12 oz bag, and number of bully sticks in the bag can vary.
However, in average, 6" bag 12 oz bag contains approx 35 - 40 bully sticks, 12" bag 12 oz contains approx 12 - 20 bully sticks.
Many dogs adore bully sticks.
Palette is one of them, but don't underestimate her. She actually is a tough judge. She gave me nosed up, paws down on some of bully sticks I gave her to try out to decide whether we carry at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen or not.
Paws down bully sticks did not make it to the store to offer others.
After all, she is k9 executive chef who control the quality of menu to be served to others, along side with me. And, only Palette's approved menu is served to others.
What I like about this bully sticks, and what separate this bully sticks from other bully sticks is that, it does not emit stinky odor when dogs chew on these.
I can sit right next to our dog while she is working on her bully sticks.
Before giving this bully sticks to our dog as taste test, I sniffed at it, and I feel it has a little smell to it, but to me, it is not stinky bully sticks.
People smell things differently but, if you compare this bully sticks and other brand of bully sticks from pet supply store, you would find the difference in the smell.
Especially when your dogs start chewing on it.
Some brands' bully sticks stink up the room so badly.
My sister in - law family has 2 Huskies and, they love to chew,and they offer bully sticks too, but they complained that the ones they get at the pet store emit offensive odor when the dogs start chewing the bully sticks, and they cannot stand it.
I told them about the bully sticks; Moo brand bully sticks, we like and, I also told them that all the bully sticks we carry whether it is beef or lamb or buffalo ones at our store are not stinky ones because I personally do not like bully sticks that stink up the room either, and stinky bully sticks would not make it to the store to be able to offer to others.
I gave them a few Moo! Bully sticks as small sample. We will see how they like the Moo! Bully sticks.
If you have read the previous entry titled "Long lasting chew/recreational bones for dogs", you would already know that what makes the bully sticks less odor.
For those, who haven't, not all bully sticks are made same way. Some are made vertical, some are made horizontal.
The one made flat tend to have stronger smell to it. Reason why is that, by hanging and making the bully sticks vertical, the fluid in the bully sticks drain more, and the longer baked bully sticks has less odor than the one made flat.
In the past, I personally purchased bully sticks of other brand,beef and buffalo ones, to try out. It was awful. Both bully sticks were free range bully sticks, but the smell.. even before being chewed by Palette, it stunk!
The smell was so offensive that I even did not try with Palette and tossed it to the outside trash bin. It was that bad.
I think, in dog's opinion, stinkier the better - case in point; dog loves stinky green tripe treats. However,it was just too strong smell and I did not like it.
Although I generally do not give bully sticks daily, I give her this bully sticks as occasional jackpot treat, or quick snack.
She really loves these bully sticks, and she whine, and she gets so excited for this.
What usually happen is that, she does something good, and she comes to claim these bully sticks Junior 6" and,I hand it to her saying "On the bed".
Then,she grabs it with her mouth, and trot to her doggy bed designated for her to use as "chew bed"; the bed placed outside the crate and the bed is used for her to chew treats on, and she flops down on her chew bed and start chewing the bully stick treats.
For her, these bully stick Junior is more of snack than chew, but she loves them.
She is a moderate chewer, and in average, she spend about a few minutes per bully sticks junior 6" stick to finish up.
How long it would last will be depending on each dog's jaw strength.
Among the Moo! line bully stick products, Junior bully sticks is thinnest of the bunch. The thickest one is called Super Monster. We carry both 6" and 12" Super Monster.
I think these are great bully sticks for those who have small to medium dogs. If you would like to give quick bully sticks snack daily, I think these are perfect fit to that purpose.
If you were specifically looking for long lasting chew, then, I would recommend Deer Antlers.
With our Corgi "Palette"- moderate chewer, with L size Deer Antler, it is with her for more than one year with the same Antler.
She religiously spend about 15-20 min 2 sessions per day but still gnawing the same one. Antlers are more economical overall and one Antler lasts much longer.
Since she now got variety of Antlers:Regular Antlers, Antler with some velvet left on, Moose Antlers, Caribou Antlers etc.., the time she spend on regular one is less than before (she seems to gnaw one by one alternating among the three Antlers) , but she enjoys her gnawing time.
Often times, she decides to chew on Antlers while we are having dinner.
No matter how long/thick the bully stick is, one bully stick will be gone much faster than Deer Antlers would. Therefore, Deer Antlers will be more economical in the long run for long lasting chews for your dogs.
Ingredients: Beef
Let's watch Palette in action with Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior taste test.If you are a blog subscriber, please click here to watch the video.
Palette and Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior
Can you see how much she is excited for the Grass-fed Moo! Bully sticks Junior? You could hear her whining.
With this taste test video, the bully sticks Junior she was munching on is 6" long one.
She worked on this bully sticks for about a couple of minutes or so and then, she gave me a big approval of licking her chops. She really loves these bully sticks!
I am being patient,mom...
Waiting for you to say my magic word "OK"
Now, is serious chew time..nom,nom,nom...
Mom,privacy please...
If you were thinking I would share this with you, you are wrong.
This tweats is mine, Pal mark all over it
Hmm.... Pawsome tweats!
Look at my wet nose! And drool..
Look, I being serious look...
Almost done..
I look cool with bully stick cigar,lol.
This is da most important part; making sure nothing is left behind..
Woof,woof, smize...
Translation; I know you got more of woofy sticks.
One more,please!
I being a good,mom...
How can you resist my cuteness?
Please note that due to natural products, thickness of the bully sticks can vary.
To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.
http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc
Ingredients? Fancy looking pictures?Description of the products?
Have you ever wondered if you could actually see how other dogs are enjoying them? Not pictures, but in the video so that you can actually HEAR and feel the treats' textures?
Some of you may have already recognized I have been putting up treats' video on youtube so that people can hear the sound, see Palette in action and get more detail on products we offer through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
With "Palette's Note" series, I would like to put Palette's taste test videos.
This time, "Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior 12 oz."
Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully Sticks Junior 6"..
Grass-fed Moo! Odor free bully sticks Junior is Moo! Odor Free line products, and they are made in Argentina. It is made from beef that received no antibiotic or growth hormone in their life.
Our K9 executive chef "Palette" the Corgi, loves this bully sticks, and she gets so excited and chew on them very enthusiastically with very wet nose and some drool bubbles around her mouth.
The Grass-fed Moo! Odor free Bully sticks Junior comes with 12 oz bag, and number of bully sticks in the bag can vary.
However, in average, 6" bag 12 oz bag contains approx 35 - 40 bully sticks, 12" bag 12 oz contains approx 12 - 20 bully sticks.
Many dogs adore bully sticks.
Palette is one of them, but don't underestimate her. She actually is a tough judge. She gave me nosed up, paws down on some of bully sticks I gave her to try out to decide whether we carry at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen or not.
Paws down bully sticks did not make it to the store to offer others.
After all, she is k9 executive chef who control the quality of menu to be served to others, along side with me. And, only Palette's approved menu is served to others.
What I like about this bully sticks, and what separate this bully sticks from other bully sticks is that, it does not emit stinky odor when dogs chew on these.
I can sit right next to our dog while she is working on her bully sticks.
Before giving this bully sticks to our dog as taste test, I sniffed at it, and I feel it has a little smell to it, but to me, it is not stinky bully sticks.
People smell things differently but, if you compare this bully sticks and other brand of bully sticks from pet supply store, you would find the difference in the smell.
Especially when your dogs start chewing on it.
Some brands' bully sticks stink up the room so badly.
My sister in - law family has 2 Huskies and, they love to chew,and they offer bully sticks too, but they complained that the ones they get at the pet store emit offensive odor when the dogs start chewing the bully sticks, and they cannot stand it.
I told them about the bully sticks; Moo brand bully sticks, we like and, I also told them that all the bully sticks we carry whether it is beef or lamb or buffalo ones at our store are not stinky ones because I personally do not like bully sticks that stink up the room either, and stinky bully sticks would not make it to the store to be able to offer to others.
I gave them a few Moo! Bully sticks as small sample. We will see how they like the Moo! Bully sticks.
If you have read the previous entry titled "Long lasting chew/recreational bones for dogs", you would already know that what makes the bully sticks less odor.
For those, who haven't, not all bully sticks are made same way. Some are made vertical, some are made horizontal.
The one made flat tend to have stronger smell to it. Reason why is that, by hanging and making the bully sticks vertical, the fluid in the bully sticks drain more, and the longer baked bully sticks has less odor than the one made flat.
In the past, I personally purchased bully sticks of other brand,beef and buffalo ones, to try out. It was awful. Both bully sticks were free range bully sticks, but the smell.. even before being chewed by Palette, it stunk!
The smell was so offensive that I even did not try with Palette and tossed it to the outside trash bin. It was that bad.
I think, in dog's opinion, stinkier the better - case in point; dog loves stinky green tripe treats. However,it was just too strong smell and I did not like it.
Although I generally do not give bully sticks daily, I give her this bully sticks as occasional jackpot treat, or quick snack.
She really loves these bully sticks, and she whine, and she gets so excited for this.
What usually happen is that, she does something good, and she comes to claim these bully sticks Junior 6" and,I hand it to her saying "On the bed".
Then,she grabs it with her mouth, and trot to her doggy bed designated for her to use as "chew bed"; the bed placed outside the crate and the bed is used for her to chew treats on, and she flops down on her chew bed and start chewing the bully stick treats.
For her, these bully stick Junior is more of snack than chew, but she loves them.
She is a moderate chewer, and in average, she spend about a few minutes per bully sticks junior 6" stick to finish up.
How long it would last will be depending on each dog's jaw strength.
Among the Moo! line bully stick products, Junior bully sticks is thinnest of the bunch. The thickest one is called Super Monster. We carry both 6" and 12" Super Monster.
I think these are great bully sticks for those who have small to medium dogs. If you would like to give quick bully sticks snack daily, I think these are perfect fit to that purpose.
If you were specifically looking for long lasting chew, then, I would recommend Deer Antlers.
With our Corgi "Palette"- moderate chewer, with L size Deer Antler, it is with her for more than one year with the same Antler.
She religiously spend about 15-20 min 2 sessions per day but still gnawing the same one. Antlers are more economical overall and one Antler lasts much longer.
Since she now got variety of Antlers:Regular Antlers, Antler with some velvet left on, Moose Antlers, Caribou Antlers etc.., the time she spend on regular one is less than before (she seems to gnaw one by one alternating among the three Antlers) , but she enjoys her gnawing time.
Often times, she decides to chew on Antlers while we are having dinner.
No matter how long/thick the bully stick is, one bully stick will be gone much faster than Deer Antlers would. Therefore, Deer Antlers will be more economical in the long run for long lasting chews for your dogs.
Ingredients: Beef
Let's watch Palette in action with Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior taste test.If you are a blog subscriber, please click here to watch the video.
Palette and Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Bully sticks Junior
Can you see how much she is excited for the Grass-fed Moo! Bully sticks Junior? You could hear her whining.
With this taste test video, the bully sticks Junior she was munching on is 6" long one.
She worked on this bully sticks for about a couple of minutes or so and then, she gave me a big approval of licking her chops. She really loves these bully sticks!
I am being patient,mom...
Waiting for you to say my magic word "OK"
Now, is serious chew time..nom,nom,nom...
Mom,privacy please...
If you were thinking I would share this with you, you are wrong.
This tweats is mine, Pal mark all over it
Hmm.... Pawsome tweats!
Look at my wet nose! And drool..
Look, I being serious look...
Almost done..
I look cool with bully stick cigar,lol.
This is da most important part; making sure nothing is left behind..
Woof,woof, smize...
Translation; I know you got more of woofy sticks.
One more,please!
I being a good,mom...
How can you resist my cuteness?
Please note that due to natural products, thickness of the bully sticks can vary.
To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.
http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc
Yassy's Japan Trip Diary November 2012; Day 5
The 5th day in Japan, since we came back from Nagano trip a little late at night, we all slept in the next day.
When I come back to my parents' house, one thing we always do is to visit my grandfather. When you live in another country, you cannot simply hop on to the car and go see your family members at the hospital before they passes away.
I like living in the states and,learn so many things here and, I enjoy my life with my husband but I hate to live in another country when things like this happens. 14 hours flight away to home under this circumstances seems very far to me.
It was cloudy,chilly day and, all of our family went to visit my grandfather in the commentary. However, when we back to the car and ready to back home, it started raining very hard.
We did not have specific plan to go anywhere so, we decided to spend the day for resting at home.
For me it was time for organizing and looking through my old stuff that I left at their house to see if there were anything that I did not need anymore.
By the time we were about to leaving the cemetery,it was already noon.
Therefore, we decided to stop by McDonald.
If you travel around the world, you would know that there are McDonald everywhere in many countries. You would also notice that each country has their unique version of burgers on the menu.
I think our McDonald has probably much more wider protein source variety.
Japanese McDonald menu you would not find at American McDonald are..
** Teriyaki burger
** Shrimp burger
** Pork cutlet burger
** Fresh salad with sesame oil base dressing
** a cup of sweet corn
** Fish base morning menu;fish fillet or tuna salad on the biscuits or English muffin
My favorite is Ebi Katsu burger (shrimp burger) and,I crave them sometimes. My husband always get Teriyaki burger whenever we back to Japan.It is his favorite.
Therefore, I make those here in the states occasionally.
Japanese McDonald also has their seasonal burgers throughout the year.
If you visit Japan this month, you can have your familiar BBQ Beef or chicken burger,plus French fries with Japanese twists; French fries coated with Nori (seaweed) and salt,and Green tea Oreo milkshake.
If you visit around end of September,the month of moon viewing day, you may be able to find the Tsukimi burger;fried egg (used as Moon) and bacon on the burger.
They are very popular limited time seasonal menu.
The McDonald USA menu Japanese ones do not carry is McWrap,and cookies.
With McWrap things, it is probably because many people in Japan never had Mexican food.
I personally never had Chili, Quesadilla or any other Mexican food until I come here in the states. I never had Burritos either.
Funny thing is that, Japanese McDonald carry hot dog as breakfast menu while American ones do not carry them on their menu. I definitely see wider variety in especially milkshake for the American McDonald.
McDonald is not the daily eatery place for us, but once in a blue moon, we like to go to especially Japanese McDonald since they carry our favorite burgers there.
Other than menu, I find that first thing you would notice when you enter into Japanese McDonald is the loud greeting "Welcome!" with big smile on,and the lively staff communicate each other a lot while front staff is taking customers' orders.
I notice that they use a lot of hand gesture, and bowing as well.
You would not find quiet McDonald in Japan.
I think their customer service is really good; polite,speedy and simply plain good.
Just like any other Japanese companies, they spend a lot of time training staff for the importance of customer service.
All my life so far, I have been in the customer relation related jobs from travel agent to Airline staff works at the Airport..and many companies spent time training us on the customer related service.
You would probably feel the difference when you visit Japan through staff at the grocery stores,any retail store staff, hair salon staff, flight attendants etc..
The customer service in general,whether it is business to customers, business to business, it is something I feel different from American one.
Recently,I came across the youtube videos showing how McDonald Japan staff is trained to improve the quality of customer service.
It is in Japanese and you may not understand what it says, but you can see what they do behind the scene.
I noticed that the video contains Japanese TV commercial, too
McDonald Japan AJCC contest Part I
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
What the host is saying regarding "100-1=0" is that, whether you are professional or amateur or part time job, customer service is the most important thing in the business because the better the service becomes, the customers' satisfaction will be higher.
Therefore,if you made any single mistake, then,the customer to business relationship can break. This is what he says "100-1=0".
Because of that, he emphasize the team work at work and, each staff should work responsively to offer the better customer service to customers.
What they are showing at Tokyo McDonald is national competition between the crew (McDonald part timer).
Does American McDonald have the similar thing,I wonder?
The crew showed up at the Tokyo McDonald are the ones who won in the regional competition.
The lady explains that they have this competition in the hope to improve the operation technique, service, and motivation.
According to her, 170,000 crew participate in the contest all across the country,and the contest has started since 1977.
AJCC contest has competition in the order cashier department, french fried potato department, initiator department, front counter runner department, assembler department, and shift management department.
The winner in the each category will have the right to wear the special uniform as champion crew.
Order cashier taker means, the staff who takes order at the front counter at the cashier and communicate with customers.
The judge would check followings.
** If the crew greet the customer with smile,and giving them a friendly customer service
** If the crew is using the clear gestures such as raising his/her hands
** If the staff is giving good eye contact between the crew
** If the crew can describe menu clearly, or can carry good recommendation talk
Overall, the category would look for the good friendly customer service with smile.
After the contest, each crew gets the feedback time from the judge and,use that to improve their customer service quality in the future.
French Fried potato department means the staff who will deep fries the potato and package them into a box.
The judge would check as followings.
** After the potatoes are fried, whether the crew is draining the oil correctly
** Whether crew can scoop up the correct portion into the container at once
** Whether crew is salting the potato correct ways,as well as the amount of salt they sprinkle on
** Whether the crew is communicating with other staff well
Initiator crew is the one who will toast the buns.
The judge would check the following.
** How they take care of stock of buns
** Whether crew can grab the 2 buns at the same time and place the buns into the toaster within 3 seconds
Front counter runner crew is the staff who will pack the products into a bag,and the one who will make the drink for customers
The judge would check the following.
** Whether the crew is checking the monitor,and can pack the correct products into a bag
** Whether crew is giving the final check for the products
** Speedy movement
** Whether the crew is communicating with other position crew well
Assembler crew means the one who build your burgers
The judge would check the followings.
** Whether crew is washing their hands more than once in one hour
** Whether crew is putting the correct portion of correct ingredients on the buns in the correct order
** Raw materials quality control
** Kitchen maintenance
** Whether the crew can build the beautiful burger speedy
Shift management crew means the one who will position crew,and support the each position
The judge would check the following.
** Whether the crew thinks about goal for the team and positioning the crew at the right position
** Whether the crew is supervising each staff at the different position, and support them if the help is necessary.
** Be the model for other crew
When you browse through how the crew compete each other to improve the quality of customer service, it is clear that why they communicate each other a lot at the store and give you a great customer service with smile.
Here is what you would see if you enter into a Japanese McDonald. Very lively crew at the counter and you can see they communicate each other very well.
As you may have noticed, Japanese McDonald staff have uniform to wear.
Japanese McDonald
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
One thing unique about Japanese McDonald is that,there is menu #0: Smile
I have never been brave to order #0 (smile),plus they are giving us the service with smile already, but here is what happen if you order#0.
Japanese McDonald menu#0; Smile
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
I think Japanese burger bun is a little smaller than American ones. Drink size, Fries size "large" both look equivalent to "medium" drink & fries here in the states.
After satisfying my craving for shrimp burger at McDonald, we went to home and spend time relaxing.
I could hear the pouring rain outside.
We were hopimg the rain stops next day because we were planning to visit temple "Hatta san" in Shizuoka prefecture, the same prefecture we visited for the Unagi pie factory tour in the day 1 next day. Plus, we were also planning to go eat "eel" on our way back.
Shizuoka prefecture is famous for green tea, mandarin orange, and eel and, "broiled eel dish" is something I cannot find at so called Japanese restaurant easily here in the states. Therefore, when we go back there,I really crave for them.
Since my family knows I love broiled eel dish so much that they wanted to take me to the area where eel was famous for.
The restaurant was very interesting because I got to see how the eel is cooked, and everything through the glass.
Recently,my father sent me an e-mail telling me that they have found another restaurant specialize in eel but the place offer more than eel dish and maybe it will be a good place for my husband to enjoy other Japanese specialty food.
Next time we go back to Japan, we would try the eatery place and see if we like.
There was one Japanese restaurant in Woodbridge, VA near the mall where I liked to have broiled dish from. However, last time we visited, we were lead to the booth with menu, but nobody came to take an order for 45 minutes!
I was very interested in "broiled eel" dish and, I wanted to see if the server would come to take our order if we waited 5 more minutes, but that 5 more minutes became more than 45 minutes and we gave it up.
They never came to take an order even njust for a drink even. We were sure that the server looked at us from far side, and recognized we were there waiting for them to come, but they kept ignoring us and chatting each other.
It was our very first experience walking out the restaurant without ordering anything. I was very disappointed. Since then,we have never been back there. It is such a shame.Their broiled dish was very tasty one.
Not just restaurant service, sometimes, when I inquire something to companies via e-mail, some companies never replies back. If they did, and if I ask them follow up questions, sometimes,I never get reply back from them.
It is such a shame.. They should know that customer satisfaction is part of how they do their business, and it would effects them one way or the other.
I am now on one side to provide healthy dog treats and chews through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen, and customer service is important to me.
I hope that I am communicating with customers well,and they are happy with the customer service that I offer to them.
Thinking back now, if one lady in the puppy training class did not say "Why don't you start your dog bakery shop?" when I baked and brought itty bitty sugar free salt free banana mini muffin on their graduation day, I would not be what I am today.
For many, doggy muffin would be another doggy treats for furriends, but to me, it means a lot to me and it is the start of what I am doing, and I never forget the moment I found myself flocked by tail wagging itty bitty puppies for my banana muffin.
They really liked it and, I could spot Palette in the crowd trying to get the muffin from me too
Each day, I feel happy knowing that I am offering good quality,healthy treats I know Palette loves, and putting big smiles on many furriends in the states.
When I come back to my parents' house, one thing we always do is to visit my grandfather. When you live in another country, you cannot simply hop on to the car and go see your family members at the hospital before they passes away.
I like living in the states and,learn so many things here and, I enjoy my life with my husband but I hate to live in another country when things like this happens. 14 hours flight away to home under this circumstances seems very far to me.
It was cloudy,chilly day and, all of our family went to visit my grandfather in the commentary. However, when we back to the car and ready to back home, it started raining very hard.
We did not have specific plan to go anywhere so, we decided to spend the day for resting at home.
For me it was time for organizing and looking through my old stuff that I left at their house to see if there were anything that I did not need anymore.
By the time we were about to leaving the cemetery,it was already noon.
Therefore, we decided to stop by McDonald.
If you travel around the world, you would know that there are McDonald everywhere in many countries. You would also notice that each country has their unique version of burgers on the menu.
I think our McDonald has probably much more wider protein source variety.
Japanese McDonald menu you would not find at American McDonald are..
** Teriyaki burger
** Shrimp burger
** Pork cutlet burger
** Fresh salad with sesame oil base dressing
** a cup of sweet corn
** Fish base morning menu;fish fillet or tuna salad on the biscuits or English muffin
My favorite is Ebi Katsu burger (shrimp burger) and,I crave them sometimes. My husband always get Teriyaki burger whenever we back to Japan.It is his favorite.
Therefore, I make those here in the states occasionally.
Japanese McDonald also has their seasonal burgers throughout the year.
If you visit Japan this month, you can have your familiar BBQ Beef or chicken burger,plus French fries with Japanese twists; French fries coated with Nori (seaweed) and salt,and Green tea Oreo milkshake.
If you visit around end of September,the month of moon viewing day, you may be able to find the Tsukimi burger;fried egg (used as Moon) and bacon on the burger.
They are very popular limited time seasonal menu.
The McDonald USA menu Japanese ones do not carry is McWrap,and cookies.
With McWrap things, it is probably because many people in Japan never had Mexican food.
I personally never had Chili, Quesadilla or any other Mexican food until I come here in the states. I never had Burritos either.
Funny thing is that, Japanese McDonald carry hot dog as breakfast menu while American ones do not carry them on their menu. I definitely see wider variety in especially milkshake for the American McDonald.
McDonald is not the daily eatery place for us, but once in a blue moon, we like to go to especially Japanese McDonald since they carry our favorite burgers there.
Other than menu, I find that first thing you would notice when you enter into Japanese McDonald is the loud greeting "Welcome!" with big smile on,and the lively staff communicate each other a lot while front staff is taking customers' orders.
I notice that they use a lot of hand gesture, and bowing as well.
You would not find quiet McDonald in Japan.
I think their customer service is really good; polite,speedy and simply plain good.
Just like any other Japanese companies, they spend a lot of time training staff for the importance of customer service.
All my life so far, I have been in the customer relation related jobs from travel agent to Airline staff works at the Airport..and many companies spent time training us on the customer related service.
You would probably feel the difference when you visit Japan through staff at the grocery stores,any retail store staff, hair salon staff, flight attendants etc..
The customer service in general,whether it is business to customers, business to business, it is something I feel different from American one.
Recently,I came across the youtube videos showing how McDonald Japan staff is trained to improve the quality of customer service.
It is in Japanese and you may not understand what it says, but you can see what they do behind the scene.
I noticed that the video contains Japanese TV commercial, too
McDonald Japan AJCC contest Part I
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
What the host is saying regarding "100-1=0" is that, whether you are professional or amateur or part time job, customer service is the most important thing in the business because the better the service becomes, the customers' satisfaction will be higher.
Therefore,if you made any single mistake, then,the customer to business relationship can break. This is what he says "100-1=0".
Because of that, he emphasize the team work at work and, each staff should work responsively to offer the better customer service to customers.
What they are showing at Tokyo McDonald is national competition between the crew (McDonald part timer).
Does American McDonald have the similar thing,I wonder?
The crew showed up at the Tokyo McDonald are the ones who won in the regional competition.
The lady explains that they have this competition in the hope to improve the operation technique, service, and motivation.
According to her, 170,000 crew participate in the contest all across the country,and the contest has started since 1977.
AJCC contest has competition in the order cashier department, french fried potato department, initiator department, front counter runner department, assembler department, and shift management department.
The winner in the each category will have the right to wear the special uniform as champion crew.
Order cashier taker means, the staff who takes order at the front counter at the cashier and communicate with customers.
The judge would check followings.
** If the crew greet the customer with smile,and giving them a friendly customer service
** If the crew is using the clear gestures such as raising his/her hands
** If the staff is giving good eye contact between the crew
** If the crew can describe menu clearly, or can carry good recommendation talk
Overall, the category would look for the good friendly customer service with smile.
After the contest, each crew gets the feedback time from the judge and,use that to improve their customer service quality in the future.
French Fried potato department means the staff who will deep fries the potato and package them into a box.
The judge would check as followings.
** After the potatoes are fried, whether the crew is draining the oil correctly
** Whether crew can scoop up the correct portion into the container at once
** Whether crew is salting the potato correct ways,as well as the amount of salt they sprinkle on
** Whether the crew is communicating with other staff well
Initiator crew is the one who will toast the buns.
The judge would check the following.
** How they take care of stock of buns
** Whether crew can grab the 2 buns at the same time and place the buns into the toaster within 3 seconds
Front counter runner crew is the staff who will pack the products into a bag,and the one who will make the drink for customers
The judge would check the following.
** Whether the crew is checking the monitor,and can pack the correct products into a bag
** Whether crew is giving the final check for the products
** Speedy movement
** Whether the crew is communicating with other position crew well
Assembler crew means the one who build your burgers
The judge would check the followings.
** Whether crew is washing their hands more than once in one hour
** Whether crew is putting the correct portion of correct ingredients on the buns in the correct order
** Raw materials quality control
** Kitchen maintenance
** Whether the crew can build the beautiful burger speedy
Shift management crew means the one who will position crew,and support the each position
The judge would check the following.
** Whether the crew thinks about goal for the team and positioning the crew at the right position
** Whether the crew is supervising each staff at the different position, and support them if the help is necessary.
** Be the model for other crew
When you browse through how the crew compete each other to improve the quality of customer service, it is clear that why they communicate each other a lot at the store and give you a great customer service with smile.
Here is what you would see if you enter into a Japanese McDonald. Very lively crew at the counter and you can see they communicate each other very well.
As you may have noticed, Japanese McDonald staff have uniform to wear.
Japanese McDonald
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
One thing unique about Japanese McDonald is that,there is menu #0: Smile
I have never been brave to order #0 (smile),plus they are giving us the service with smile already, but here is what happen if you order#0.
Japanese McDonald menu#0; Smile
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
I think Japanese burger bun is a little smaller than American ones. Drink size, Fries size "large" both look equivalent to "medium" drink & fries here in the states.
After satisfying my craving for shrimp burger at McDonald, we went to home and spend time relaxing.
I could hear the pouring rain outside.
We were hopimg the rain stops next day because we were planning to visit temple "Hatta san" in Shizuoka prefecture, the same prefecture we visited for the Unagi pie factory tour in the day 1 next day. Plus, we were also planning to go eat "eel" on our way back.
Shizuoka prefecture is famous for green tea, mandarin orange, and eel and, "broiled eel dish" is something I cannot find at so called Japanese restaurant easily here in the states. Therefore, when we go back there,I really crave for them.
Since my family knows I love broiled eel dish so much that they wanted to take me to the area where eel was famous for.
The restaurant was very interesting because I got to see how the eel is cooked, and everything through the glass.
Recently,my father sent me an e-mail telling me that they have found another restaurant specialize in eel but the place offer more than eel dish and maybe it will be a good place for my husband to enjoy other Japanese specialty food.
Next time we go back to Japan, we would try the eatery place and see if we like.
There was one Japanese restaurant in Woodbridge, VA near the mall where I liked to have broiled dish from. However, last time we visited, we were lead to the booth with menu, but nobody came to take an order for 45 minutes!
I was very interested in "broiled eel" dish and, I wanted to see if the server would come to take our order if we waited 5 more minutes, but that 5 more minutes became more than 45 minutes and we gave it up.
They never came to take an order even njust for a drink even. We were sure that the server looked at us from far side, and recognized we were there waiting for them to come, but they kept ignoring us and chatting each other.
It was our very first experience walking out the restaurant without ordering anything. I was very disappointed. Since then,we have never been back there. It is such a shame.Their broiled dish was very tasty one.
Not just restaurant service, sometimes, when I inquire something to companies via e-mail, some companies never replies back. If they did, and if I ask them follow up questions, sometimes,I never get reply back from them.
It is such a shame.. They should know that customer satisfaction is part of how they do their business, and it would effects them one way or the other.
I am now on one side to provide healthy dog treats and chews through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen, and customer service is important to me.
I hope that I am communicating with customers well,and they are happy with the customer service that I offer to them.
Thinking back now, if one lady in the puppy training class did not say "Why don't you start your dog bakery shop?" when I baked and brought itty bitty sugar free salt free banana mini muffin on their graduation day, I would not be what I am today.
For many, doggy muffin would be another doggy treats for furriends, but to me, it means a lot to me and it is the start of what I am doing, and I never forget the moment I found myself flocked by tail wagging itty bitty puppies for my banana muffin.
They really liked it and, I could spot Palette in the crowd trying to get the muffin from me too
Each day, I feel happy knowing that I am offering good quality,healthy treats I know Palette loves, and putting big smiles on many furriends in the states.
Palette's spring treats diary;May 14th,2013
For Palette, last month was another eventful month.
For one thing, beside biscuits/Jerky making for Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen, I have made homemade pasta (tortellini) for Palette's to work on the entry in the series "decoding kibble", and for human, I made Molasses bread, Oatmeal cookies, Apple cinnamon maple oatmeal etc.. and Palette saw a lot of activity in the kitchen.
If you follow my blog entries, you would see how much I enjoy cooking/baking and,I love to be creative about the dish that I make. It is one of most fun process in the cooking.
My husband's recent morning routine is to have my Apple cinnamon maple steel cut oatmeal. He says it is very tasty and he loves them.
Having oatmeal as breakfast or sweet breakfast is not popular in Japan, but it looks like having oatmeal as breakfast seems to be popular here in the states.
When you go to grocery store and shop for oatmeal, you will find various kind of oatmeal,but what kind would you pick up?
The least processed of all kinds is steel cut oatmeal,which is simply cut with steel blade and packaged up.
The another oatmeal is rolled oat that was steamed to soft, and rolled out flat.
The last one is instant oatmeal,which is cut into smaller piece, rolled flat, and pre-cooked and dried. This is the most processed oatmeal with added sugar,salt and other ingredients.
For example, one brand's ingredient list goes; Whole grain rolled oatmeal, evaporated cane juice (sugar!), dried apple, chicory root fiber,cinnamon, guar gum, pottasium chloride, salt, natural flavors, decaffeinated green tea extract, calcium carbonate, decaffeinated white tea extract,alpha tocopherols (vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), grape seed extract, Pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), zinc oxide, ferrous fumarate (Iron) ,Beta carotene (Vitamin A), Folic acid,Vitamin B12
As any ingredients list for food, ingredients are listed by weight of the ingredient; 1st ingredints weigh more than ingredients that follow.
This means, this brand of oatmeal has more sugar than dried apple or anything else that comes after the evaporated cane juice.
I also find that dried fruits tend to be sugar coated and, I do not know if the dried apple used is sugar coated dried apple that was dehydrated, or they are non sugar coated dried apple.
Ingredient 'Natural Flavor" also appear in many food both for human and for dogs.
Whether it is for human food or for dog treats/food, "natural flavor" appear in the label quite often.
Under FDA's Code of federal regulations title 21, "natural flavoring means" the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).
Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources."
Therefore, since it is not named flavor such as "Natural Apple flavor", we never know what was used to flavor the food.
You can read definition on "Natural flavoring" at FDA website here.
I personally think that if they add non sugar coated dehydrated apple for flavor, the maker of the company should not need any more "apple" flavor or any unnamed flavor enhancer.
Another brand of instant oatmeal ingredients list goes; Whole grain rolled oats (with oat bran),sugar, natural and artificial flavor, salt,calcium carbonate,guar gum, oat flour,caramel color, niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, reduced iron,pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin, thiamin mononitrate,floic acid
I personally prefer the products made with simple ingredient both for human or for dogs, and my choice is good old steel cut oat.
The Bob's Red Mill steel cut oat meal ingredient is simply "Whole grain oats".
Also, steel cut oatmeal is not pre-cooked before packaging, and it gives you nice texture in the oatmeal. My husband loves them!
However, for many, time is the money and, many people do not have time to cook the steel cut oatmeal for 30-40 minutes every time.
The other day,I was watching America's Test kitchen TV show and, they were talking about how you can make traditional steel cut oatmeal in 10 minutes.
Then, I have tried their recipe, mastered the method and, modified the recipe while basic technique is still used in the recipe.
If you like oatmeal for breakfast, give this a try and you would like it.
<Apple cinnamon 10 minutes maple oatmeal>
Ingredients for Apple cinnamon maple oatmeal;
1C steel cut oat* (recommends Bob's red mill's)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/12 Grainy smith apple peeled,cored,chopped to 1/4" chunks
1.5 tsp maple syrup
1 tbs toasted chopped walnut
3 tbs Apple cider
pinch of ground cinnamon
1. Bring 3C water bring to boil. Then,remove the pan from the heat.
2. Add 1C Steel cut oatmeal into the sauce pan,and stir
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt,and stir again
4. Cover the pan with lid,let it stand for overnight
5. Since I like to have single serving freshly made, I like to portion them.
I pour 1C pre soaked oatmeal into each freezer bag,flatten it up and freeze them for later. 1C pre-soaked oatmeal would be good for about 3 serving worth for my husband's light meal size.
6. To 1/3C pre-soaked oatmeal, add 1/12 Green apple chopped to about 1/4" chunks, 3 tbs Apple cider,1.5 tsp maple syrup,and bring them to boil,and reduce the heat to simmer and let it cook for 4-6 minutes.
7. Stir occasionally and remove the pan from heat. Taste it and adjust the sweetness and add about 1 tbs toasted chopped walnut into the oatmeal and stir
8. Sprinkle pinch of ground cinnamon on top and, let it stand for 5 minutes.
9. Enjoy!
** Make sure to keep the rest of the green apple in the salted water to avoid browning.
When my husband eats this oatmeal, Palette is always around him,and tries to impress him with good "sit".
If she were lucky, she gets one piece of apple then. She loves them.
Weather wise, we had nice spring days perfect for walkie, and she had fun more than March, but we also had severe thunderstorm.
One night, we had tornado watch. It started windy day,turned to heavy raining day and as it got darker, we started hearing the big boom,and light out for the rest of the day.
Palette and I spent the day with flashlight.
Palette was panting hard and looked so stressed with the weather that we slept next each other. Luckily, we survived the storm,and we did not have damage to our house,but it was one scary night to remember.
The next day,our neighbor was cutting the tree in the yard,and got us scared with big boom.. They might have felt unsafe with dead tree in their yard after experiencing the storm the day before.
One of highlights of Palette's walk last month would be meeting with Scottish Terrier puppy.
Palette and I had a great walkie one day.
On the way back home, we met 2 little kids with Scottish Terrier puppy.It was Mr Jasper with black colored fur, and he was such a tiny fur ball.
Jasper made the move to Palette who was having her ears fold back,low to the ground and butt wagging..
She was welcoming the puppy to greet her and happy to meet him
They did cute nose to nose greeting and interacted each other a bit..
It is nice to see Palette enjoying time with other dog (especially the dog she has never met before) and did well with him.
I called the puppy "Hi, Jasper" and the puppy turned to me, and I let him sniff my hands.After that, he started putting his paws on my knee trying to get on to my laps as I was squatting, making myself small and interacted with him
He loved petting a lot
He was so cute!
Palette got lots of petting from kids as well, and she was happy too.
When she stands next to the cute little Scottish terrier puppy, she looked like a giant dog,lol.
We had nice start of the day,then. After claiming her favorite cool down treats,she headed to her cool bed to rest.
It is nice to have it around as the weather gets warmer. If you do not have one,I highly recommend it. I have tried 2 brands,but I prefer the one we currently using; Canine cooler III. We have been using for many years now. No water leaking accident happen yet.
************************************************
Now I will pass a pen to Palette to write a dairy here.
May 14th,2013
Last month was super yummy month. I got to taste test mom's Baguette biscuits, Greek biscuits, Surf Turf Jerky,and Down Under Roo Jerky as k9 executive chef as always.
Then, she made me really yummy chicken and lamb tortellini dinner one night. You have seen the recipe here already,but it was real good!
It was so good with pink sauce!
My dad looked at it and went .. "WTF??"
BUT, my reaction was like "Hmm,smell so good! I want one,I want one!"
He does not know what yummy he is missing,but I won't tell.
It was beet yogurt sauce. I loved them.
Ah,and she also baked molasses bread that I made both my dad and mom laugh because when my dad was cutting his leftover steak and mom was cutting molasses bread, I was torn between the two;which one to beg for the nibble..
I thought about it really hard and,I kept going back and forth but decided to stay with mom,who was slicing molasses bread she baked in the oven.
I love steak, but I get fresh meat as my din din or breakfast, and I have less chance of getting fresh baked bread.
Therefore,this time, molasses bread won,and I got itty bitty nibble but wow,it got different taste to it and I do love them! I followed whoever got piece of molasses bread after that. I found my new like.Molasses bread!
Another one she made.. the Coconut cranberry Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I did not get any nibble. Mom said it is not good for me.
It smelled so good that I really wanted one! It is unfair that she can eat it and I can't. Maybe next time when she is making cookies and not watching, I would grab the green tripe din din from the my freezer (Yes, I have my own freezer), and drop it in so only I can eat them!
Green tripe cookie.. Just thinking about it makes me drool...
However, I can forgive my mom because I got another super special meal.
You know that when my mom use scallops, she leaves me scallop ducts (side muscle attached to the scallop) to enjoy.
One night, mom made crab bisque. It smelled so good because I love anything tomato and I love seafood and what not to like?
My din din that day was grouper. So, mom decided to make me a grouper soup but,made it extra special by garnishing my din din with my favorite egg, itty bitty snow crab meat, and scallop duct.. I felt so special!
Mom's fish soup is simply fish fillet of choice is gently simmered in the bit of water and you can add in egg,liver etc.. Palette loves fish soup day
When mom is doing something with my dinner bowl,I have to be serious. Even if my dad talks to me then, I just say "Please talk to my paws" and keep staring at my special din din.
I like to observe what mom is doing. Mom thought it funny because I looked such an intense look on my face.
I knew it was something super special so, I started licking chops while mom was still preparing the dish for me
Look,my super special grouper fish soup! Looks yummy!
Palette's grouper soup delight..
I talk a lot about food (because food is my life), but I had really nice walkie too. I met Scottish Terrier puppy. He was so tiny and, it was strange to look at him.
He was very polite and greeted me with nose to nose and I gave him butt wagging with my big ears fold against my foxy head.
It was nice meeting him and yes,it was great to meet little kids too. They petted me a lot. I love to be petted!
Then, I get to enjoy mom's cool down treats too!I love them very much!
It is something mom made me since I was a puppy . It is basically a frozen yogurt treats without fillers and,she gave me after walkie,after bathing time,after workout that makes me woofy hot.
Mom has been introducing variety of frozen yogurt treats for furriends here,but have you tried any of those?
It is very yummy and highly recommend it!
Anyhow, the cool down treats mom made this time is frozen banana maroon carrot yogurt treats.
Some of you may not know what maroon carrot is. It is something mom found the other day at local grocery store, but it is basically a purple carrots.
It is odd to look at but tasty.
It looks like this.
Maroon carrot..
Here is the cool down treats mom made..
Frozen banana maroon carrot yogurt treats..
Here is how you can make Frozen Banana Maroon carrot yogurt treats.
1. To the mixer, add 5 oz peeled, rough chopped maroon carrot steamed, 5 oz banana, and 10 oz of Stonyfield organic plain yogurt and puree them.
2. Pour those onto ice cube tray and freeze them
yield; 14 block of frozen treats
** Frozen Banana Maroon carrot yogurt treats whole amount is roughly about 391 kcal (you can see more detail at nutritiondata.self.com website here ).So, each ice cube given is about 28 kcal.
**Mom wanted rough kcal to be as close to real one, and she used Nutrition fact food label on the back of yogurt she used. She typed in the information provided in the nutrition label on the yogurt.
I know that some moms like to fill da Kong with peanut butter, but did you know that small size kong can hold approx 5 tsp of peanut butter?
The creamy peanut butter 1 tbs is 90 kcal, so it means you are giving 158kcal (out of the 158kcal, 117 kcal comes from fat) just by filling the small size kong for your dogs to lick them each time.
I think it is way too much kcal from treats.
This frozen yogurt is much healthier to fill in the kong and, dog love them.
My cool down treats usually is ice cube size, and it is around 15 kcal to 30 kcal depending on what I will be using but, they are much low calorie cool down treats, and they do not contains added sugar or high calorie ingredients such as peanut butter.
If you were not familiar with kong, it is a non toxic dish wash safe rubber chew toy that you can fill the hole in the center with food.
Dogs are to chew/lick the Kong toy to get to the treats inside the hole and, it is popular classic interactive toy.
I am waiting....
Nom,nom,nom...
I am busy, talk to my paws..
Hmm... so good!
Really,literally "drool worthy" treats!
Woof,woof!
Got more? Pretty please??
For one thing, beside biscuits/Jerky making for Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen, I have made homemade pasta (tortellini) for Palette's to work on the entry in the series "decoding kibble", and for human, I made Molasses bread, Oatmeal cookies, Apple cinnamon maple oatmeal etc.. and Palette saw a lot of activity in the kitchen.
If you follow my blog entries, you would see how much I enjoy cooking/baking and,I love to be creative about the dish that I make. It is one of most fun process in the cooking.
My husband's recent morning routine is to have my Apple cinnamon maple steel cut oatmeal. He says it is very tasty and he loves them.
Having oatmeal as breakfast or sweet breakfast is not popular in Japan, but it looks like having oatmeal as breakfast seems to be popular here in the states.
When you go to grocery store and shop for oatmeal, you will find various kind of oatmeal,but what kind would you pick up?
The least processed of all kinds is steel cut oatmeal,which is simply cut with steel blade and packaged up.
The another oatmeal is rolled oat that was steamed to soft, and rolled out flat.
The last one is instant oatmeal,which is cut into smaller piece, rolled flat, and pre-cooked and dried. This is the most processed oatmeal with added sugar,salt and other ingredients.
For example, one brand's ingredient list goes; Whole grain rolled oatmeal, evaporated cane juice (sugar!), dried apple, chicory root fiber,cinnamon, guar gum, pottasium chloride, salt, natural flavors, decaffeinated green tea extract, calcium carbonate, decaffeinated white tea extract,alpha tocopherols (vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), grape seed extract, Pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), zinc oxide, ferrous fumarate (Iron) ,Beta carotene (Vitamin A), Folic acid,Vitamin B12
As any ingredients list for food, ingredients are listed by weight of the ingredient; 1st ingredints weigh more than ingredients that follow.
This means, this brand of oatmeal has more sugar than dried apple or anything else that comes after the evaporated cane juice.
I also find that dried fruits tend to be sugar coated and, I do not know if the dried apple used is sugar coated dried apple that was dehydrated, or they are non sugar coated dried apple.
Ingredient 'Natural Flavor" also appear in many food both for human and for dogs.
Whether it is for human food or for dog treats/food, "natural flavor" appear in the label quite often.
Under FDA's Code of federal regulations title 21, "natural flavoring means" the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).
Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources."
Therefore, since it is not named flavor such as "Natural Apple flavor", we never know what was used to flavor the food.
You can read definition on "Natural flavoring" at FDA website here.
I personally think that if they add non sugar coated dehydrated apple for flavor, the maker of the company should not need any more "apple" flavor or any unnamed flavor enhancer.
Another brand of instant oatmeal ingredients list goes; Whole grain rolled oats (with oat bran),sugar, natural and artificial flavor, salt,calcium carbonate,guar gum, oat flour,caramel color, niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, reduced iron,pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin, thiamin mononitrate,floic acid
I personally prefer the products made with simple ingredient both for human or for dogs, and my choice is good old steel cut oat.
The Bob's Red Mill steel cut oat meal ingredient is simply "Whole grain oats".
Also, steel cut oatmeal is not pre-cooked before packaging, and it gives you nice texture in the oatmeal. My husband loves them!
However, for many, time is the money and, many people do not have time to cook the steel cut oatmeal for 30-40 minutes every time.
The other day,I was watching America's Test kitchen TV show and, they were talking about how you can make traditional steel cut oatmeal in 10 minutes.
Then, I have tried their recipe, mastered the method and, modified the recipe while basic technique is still used in the recipe.
If you like oatmeal for breakfast, give this a try and you would like it.
<Apple cinnamon 10 minutes maple oatmeal>
Ingredients for Apple cinnamon maple oatmeal;
1C steel cut oat* (recommends Bob's red mill's)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/12 Grainy smith apple peeled,cored,chopped to 1/4" chunks
1.5 tsp maple syrup
1 tbs toasted chopped walnut
3 tbs Apple cider
pinch of ground cinnamon
1. Bring 3C water bring to boil. Then,remove the pan from the heat.
2. Add 1C Steel cut oatmeal into the sauce pan,and stir
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt,and stir again
4. Cover the pan with lid,let it stand for overnight
5. Since I like to have single serving freshly made, I like to portion them.
I pour 1C pre soaked oatmeal into each freezer bag,flatten it up and freeze them for later. 1C pre-soaked oatmeal would be good for about 3 serving worth for my husband's light meal size.
6. To 1/3C pre-soaked oatmeal, add 1/12 Green apple chopped to about 1/4" chunks, 3 tbs Apple cider,1.5 tsp maple syrup,and bring them to boil,and reduce the heat to simmer and let it cook for 4-6 minutes.
7. Stir occasionally and remove the pan from heat. Taste it and adjust the sweetness and add about 1 tbs toasted chopped walnut into the oatmeal and stir
8. Sprinkle pinch of ground cinnamon on top and, let it stand for 5 minutes.
9. Enjoy!
** Make sure to keep the rest of the green apple in the salted water to avoid browning.
When my husband eats this oatmeal, Palette is always around him,and tries to impress him with good "sit".
If she were lucky, she gets one piece of apple then. She loves them.
Weather wise, we had nice spring days perfect for walkie, and she had fun more than March, but we also had severe thunderstorm.
One night, we had tornado watch. It started windy day,turned to heavy raining day and as it got darker, we started hearing the big boom,and light out for the rest of the day.
Palette and I spent the day with flashlight.
Palette was panting hard and looked so stressed with the weather that we slept next each other. Luckily, we survived the storm,and we did not have damage to our house,but it was one scary night to remember.
The next day,our neighbor was cutting the tree in the yard,and got us scared with big boom.. They might have felt unsafe with dead tree in their yard after experiencing the storm the day before.
One of highlights of Palette's walk last month would be meeting with Scottish Terrier puppy.
Palette and I had a great walkie one day.
On the way back home, we met 2 little kids with Scottish Terrier puppy.It was Mr Jasper with black colored fur, and he was such a tiny fur ball.
Jasper made the move to Palette who was having her ears fold back,low to the ground and butt wagging..
She was welcoming the puppy to greet her and happy to meet him
They did cute nose to nose greeting and interacted each other a bit..
It is nice to see Palette enjoying time with other dog (especially the dog she has never met before) and did well with him.
I called the puppy "Hi, Jasper" and the puppy turned to me, and I let him sniff my hands.After that, he started putting his paws on my knee trying to get on to my laps as I was squatting, making myself small and interacted with him
He loved petting a lot
He was so cute!
Palette got lots of petting from kids as well, and she was happy too.
When she stands next to the cute little Scottish terrier puppy, she looked like a giant dog,lol.
We had nice start of the day,then. After claiming her favorite cool down treats,she headed to her cool bed to rest.
It is nice to have it around as the weather gets warmer. If you do not have one,I highly recommend it. I have tried 2 brands,but I prefer the one we currently using; Canine cooler III. We have been using for many years now. No water leaking accident happen yet.
************************************************
Now I will pass a pen to Palette to write a dairy here.
May 14th,2013
Last month was super yummy month. I got to taste test mom's Baguette biscuits, Greek biscuits, Surf Turf Jerky,and Down Under Roo Jerky as k9 executive chef as always.
Then, she made me really yummy chicken and lamb tortellini dinner one night. You have seen the recipe here already,but it was real good!
It was so good with pink sauce!
My dad looked at it and went .. "WTF??"
BUT, my reaction was like "Hmm,smell so good! I want one,I want one!"
He does not know what yummy he is missing,but I won't tell.
It was beet yogurt sauce. I loved them.
Ah,and she also baked molasses bread that I made both my dad and mom laugh because when my dad was cutting his leftover steak and mom was cutting molasses bread, I was torn between the two;which one to beg for the nibble..
I thought about it really hard and,I kept going back and forth but decided to stay with mom,who was slicing molasses bread she baked in the oven.
I love steak, but I get fresh meat as my din din or breakfast, and I have less chance of getting fresh baked bread.
Therefore,this time, molasses bread won,and I got itty bitty nibble but wow,it got different taste to it and I do love them! I followed whoever got piece of molasses bread after that. I found my new like.Molasses bread!
Another one she made.. the Coconut cranberry Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I did not get any nibble. Mom said it is not good for me.
It smelled so good that I really wanted one! It is unfair that she can eat it and I can't. Maybe next time when she is making cookies and not watching, I would grab the green tripe din din from the my freezer (Yes, I have my own freezer), and drop it in so only I can eat them!
Green tripe cookie.. Just thinking about it makes me drool...
However, I can forgive my mom because I got another super special meal.
You know that when my mom use scallops, she leaves me scallop ducts (side muscle attached to the scallop) to enjoy.
One night, mom made crab bisque. It smelled so good because I love anything tomato and I love seafood and what not to like?
My din din that day was grouper. So, mom decided to make me a grouper soup but,made it extra special by garnishing my din din with my favorite egg, itty bitty snow crab meat, and scallop duct.. I felt so special!
Mom's fish soup is simply fish fillet of choice is gently simmered in the bit of water and you can add in egg,liver etc.. Palette loves fish soup day
When mom is doing something with my dinner bowl,I have to be serious. Even if my dad talks to me then, I just say "Please talk to my paws" and keep staring at my special din din.
I like to observe what mom is doing. Mom thought it funny because I looked such an intense look on my face.
I knew it was something super special so, I started licking chops while mom was still preparing the dish for me
Look,my super special grouper fish soup! Looks yummy!
Palette's grouper soup delight..
I talk a lot about food (because food is my life), but I had really nice walkie too. I met Scottish Terrier puppy. He was so tiny and, it was strange to look at him.
He was very polite and greeted me with nose to nose and I gave him butt wagging with my big ears fold against my foxy head.
It was nice meeting him and yes,it was great to meet little kids too. They petted me a lot. I love to be petted!
Then, I get to enjoy mom's cool down treats too!I love them very much!
It is something mom made me since I was a puppy . It is basically a frozen yogurt treats without fillers and,she gave me after walkie,after bathing time,after workout that makes me woofy hot.
Mom has been introducing variety of frozen yogurt treats for furriends here,but have you tried any of those?
It is very yummy and highly recommend it!
Anyhow, the cool down treats mom made this time is frozen banana maroon carrot yogurt treats.
Some of you may not know what maroon carrot is. It is something mom found the other day at local grocery store, but it is basically a purple carrots.
It is odd to look at but tasty.
It looks like this.
Maroon carrot..
Here is the cool down treats mom made..
Frozen banana maroon carrot yogurt treats..
Here is how you can make Frozen Banana Maroon carrot yogurt treats.
1. To the mixer, add 5 oz peeled, rough chopped maroon carrot steamed, 5 oz banana, and 10 oz of Stonyfield organic plain yogurt and puree them.
2. Pour those onto ice cube tray and freeze them
yield; 14 block of frozen treats
** Frozen Banana Maroon carrot yogurt treats whole amount is roughly about 391 kcal (you can see more detail at nutritiondata.self.com website here ).So, each ice cube given is about 28 kcal.
**Mom wanted rough kcal to be as close to real one, and she used Nutrition fact food label on the back of yogurt she used. She typed in the information provided in the nutrition label on the yogurt.
I know that some moms like to fill da Kong with peanut butter, but did you know that small size kong can hold approx 5 tsp of peanut butter?
The creamy peanut butter 1 tbs is 90 kcal, so it means you are giving 158kcal (out of the 158kcal, 117 kcal comes from fat) just by filling the small size kong for your dogs to lick them each time.
I think it is way too much kcal from treats.
This frozen yogurt is much healthier to fill in the kong and, dog love them.
My cool down treats usually is ice cube size, and it is around 15 kcal to 30 kcal depending on what I will be using but, they are much low calorie cool down treats, and they do not contains added sugar or high calorie ingredients such as peanut butter.
If you were not familiar with kong, it is a non toxic dish wash safe rubber chew toy that you can fill the hole in the center with food.
Dogs are to chew/lick the Kong toy to get to the treats inside the hole and, it is popular classic interactive toy.
I am waiting....
Nom,nom,nom...
I am busy, talk to my paws..
Hmm... so good!
Really,literally "drool worthy" treats!
Woof,woof!
Got more? Pretty please??
Molasses bread
It has been a while since I have posted yeast bread recipe.
In this entry, I would like to show you how to make very tasty Molasses bread.
It was a huge hit with my husband and Palette the Corgi,and I was satisfied with how it came out.
Every time I make bread, I hear Palette's trotting to the kitchen;her favorite room in the house.
She peeks from corner of the room, and see what I am doing. As I move around, occasionally she starts sniffing the floor to see if any imaginary bread is dropped on the floor.
Palette usually is a quiet dog who loves to chew her Antlers while we eat.
When homemade bread/pizza night though, it is a different story.
She whines,whines,whines and being restless around the table and pops her head up at far side of the table once in a while, signaling us "Hey,I am here. I want nibbles, please!".
If you have been reading food/cooking entries from the past, you would notice that I love to cook/bake and, I make pizza/bread now and then.
I love bread baking. I was helping my mother making yeast bread as a kid,too but making the bread from scratch on my own was something new and learned more about bread baking right here in the states.
I love fresh baked bread right out from the oven.
There is something about it. Fresh baked bread tastes way better than commercially made bread and, I enjoy the process of the bread making.
It maybe because once I learn the basic of recipes, I tend to not following how the recipes says and create the new flavor,using different method of baking/cooking, different ratio of flour etc.. etc.. to experiment.
Therefore, the process of baking/cooking might be even more interesting to me.
For me, bread baking is like comforting in many ways as well, from kneading the dough, aroma while bread is being proofed or being baked, sound of crust when you slice into the bread if it were Artisan bread. There is something about bread baking that makes the whole experience special.
When I started baking bread,I got myself a book for bread baking,and I tried one type of recipe for French bread (Baguette) over and over until I get satisfied result from making one. I made so many French bread to learn the basic technique,and get to know more about bread baking in general.
I find that making especially artisan bread has depth in learning and more technique,and I have got a lot more to learn about it.
Anyway, how do you make Molasses bread? Here is how.
Molasses bread...
Ingredients for Molasses bread;
1.5 tsp active dry yeast
1/6C Dark Molasses plus 1/2 tsp
2C Unbleached bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs butter melted
1 tbs milk
Extra virgin olive oil
0. Preheat the oven at 200F and when it reached to 200F,turn the oven off
1. To a microwave safe bowl, pour 3/4 C water, microwave about 20-30 seconds or so
2.Take a temperature of the water. If the temperature was at 110F-115F, add 1.5 tsp of dry yeast, 1/2 tsp Dark Molasses, and mix well and let it sit a while (about 5-10 minutes)
** If you use jar of dry yeast, make sure the yeast is at room temperature. Cold yeast would not make your dough rise properly.
** Water temperature to rise the dough (proof the dough) should be at 110F-115F. Lower temperature water would not proof the dough properly, and higher temperature water would kill the yeast and would not proof the dough properly.
You should see the frothy stuff on top like this..
3. To a big bowl, add 2C Unbleached bread flour, 1/2 tsp salt and mix well
4. Add 1/6C Dark Molasses, 1 tbs salted butter melted, 1 tbs milk, and frothy yeast-water-molasses mixture to the flour-salt mixture and mix well
** For Molasses, I recommend grandma's Molasses with yellow cap.Their molasses is unsulphured. Sulphured Molasses is made from immature sugarcane,and is treated with sulfure fumes during the sugar extracting process.
5. When dough became to form a ball, toss them onto lightly floured surface, and start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth surface.. about 6-8 minutes.
** Using silpat mat is easy to work with
6. You can test your dough to see if you knead it more. Do the Windowpane test.
What is windowpane test??
Windowpane test is the test the gluten development in the dough.
What you do is to cut off small piece of dough,and gently stretch out/pulling to see if it will hold a paper-thin membrane.If it tore apart,you would knead a bit more and do the test again.
7. When dough comes together;smooth and elastic, drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil onto empty bowl and smear it around side and inside bottom to make easy for you to take the dough out later
8. Place the dough into the bowl,drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the dough and smear the olive oil all around the dough
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the dough in the oven,set the timer for 90 minutes
10. 90 minutes later, dough will be larger size in volume
11. Once the dough gets nearly double in volume, take the dough out from the bowl onto the lightly floured surface
12. Roll the dough out to about 9" x 12" rectangle, and start folding from top edge about every 3".
13. Every time you fold the top edge over to the dough, using your side of your hands, seal the bottom edge. Then,fold down another 3" or so, and seal it with side of the hands and roll down again,and keep folding down to the bottom edge.
14. Line the bread pan with non stick foil,and dust it with yellow corn meal
15. Place the dough in the 9" x 5" bread pan, and press it down so the edge of the bread touches the edges of bread pan for even baking
16. Cover the bread pan with plastic wrap, put the dough into the turned off oven for another 60 minutes to proof
17. Preheat the oven at 350F
18. Bake them for 20 minutes and rotate the bread pan for even baking
19. Keep baking for another 10 minutes until bread becomes golden brown or the internal temperature of the bread reaches at 190F and when you tap the bottom of the bread and hear the hollow sound
20. Take the bread out from the pan immediately and let it cool on the rack
Makes: 9" x 5" molasses bread
Sliced Molasses bread..
Since I have tortured her nose with yummy smell in the air for hours for bread making, I gave the small piece of bread to her.
She was very excited about it and while she was on "wait" cue, I saw the drool strings coming out from her mouth non stop.
She had one nice jackpot snack day
Enjoy!
In this entry, I would like to show you how to make very tasty Molasses bread.
It was a huge hit with my husband and Palette the Corgi,and I was satisfied with how it came out.
Every time I make bread, I hear Palette's trotting to the kitchen;her favorite room in the house.
She peeks from corner of the room, and see what I am doing. As I move around, occasionally she starts sniffing the floor to see if any imaginary bread is dropped on the floor.
Palette usually is a quiet dog who loves to chew her Antlers while we eat.
When homemade bread/pizza night though, it is a different story.
She whines,whines,whines and being restless around the table and pops her head up at far side of the table once in a while, signaling us "Hey,I am here. I want nibbles, please!".
If you have been reading food/cooking entries from the past, you would notice that I love to cook/bake and, I make pizza/bread now and then.
I love bread baking. I was helping my mother making yeast bread as a kid,too but making the bread from scratch on my own was something new and learned more about bread baking right here in the states.
I love fresh baked bread right out from the oven.
There is something about it. Fresh baked bread tastes way better than commercially made bread and, I enjoy the process of the bread making.
It maybe because once I learn the basic of recipes, I tend to not following how the recipes says and create the new flavor,using different method of baking/cooking, different ratio of flour etc.. etc.. to experiment.
Therefore, the process of baking/cooking might be even more interesting to me.
For me, bread baking is like comforting in many ways as well, from kneading the dough, aroma while bread is being proofed or being baked, sound of crust when you slice into the bread if it were Artisan bread. There is something about bread baking that makes the whole experience special.
When I started baking bread,I got myself a book for bread baking,and I tried one type of recipe for French bread (Baguette) over and over until I get satisfied result from making one. I made so many French bread to learn the basic technique,and get to know more about bread baking in general.
I find that making especially artisan bread has depth in learning and more technique,and I have got a lot more to learn about it.
Anyway, how do you make Molasses bread? Here is how.
Molasses bread...
Ingredients for Molasses bread;
1.5 tsp active dry yeast
1/6C Dark Molasses plus 1/2 tsp
2C Unbleached bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs butter melted
1 tbs milk
Extra virgin olive oil
0. Preheat the oven at 200F and when it reached to 200F,turn the oven off
1. To a microwave safe bowl, pour 3/4 C water, microwave about 20-30 seconds or so
2.Take a temperature of the water. If the temperature was at 110F-115F, add 1.5 tsp of dry yeast, 1/2 tsp Dark Molasses, and mix well and let it sit a while (about 5-10 minutes)
** If you use jar of dry yeast, make sure the yeast is at room temperature. Cold yeast would not make your dough rise properly.
** Water temperature to rise the dough (proof the dough) should be at 110F-115F. Lower temperature water would not proof the dough properly, and higher temperature water would kill the yeast and would not proof the dough properly.
You should see the frothy stuff on top like this..
3. To a big bowl, add 2C Unbleached bread flour, 1/2 tsp salt and mix well
4. Add 1/6C Dark Molasses, 1 tbs salted butter melted, 1 tbs milk, and frothy yeast-water-molasses mixture to the flour-salt mixture and mix well
** For Molasses, I recommend grandma's Molasses with yellow cap.Their molasses is unsulphured. Sulphured Molasses is made from immature sugarcane,and is treated with sulfure fumes during the sugar extracting process.
5. When dough became to form a ball, toss them onto lightly floured surface, and start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth surface.. about 6-8 minutes.
** Using silpat mat is easy to work with
6. You can test your dough to see if you knead it more. Do the Windowpane test.
What is windowpane test??
Windowpane test is the test the gluten development in the dough.
What you do is to cut off small piece of dough,and gently stretch out/pulling to see if it will hold a paper-thin membrane.If it tore apart,you would knead a bit more and do the test again.
7. When dough comes together;smooth and elastic, drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil onto empty bowl and smear it around side and inside bottom to make easy for you to take the dough out later
8. Place the dough into the bowl,drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the dough and smear the olive oil all around the dough
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the dough in the oven,set the timer for 90 minutes
10. 90 minutes later, dough will be larger size in volume
11. Once the dough gets nearly double in volume, take the dough out from the bowl onto the lightly floured surface
12. Roll the dough out to about 9" x 12" rectangle, and start folding from top edge about every 3".
13. Every time you fold the top edge over to the dough, using your side of your hands, seal the bottom edge. Then,fold down another 3" or so, and seal it with side of the hands and roll down again,and keep folding down to the bottom edge.
14. Line the bread pan with non stick foil,and dust it with yellow corn meal
15. Place the dough in the 9" x 5" bread pan, and press it down so the edge of the bread touches the edges of bread pan for even baking
16. Cover the bread pan with plastic wrap, put the dough into the turned off oven for another 60 minutes to proof
17. Preheat the oven at 350F
18. Bake them for 20 minutes and rotate the bread pan for even baking
19. Keep baking for another 10 minutes until bread becomes golden brown or the internal temperature of the bread reaches at 190F and when you tap the bottom of the bread and hear the hollow sound
20. Take the bread out from the pan immediately and let it cool on the rack
Makes: 9" x 5" molasses bread
Sliced Molasses bread..
Since I have tortured her nose with yummy smell in the air for hours for bread making, I gave the small piece of bread to her.
She was very excited about it and while she was on "wait" cue, I saw the drool strings coming out from her mouth non stop.
She had one nice jackpot snack day
Enjoy!
Decoding kibble;Pedigree "Healthy Longevity for Dogs" menu makeover for dogs
In the previous entry titled "Decoding kibble:Addiction Salmon Bleu", I have explained overview on various ways of feeding homemade diet, what terms in the kibble ingredients list means,and showed you some improved diet menu, both raw diet menu and homemade diet menu.
Then, I wrote that the Japanese dog diet book encourage readers to feed different menu everyday. I think this was a great advice especially for those who makes a big batch of one recipe and feed it through, and then move on to the next recipe; one of popular ways to feed the dogs homemade diet in the states,
The reason behind the advice in the Japanese homemade diet book was that,if you feed your dogs the same food day in day out,the same food tends to make them more susceptible to develop allergy issue against the food fed often.
Just like we raw feeding people learned, the authors of the book (1 holistic vet and 1 canine nutritionist) wrote that balance is over time.
Their book says that the most important thing to focus on homemade diet is to feed the variety of foods/menu over time rather than fixating on trying to feed cookie cutter menu making sure each nutrient is met to requirement each day by supplementing synthetic vitamin and mineral pills.
I think that idea behind the Japanese way's home made diet is very similar to ideas behind the mainstream raw diet method popular here in the states.
In this entry, we would look another brand of kibble ingredients list and learn what each term means and convert the kibble into improved raw diet menu and homemade diet menu.
This time,with make over homemade diet menu, I would like to try another popular method in the states: divide the daily feeding amount into 30%-60% muscle meat,0%-50% grains & vegetables, 10-20% eggs, 5-20% dairy such as yogurt,cottage cheese,5-10% organ, 1-2% calcium.
If you feed kibble, it is good time to think about rotating foods possibly with different companies rather than the same company with different protein source because often times, I find that base ingredients are same,formula is similar and simply protein source is swapped from one thing to the other.
Therefore, if you rotate different companies' formula, base ingredients/formula will be different, and it will be more beneficial to your dogs.
Now and then, I see people asking others if XYZ brand dog food is better than ABC brand dog food, and often times, so called "good kibble brand" name comes up as suggested kibbles.It is because they find dog magazine's approved kibble list published annually, which they are known for.
Personally, no matter how premium, how high quality kibbles the companies say they offer, or how pretty packaging it got or maybe someone famous is having their own line of kibbles, the finished products are still process food.
Even if there were better brand than the other, what they offer is convenience, not nutrition packed food for furriends.
If we would like to provide best possible nutrient dense menu to our furry furriends, I think it should be via fresh food diet;homemade diet or raw diet.
Advantage of feeding good homemade diet or raw diet are as followings.
1. You will be able to pick the ingredients goes into your dog's food.Therefore, ingredients are always fresh and properly stored, and you know where they are coming from.
Big pet food companies might use ingredients imported from outside the countries they cannot observe every step away on how they were grown/raised under different regulations in the countries.
The countries might not have the same standards in growing/raising food to the states.
2. By observing how dogs do on food you provide, you can tweak the menu if necessary.
If you feed kibbles, and if your dog did not good on, you cannot change the company's formula yourself, and only option is to switch the kibble companies,meaning, you will buy another brand of kibble, to see if other formula can fit to your dog's need.
That being said, some of you may not be ready to move on to the fresh food diet yet and, I thought I would give you the tool to decode the kibble terms so you know what you are getting and feeding to your dogs at least.
Some people may simply be interested in getting better kibble companies products name from people they know or from dog magazines, but if you were simply choosing food based on the better kibble brand list result,then you would never be able to learn how to pick the better food by yourself.
If you could understand what to look for, what the terms mean in your kibble label,you would understand how to pick the better food in general.
So here it is. Another entry in the new series titled "Decoding kibble".
I will be picking one product at a time and explain what terms in the kibble ingredients list to understand what exactly are in the food,and learn what to look for at the same time.
Decoding : Pedigree Healthy Longevity Food For Dogs
Ingredients as followings:
1. Ground Yellow Corn
As many of you know, kibble's ingredients are listed by weights. 1st ingredients weigh more than latter ingredients.
In this case, this kibble is made up with mostly yellow corn.
Lets say, corn was acceptable as vegetable.Even then, it is still a bad start of ingredients list because they are "ground".
With good kibble ingredients list, you would want to see the "whole" form of grains and vegetables, not "ground".
Therefore, as soon as you see the ingredients list starting from non protein source,plus ground form of vegetables, you should put this one back in the shelf and start looking for another.
With better kibble, you should find more than 1 animal protein source in the ingredients list close to the top in the ingredient list preferably within top 5 ingredients in the list.
Lets see if this kibble has at least 1 protein source within 5 ingredients in the list.
The company states that ground yellow corn provides "Essential amino acids, carbohydrate source, linoleic acid, fiber",and they are "Source of energy, lean muscles", but there are other better source to provides those nutrient and we can offer much better quality food as source of energy.
2. Chicken by products meal;Generally, definition by AAFCO means "consists of the ground, rendered, parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, organs and intestines, exclusive of feathers."
They state that this is a quality ingredients because it includesmuscle tissue as protein source, organ tissue such as liver,kidney to provide vitamins and minerals muscle tissue cannot offer, plus, they also add cartilage and bones for glucosamine for healthy joint.
However this term really does not describe what exactly used as "chicken by products meal". It could be anything that can fit to the ingredient term definition.
If they really wanted to offer muscle meat for protein source, they could simply use chicken,and list them "chicken" in the ingredient list.
If they wanted to include organs, they could name "chicken liver", "chicken kidney","chicken heart" etc.. in the ingredient list ;the clear term we all know what are in it, for example.
Plus, I worry if they add bones cooked at very high heat in the food. You already know my ham bone story I wrote long time ago.
If you do not know, before I switch Palette's diet to raw diet, I did not know better so,I gave her ham bones by removing most of ham for family.
She loved it very much but she pooped out really rock hard cement like golf ball size poop frequently and, it turned to diarrhea and she was miserable.
Looking at those hard rock cement-like consistency poop,I was very scared thinking if the bone did not get passed out,then, it could clog up her intestine like that.
Don't feed cooked bones.
3. Brewers rice; by AAFCO definition,it means "the dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent."
It seems like a by products from beer making. The term itself does not say "ground", and this might be a tricky term to confuse people thinking they are whole form of rice when in reality,the term Brewers rice already describe it is "ground" residue of rice from beer making.
4. Ground whole wheat; ground whole kernel of wheat,a.k.a. whole wheat flour.
5. Corn gluten meal:the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.
6. Animal Fat; the fat from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting.
If you are getting kibbles, then, ingredients should be named protein source not vague ingredients; Not "animal fat" but "chicken fat",for example.
In this case, you do not know what animals were used to obtain the fat.
Also, notice that the Animal fat is preserved with BHA and citric acid.
BHA is known to be carcinogen in human health field.
Would you feed the kibble knowing they are preserved with something we human is trying to be away from?
Citric acid is another preservatives.
With human food, ice cream,for example, manufacture include Citric acid as emulsifier so the fat would not get separated.
7. lamb; flesh derived from slaughtered lamb
8. Plain Dried Beet Pulp; Dried residue from sugar beets
9. Vegetable oil
10. Natural Flavor;
Whether it is for human food or for dog treats/food, "natural flavor" appear in the label quite often.
I always wondered why they need added flavor when chicken itself in this case has already has enough flavor.
Palette gets portion cut chicken now and then, and I do not need to add any kinds of added flavor to make the food interested for her.
Under FDA's Code of federal regulations title 21, "natural flavoring means" the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).
Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources."
Therefore, since it is not named flavor such as "Natural Chicken flavor", we never know what was used to flavor the food.
You can read definition on "Natural flavoring" at FDA website here.
11. Salt
12. Potassium Chloride
13. Calcium carbonate
14. Monocalcium Phosphate
15 Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a Source of Vitamin E)
Fish oil is probably what they explain "this product is formulated with leading levels of Omega 3s and antioxidant vitamins E & C to help support their hearts, minds and immune systems".
However, fish body oil is very fragile supplement and,heat,air, and light effects this.
Therefore,I have to wonder how potent this fish body oil will be.
If they really wanted to offer good quality food known to be good source of Omega 3 fatty acids, then, they could use oily fish such as sardine,herring,mackerel,salmon or grass-fed red meat protein source, but we did not find those in the ingredient list.
I would not rely this kibble for the level/amount of Omega3 fatty acids.
I am assuming that when they say "fish oil",they means "fish body oil" but if they were using cod liver oil,which is high in both Vitamin A & D, it is something you must be careful of.
As noted under the Vitamin A ingredient below, Vitamin A from animal source is fat soluble vitamins and they get stored in the body if it was not used by the body. Therefore,too much Vitamin A can lead to toxicity level.
In addition to that, Vitamin D is also Fat soluble vitamins and it does not get pee out in urine as well. Too much Vitamin D can be toxic to dogs.
16. dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E]
Dl-alpha tocopherol is synthetic Vitamin,not natural form of vitamin.
17. Choline Chloride
18. L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C*]
19. Vitamin A Acetate
If you like to provide Vitamin A, organ such as liver and animal heart are good source for this nutrient.
That being said,Vitamin A from animal source is fat soluble vitamins and they get stored in the body if it was not used by the body. Therefore,too much Vitamin A can lead to toxicity level.
If you feed Turkey liver,be careful how much you feed. Turkey liver has more than double amount of Vitamin A compared to chicken or beef liver.
As I understand it, optimum Vitamin A amount for dogs is 100 IU-200 IU per kg of body weight.
Here is conversion website to convert pounds to kilograms,if you need one.
20. Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1]
21. Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate
22. Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2]
23. Vitamin D3 Supplement
Vitamin D is one of those vitamins that not many food can deliver the nutrient. However, dogs can get Vitamin D from animal heart, oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, sardine, and herrings, beef liver, egg, and sun light.
24. Vitamin B12 Supplement
25. Dried Vegetables (Peas, Carrots)
26. Zinc
27. Sulfate
28. Zinc Proteinate
29. Copper Sulfate
30. Copper Proteinate
31. Manganese Proteinate
32. Potassium Iodide
33. Added FD&C Colors (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 2)
Artificial colorings are never be good for both human and animals!
How to read the kibble label..
As noted above, many people know, pet food ingredients are listed by weight.
1st ingredients weigh more than the latter ingredients.
Another things to know to be able to read the kibble label are as following..
1. If you are getting kibbles, then, ingredients should be named protein source not vague ingredients; Not "animal fat" but "chicken fat",for example.
2. Find more than 1 animal protein source in the ingredients list close to the top in the ingredient list,preferably within top 5 ingredients.
3. Find whole form of vegetables,grain etc and not "ground" form of grain/vegetables
4. Avoid "by- products" in the list
If you find "chicken by products" for example in the ingredients list of the kibble, it means by definition "consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice."
5. Avoid artificial colors,preservatives,and sweeteners etc..
6. Know the splitting system in the pet food market
"Splitting" is the way to make one ingredient into smaller category.
Ingredients are listed in order by weights.
With this method, even if rice was main ingredients (more weights than protein source), by splitting, it can make lamb or any other protein source look like most weight ingredients.
For example, with above kibble, I have grouped them up by different colors
Blue is protein related ingredients, purple is vegetables,Green is grain related ingredient, dark brown is other miscellaneous ingredients.
You can see that if you group up the food, this food is mostly vegetables and grain with a little bit of use of protein source even though some ingredients are vague term without named animal protein source.
However,some things that stand out with this food is that, there are so many "ground" form of ingredients, and protein source we can find as good one is only "lamb" and that lamb is listed under 7th ingredient.
Since majority of ingredients are grains and vegetables, you would find only small amount of lamb in them.
If you compare this food ingredients list with previous kibble we decoded;"Addiction", you would find that ingredients can be very different from one brand to the other.
Because of that, it becomes very important for you to take time to read the ingredients list, not simply picking up the food by price comparison.
It also means that you cannot pick up the food just simply read the description of the products on the website or bags.
When company says "good level of omega 3 fatty acids", I would expect them to make the food using oily fish (salmon,mackerel,sardine,herring) or grass-fed red meat animal protein source as at least very first ingredient in the list, but where is the fish in this kibble?
Why do they have corn as first ingredients in the list?
Is the lamb grass-fed lamb? I doubt it.
I believe that nothing can beat the wholesomeness, full of nutrient content with fresh food.
When people are looking at more of fresh food on table, not processed food, why not for our furriends too?
If I convert this "Pedigree:Healthy longevity Food for dogs" food into fresh food (raw diet) form, it can be like this.
*** Palette's raw diet version of "Pedigree:Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs" ***
Her daily intake amount is 10 oz - 12 oz
To calculate daily feeding amount, fill the blank below.
Guideline is to feed 2%-3% adult dog ideal weight.
Dog's adult ideal weight x 16 x 0.02= daily feeding amount
Dog's adult ideal weight x 16 x 0.03= daily feeding amount
I follow 80% meat, 10% bone,10% organ guideline.
Divide the daily feeding amount into 80% meat -10% bone -10% organ
With that being said, if we use chicken and lamb as it uses in their kibble,it should be fish based, her raw diet menu would look like this. If we aim at menu with good omega 3 fatty acids in them, then, the menu will be oily fish base such as sardine,salmon,mackerel,herring etc...
AM; portion cut raw bone-in chicken 5 oz, 1 whole egg
PM; portion cut raw boneless leg of lamb 4 oz, raw chicken liver 1 oz
With this menu, Palette will be getting about 625kcal plus.
Depending on how she is fed on the week, she may get fish body oil capsule with Vitamin E capsule to bump up the level of omega 3 fatty acids in the diet.
You can see nutrient detail at nutritiondata.self.com here.
Since the website is dedicated to human nutrition, I could not find bone-in chicken breast raw, but Palette is getting at least around 625kcal worth of food a day with this menu.
The kibble itself contains 33 ingredients with lots of ground form/by products of ingredients, along with artificial coloring,and preservatives we try to avoid in our own human diet.
What about Palette's?
4 ingredients, without any added vitamins and minerals etc..
One thing I can say on feeding fresh food to your dogs/cats is that,you know the food source, and you know more about what you are feeding to your dogs.
If it were kibble, how would you know where those ingredients were coming from, whether the meat or vegetable or any other ingredients were handled and refrigerated properly, and they are sourced from USDA approved meat etc..
That is the difference between feeding kibble and fresh food.
You can pick what goes into your dog's bowl, and you can see the quality of the menu/ingredients.
If this kibble is going to be converted into homemade diet, it will have more ingredients than raw diet menu since they use vegetables too, but less ingredients than kibble ingredients list without additives, vitamin/mineral spray mix to make up the lost nutrient during the processing the kibbles.
If I am going to make something special for Palette, homemade diet style, American way with food volume based method,then, the makeover menu for Healthy Longevity for dog would look like this.
However, because of the way I came up the recipe; pasta dish, which uses more than 1 egg in the pasta dough, if you give all the Tortellini made, overall kcal was much more than Palette's usual regular kcal she gets via raw diet menu.
Therefore, I ended up using the regular average kcal Palette gets a day to decide how many tortellini she can get a day, and served the number of Tortellini that would be equivalent to her daily intake.
By doing so, since it was pasta dish, I think there was more pasta than meat per sitting because of the way Tortellini was made.
I advise you to portion control this recipe, and serve this as "special meal" not "regular meal".
You can place Tortellini single layer on the baking sheet and, cover it with Plastic wrap and freeze it. Then, later, you can put those into a freezer bag for later.
This way, tortellini would not get stick each other when frozen.
Homemade diet style of Healthy Longevity for Dog..
K9 Chicken and Lamb Tortellini with Pink sauce..
<K9 Chicken and lamb Tortellini with Pink sauce>
Ingredients for K9 Chicken and Lamb Tortellini:
~ Pasta dough ~
1/2C Unbleached All purpose flour
1/2C Unbleached Whole wheat flour
1 large egg whole, and 3 large egg yolks
1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil
2tsp water
~ filling ~
1/2 oz roasted corn
3 oz chicken tender
3 oz boneless leg of lamb
1 oz chicken liver
1 oz ricotta cheese
1 oz cooked kokho rose rice (Japanese rice)
Garnish; chopped Flat leaf Italian parsley
~Pink sauce ; Beet yogurt sauce ~
1 oz beet peeled,chopped and steamed
3 oz Stonyfield organic yogurt plain (whole milk)
Her daily feeding amount is about 10-12 oz a day.
Therefore, using that as daily feeding amount, I have divided them into American volume base homemade diet menu guideline ratio; meat 60%, grain 10%, organ such as liver 10%, vegetables 10%, and yogurt 10% plus miscellaneous such as egg.
This determined the each ingredients amount.
However, because of pasta dish, the whole recipe has a lot more kcal than they would get via raw diet menu.
Therefore, consider this recipe as "special meal", and make sure to portion out the serving so you would not over feeding your dogs.
1. In the food processor,add 1/2C Unbleached All purpose flour, 1/2C Unbleached Whole wheat flour,1 large egg whole, and 3 large egg yolks, and 1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil,and 2tsp water and mix for about 40-50 seconds or the dough becomes cohesive
2. Knead the dough about 2 minutes and make the dough into log and wrap it with plastic wrap,and let it rest for at least 2 hours
3. When dough was rested, divide the dough into 3 section,and take 1 portion out and, make sure to keep 2 portion covered in the plastic wrap so they would not get dried out
4. Put the one portion on the lightly floured surface cut side down, and gently roll it out into long,thin rectangle shape
** The dough can be rolled with rolling pin easily. Make sure to roll until you can see your hand shadow behind the dough when you hold the dough up and place the hands behind them.
** For the pasta dough for human, all you need to do is to add pinch of salt to the dough
5. Cut the dough into 2" x 2" square
6. Fill the dough with filling* (recipe follows), and hold it over to shape them into a triangle
** Make sure the corner edge is well sealed and no air trapped inside the filling
7. Wrap the bottom ends around your index finger, and seal the corner ends,and fold the top tip down backward
8. Place the Tortellini on the lightly floured plate and cover with Plastic wrap so they would not get dried out
9. In the boiling water, gently toss the tortellini one by one,and cook them for about 3 minutes or until it floats to the top
10. Drain the pasta and set it aside
11. In the small plate, drizzle the Pink sauce* (recipe follows), and plate the tortellini around them
12. Sprinkle the chopped Italian Flat leaf parsley and serve
Makes; 51 count Chicken and Lamb Tortellini
1 Tortellini is about 25 kcal
<Chicken and lamb Tortellini filling>
1. In the food processor, add 1/2 oz roasted corn (You can cut off the tip of the fresh corn after washing them under the water,and roast the corn with husk at 375F for 30 minutes. Let it cool down and take the kernels off), 3 oz chicken tender,3 oz boneless leg of lamb, 1 oz chicken liver, 1 oz ricotta cheese and puree them
2. pour chicken-lamb mixture into a bowl, and add 1 oz cooked kokuho rose rice (Japanese rice) and stir with wooden spoon
3. Fill the tortellini with about a little less than 1/2 tsp worth of filling
** If you had leftover filling, you can still make baked meatball.Palette liked oven bake chicken and lamb meatball very much.
Bake the meatball at 425F for 12-14 minutes
<Pink sauce; Beet yogurt sauce>
1. In the mixer,add 1/2 oz steamed beet and 3 oz Stonyfield organic yogurt plain with whole milk and puree them
The K9 chicken and lamb Tortellini whole recipe without pink sauce (beet yogurt sauce) is 1288kcal,and 1 Tortellini is 25 kcal. You can look up nutrition profile at nutritiondata.self.com website here.
The whole tortellini recipe offer 23% calcium (233 mg).
If you were going to make this outside the regular feeding, consider the kcal added to your dog's regular menu.
As noted above, since whole recipe kcal came out much more than Palette's daily intake kcal, I simply divided 625kcal she would have gotten with raw diet by 25 (one tortellini kcal) to figure out how many tortellini she can have.
On the day I served this dish,Palette had raw diet breakfast menu earlier in the morning so, I counted about 300kcal worth of Tortellini (about 12 count) and cooked them up and served them.
Palette really loved the special menu made for her. She ate it like she had not been fed for ages,lol.
What is that? What is that?
Me trying to use you as ladder..
Almost there...
See my wet nose?
Attention to my mom so I go run to my din din as fast as I can...
Is it ok yet?
Hmm.... I don't know what this is, but it is tasty.I love it!
*lick,lick,lick..*
That was gooood!
Still licking my chops!
As you can see,Palette really liked it. I would still prefer to feed regular raw diet menu but,I think once in a while she can get super special meal like this
I hope this entry has given you some insight of decoding kibble ingredients, and gave you the tool to understand what are in the food better.
Then, I wrote that the Japanese dog diet book encourage readers to feed different menu everyday. I think this was a great advice especially for those who makes a big batch of one recipe and feed it through, and then move on to the next recipe; one of popular ways to feed the dogs homemade diet in the states,
The reason behind the advice in the Japanese homemade diet book was that,if you feed your dogs the same food day in day out,the same food tends to make them more susceptible to develop allergy issue against the food fed often.
Just like we raw feeding people learned, the authors of the book (1 holistic vet and 1 canine nutritionist) wrote that balance is over time.
Their book says that the most important thing to focus on homemade diet is to feed the variety of foods/menu over time rather than fixating on trying to feed cookie cutter menu making sure each nutrient is met to requirement each day by supplementing synthetic vitamin and mineral pills.
I think that idea behind the Japanese way's home made diet is very similar to ideas behind the mainstream raw diet method popular here in the states.
In this entry, we would look another brand of kibble ingredients list and learn what each term means and convert the kibble into improved raw diet menu and homemade diet menu.
This time,with make over homemade diet menu, I would like to try another popular method in the states: divide the daily feeding amount into 30%-60% muscle meat,0%-50% grains & vegetables, 10-20% eggs, 5-20% dairy such as yogurt,cottage cheese,5-10% organ, 1-2% calcium.
If you feed kibble, it is good time to think about rotating foods possibly with different companies rather than the same company with different protein source because often times, I find that base ingredients are same,formula is similar and simply protein source is swapped from one thing to the other.
Therefore, if you rotate different companies' formula, base ingredients/formula will be different, and it will be more beneficial to your dogs.
Now and then, I see people asking others if XYZ brand dog food is better than ABC brand dog food, and often times, so called "good kibble brand" name comes up as suggested kibbles.It is because they find dog magazine's approved kibble list published annually, which they are known for.
Personally, no matter how premium, how high quality kibbles the companies say they offer, or how pretty packaging it got or maybe someone famous is having their own line of kibbles, the finished products are still process food.
Even if there were better brand than the other, what they offer is convenience, not nutrition packed food for furriends.
If we would like to provide best possible nutrient dense menu to our furry furriends, I think it should be via fresh food diet;homemade diet or raw diet.
Advantage of feeding good homemade diet or raw diet are as followings.
1. You will be able to pick the ingredients goes into your dog's food.Therefore, ingredients are always fresh and properly stored, and you know where they are coming from.
Big pet food companies might use ingredients imported from outside the countries they cannot observe every step away on how they were grown/raised under different regulations in the countries.
The countries might not have the same standards in growing/raising food to the states.
2. By observing how dogs do on food you provide, you can tweak the menu if necessary.
If you feed kibbles, and if your dog did not good on, you cannot change the company's formula yourself, and only option is to switch the kibble companies,meaning, you will buy another brand of kibble, to see if other formula can fit to your dog's need.
That being said, some of you may not be ready to move on to the fresh food diet yet and, I thought I would give you the tool to decode the kibble terms so you know what you are getting and feeding to your dogs at least.
Some people may simply be interested in getting better kibble companies products name from people they know or from dog magazines, but if you were simply choosing food based on the better kibble brand list result,then you would never be able to learn how to pick the better food by yourself.
If you could understand what to look for, what the terms mean in your kibble label,you would understand how to pick the better food in general.
So here it is. Another entry in the new series titled "Decoding kibble".
I will be picking one product at a time and explain what terms in the kibble ingredients list to understand what exactly are in the food,and learn what to look for at the same time.
Decoding : Pedigree Healthy Longevity Food For Dogs
Ingredients as followings:
1. Ground Yellow Corn
As many of you know, kibble's ingredients are listed by weights. 1st ingredients weigh more than latter ingredients.
In this case, this kibble is made up with mostly yellow corn.
Lets say, corn was acceptable as vegetable.Even then, it is still a bad start of ingredients list because they are "ground".
With good kibble ingredients list, you would want to see the "whole" form of grains and vegetables, not "ground".
Therefore, as soon as you see the ingredients list starting from non protein source,plus ground form of vegetables, you should put this one back in the shelf and start looking for another.
With better kibble, you should find more than 1 animal protein source in the ingredients list close to the top in the ingredient list preferably within top 5 ingredients in the list.
Lets see if this kibble has at least 1 protein source within 5 ingredients in the list.
The company states that ground yellow corn provides "Essential amino acids, carbohydrate source, linoleic acid, fiber",and they are "Source of energy, lean muscles", but there are other better source to provides those nutrient and we can offer much better quality food as source of energy.
2. Chicken by products meal;Generally, definition by AAFCO means "consists of the ground, rendered, parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, organs and intestines, exclusive of feathers."
They state that this is a quality ingredients because it includesmuscle tissue as protein source, organ tissue such as liver,kidney to provide vitamins and minerals muscle tissue cannot offer, plus, they also add cartilage and bones for glucosamine for healthy joint.
However this term really does not describe what exactly used as "chicken by products meal". It could be anything that can fit to the ingredient term definition.
If they really wanted to offer muscle meat for protein source, they could simply use chicken,and list them "chicken" in the ingredient list.
If they wanted to include organs, they could name "chicken liver", "chicken kidney","chicken heart" etc.. in the ingredient list ;the clear term we all know what are in it, for example.
Plus, I worry if they add bones cooked at very high heat in the food. You already know my ham bone story I wrote long time ago.
If you do not know, before I switch Palette's diet to raw diet, I did not know better so,I gave her ham bones by removing most of ham for family.
She loved it very much but she pooped out really rock hard cement like golf ball size poop frequently and, it turned to diarrhea and she was miserable.
Looking at those hard rock cement-like consistency poop,I was very scared thinking if the bone did not get passed out,then, it could clog up her intestine like that.
Don't feed cooked bones.
3. Brewers rice; by AAFCO definition,it means "the dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent."
It seems like a by products from beer making. The term itself does not say "ground", and this might be a tricky term to confuse people thinking they are whole form of rice when in reality,the term Brewers rice already describe it is "ground" residue of rice from beer making.
4. Ground whole wheat; ground whole kernel of wheat,a.k.a. whole wheat flour.
5. Corn gluten meal:the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.
6. Animal Fat; the fat from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting.
If you are getting kibbles, then, ingredients should be named protein source not vague ingredients; Not "animal fat" but "chicken fat",for example.
In this case, you do not know what animals were used to obtain the fat.
Also, notice that the Animal fat is preserved with BHA and citric acid.
BHA is known to be carcinogen in human health field.
Would you feed the kibble knowing they are preserved with something we human is trying to be away from?
Citric acid is another preservatives.
With human food, ice cream,for example, manufacture include Citric acid as emulsifier so the fat would not get separated.
7. lamb; flesh derived from slaughtered lamb
8. Plain Dried Beet Pulp; Dried residue from sugar beets
9. Vegetable oil
10. Natural Flavor;
Whether it is for human food or for dog treats/food, "natural flavor" appear in the label quite often.
I always wondered why they need added flavor when chicken itself in this case has already has enough flavor.
Palette gets portion cut chicken now and then, and I do not need to add any kinds of added flavor to make the food interested for her.
Under FDA's Code of federal regulations title 21, "natural flavoring means" the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).
Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources."
Therefore, since it is not named flavor such as "Natural Chicken flavor", we never know what was used to flavor the food.
You can read definition on "Natural flavoring" at FDA website here.
11. Salt
12. Potassium Chloride
13. Calcium carbonate
14. Monocalcium Phosphate
15 Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a Source of Vitamin E)
Fish oil is probably what they explain "this product is formulated with leading levels of Omega 3s and antioxidant vitamins E & C to help support their hearts, minds and immune systems".
However, fish body oil is very fragile supplement and,heat,air, and light effects this.
Therefore,I have to wonder how potent this fish body oil will be.
If they really wanted to offer good quality food known to be good source of Omega 3 fatty acids, then, they could use oily fish such as sardine,herring,mackerel,salmon or grass-fed red meat protein source, but we did not find those in the ingredient list.
I would not rely this kibble for the level/amount of Omega3 fatty acids.
I am assuming that when they say "fish oil",they means "fish body oil" but if they were using cod liver oil,which is high in both Vitamin A & D, it is something you must be careful of.
As noted under the Vitamin A ingredient below, Vitamin A from animal source is fat soluble vitamins and they get stored in the body if it was not used by the body. Therefore,too much Vitamin A can lead to toxicity level.
In addition to that, Vitamin D is also Fat soluble vitamins and it does not get pee out in urine as well. Too much Vitamin D can be toxic to dogs.
16. dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E]
Dl-alpha tocopherol is synthetic Vitamin,not natural form of vitamin.
17. Choline Chloride
18. L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C*]
19. Vitamin A Acetate
If you like to provide Vitamin A, organ such as liver and animal heart are good source for this nutrient.
That being said,Vitamin A from animal source is fat soluble vitamins and they get stored in the body if it was not used by the body. Therefore,too much Vitamin A can lead to toxicity level.
If you feed Turkey liver,be careful how much you feed. Turkey liver has more than double amount of Vitamin A compared to chicken or beef liver.
As I understand it, optimum Vitamin A amount for dogs is 100 IU-200 IU per kg of body weight.
Here is conversion website to convert pounds to kilograms,if you need one.
20. Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1]
21. Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate
22. Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2]
23. Vitamin D3 Supplement
Vitamin D is one of those vitamins that not many food can deliver the nutrient. However, dogs can get Vitamin D from animal heart, oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, sardine, and herrings, beef liver, egg, and sun light.
24. Vitamin B12 Supplement
25. Dried Vegetables (Peas, Carrots)
26. Zinc
27. Sulfate
28. Zinc Proteinate
29. Copper Sulfate
30. Copper Proteinate
31. Manganese Proteinate
32. Potassium Iodide
33. Added FD&C Colors (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 2)
Artificial colorings are never be good for both human and animals!
How to read the kibble label..
As noted above, many people know, pet food ingredients are listed by weight.
1st ingredients weigh more than the latter ingredients.
Another things to know to be able to read the kibble label are as following..
1. If you are getting kibbles, then, ingredients should be named protein source not vague ingredients; Not "animal fat" but "chicken fat",for example.
2. Find more than 1 animal protein source in the ingredients list close to the top in the ingredient list,preferably within top 5 ingredients.
3. Find whole form of vegetables,grain etc and not "ground" form of grain/vegetables
4. Avoid "by- products" in the list
If you find "chicken by products" for example in the ingredients list of the kibble, it means by definition "consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice."
5. Avoid artificial colors,preservatives,and sweeteners etc..
6. Know the splitting system in the pet food market
"Splitting" is the way to make one ingredient into smaller category.
Ingredients are listed in order by weights.
With this method, even if rice was main ingredients (more weights than protein source), by splitting, it can make lamb or any other protein source look like most weight ingredients.
For example, with above kibble, I have grouped them up by different colors
Blue is protein related ingredients, purple is vegetables,Green is grain related ingredient, dark brown is other miscellaneous ingredients.
You can see that if you group up the food, this food is mostly vegetables and grain with a little bit of use of protein source even though some ingredients are vague term without named animal protein source.
However,some things that stand out with this food is that, there are so many "ground" form of ingredients, and protein source we can find as good one is only "lamb" and that lamb is listed under 7th ingredient.
Since majority of ingredients are grains and vegetables, you would find only small amount of lamb in them.
If you compare this food ingredients list with previous kibble we decoded;"Addiction", you would find that ingredients can be very different from one brand to the other.
Because of that, it becomes very important for you to take time to read the ingredients list, not simply picking up the food by price comparison.
It also means that you cannot pick up the food just simply read the description of the products on the website or bags.
When company says "good level of omega 3 fatty acids", I would expect them to make the food using oily fish (salmon,mackerel,sardine,herring) or grass-fed red meat animal protein source as at least very first ingredient in the list, but where is the fish in this kibble?
Why do they have corn as first ingredients in the list?
Is the lamb grass-fed lamb? I doubt it.
I believe that nothing can beat the wholesomeness, full of nutrient content with fresh food.
When people are looking at more of fresh food on table, not processed food, why not for our furriends too?
If I convert this "Pedigree:Healthy longevity Food for dogs" food into fresh food (raw diet) form, it can be like this.
*** Palette's raw diet version of "Pedigree:Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs" ***
Her daily intake amount is 10 oz - 12 oz
To calculate daily feeding amount, fill the blank below.
Guideline is to feed 2%-3% adult dog ideal weight.
Dog's adult ideal weight x 16 x 0.02= daily feeding amount
Dog's adult ideal weight x 16 x 0.03= daily feeding amount
I follow 80% meat, 10% bone,10% organ guideline.
Divide the daily feeding amount into 80% meat -10% bone -10% organ
With that being said, if we use chicken and lamb as it uses in their kibble,it should be fish based, her raw diet menu would look like this. If we aim at menu with good omega 3 fatty acids in them, then, the menu will be oily fish base such as sardine,salmon,mackerel,herring etc...
AM; portion cut raw bone-in chicken 5 oz, 1 whole egg
PM; portion cut raw boneless leg of lamb 4 oz, raw chicken liver 1 oz
With this menu, Palette will be getting about 625kcal plus.
Depending on how she is fed on the week, she may get fish body oil capsule with Vitamin E capsule to bump up the level of omega 3 fatty acids in the diet.
You can see nutrient detail at nutritiondata.self.com here.
Since the website is dedicated to human nutrition, I could not find bone-in chicken breast raw, but Palette is getting at least around 625kcal worth of food a day with this menu.
The kibble itself contains 33 ingredients with lots of ground form/by products of ingredients, along with artificial coloring,and preservatives we try to avoid in our own human diet.
What about Palette's?
4 ingredients, without any added vitamins and minerals etc..
One thing I can say on feeding fresh food to your dogs/cats is that,you know the food source, and you know more about what you are feeding to your dogs.
If it were kibble, how would you know where those ingredients were coming from, whether the meat or vegetable or any other ingredients were handled and refrigerated properly, and they are sourced from USDA approved meat etc..
That is the difference between feeding kibble and fresh food.
You can pick what goes into your dog's bowl, and you can see the quality of the menu/ingredients.
If this kibble is going to be converted into homemade diet, it will have more ingredients than raw diet menu since they use vegetables too, but less ingredients than kibble ingredients list without additives, vitamin/mineral spray mix to make up the lost nutrient during the processing the kibbles.
If I am going to make something special for Palette, homemade diet style, American way with food volume based method,then, the makeover menu for Healthy Longevity for dog would look like this.
However, because of the way I came up the recipe; pasta dish, which uses more than 1 egg in the pasta dough, if you give all the Tortellini made, overall kcal was much more than Palette's usual regular kcal she gets via raw diet menu.
Therefore, I ended up using the regular average kcal Palette gets a day to decide how many tortellini she can get a day, and served the number of Tortellini that would be equivalent to her daily intake.
By doing so, since it was pasta dish, I think there was more pasta than meat per sitting because of the way Tortellini was made.
I advise you to portion control this recipe, and serve this as "special meal" not "regular meal".
You can place Tortellini single layer on the baking sheet and, cover it with Plastic wrap and freeze it. Then, later, you can put those into a freezer bag for later.
This way, tortellini would not get stick each other when frozen.
Homemade diet style of Healthy Longevity for Dog..
K9 Chicken and Lamb Tortellini with Pink sauce..
<K9 Chicken and lamb Tortellini with Pink sauce>
Ingredients for K9 Chicken and Lamb Tortellini:
~ Pasta dough ~
1/2C Unbleached All purpose flour
1/2C Unbleached Whole wheat flour
1 large egg whole, and 3 large egg yolks
1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil
2tsp water
~ filling ~
1/2 oz roasted corn
3 oz chicken tender
3 oz boneless leg of lamb
1 oz chicken liver
1 oz ricotta cheese
1 oz cooked kokho rose rice (Japanese rice)
Garnish; chopped Flat leaf Italian parsley
~Pink sauce ; Beet yogurt sauce ~
1 oz beet peeled,chopped and steamed
3 oz Stonyfield organic yogurt plain (whole milk)
Her daily feeding amount is about 10-12 oz a day.
Therefore, using that as daily feeding amount, I have divided them into American volume base homemade diet menu guideline ratio; meat 60%, grain 10%, organ such as liver 10%, vegetables 10%, and yogurt 10% plus miscellaneous such as egg.
This determined the each ingredients amount.
However, because of pasta dish, the whole recipe has a lot more kcal than they would get via raw diet menu.
Therefore, consider this recipe as "special meal", and make sure to portion out the serving so you would not over feeding your dogs.
1. In the food processor,add 1/2C Unbleached All purpose flour, 1/2C Unbleached Whole wheat flour,1 large egg whole, and 3 large egg yolks, and 1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil,and 2tsp water and mix for about 40-50 seconds or the dough becomes cohesive
2. Knead the dough about 2 minutes and make the dough into log and wrap it with plastic wrap,and let it rest for at least 2 hours
3. When dough was rested, divide the dough into 3 section,and take 1 portion out and, make sure to keep 2 portion covered in the plastic wrap so they would not get dried out
4. Put the one portion on the lightly floured surface cut side down, and gently roll it out into long,thin rectangle shape
** The dough can be rolled with rolling pin easily. Make sure to roll until you can see your hand shadow behind the dough when you hold the dough up and place the hands behind them.
** For the pasta dough for human, all you need to do is to add pinch of salt to the dough
5. Cut the dough into 2" x 2" square
6. Fill the dough with filling* (recipe follows), and hold it over to shape them into a triangle
** Make sure the corner edge is well sealed and no air trapped inside the filling
7. Wrap the bottom ends around your index finger, and seal the corner ends,and fold the top tip down backward
8. Place the Tortellini on the lightly floured plate and cover with Plastic wrap so they would not get dried out
9. In the boiling water, gently toss the tortellini one by one,and cook them for about 3 minutes or until it floats to the top
10. Drain the pasta and set it aside
11. In the small plate, drizzle the Pink sauce* (recipe follows), and plate the tortellini around them
12. Sprinkle the chopped Italian Flat leaf parsley and serve
Makes; 51 count Chicken and Lamb Tortellini
1 Tortellini is about 25 kcal
<Chicken and lamb Tortellini filling>
1. In the food processor, add 1/2 oz roasted corn (You can cut off the tip of the fresh corn after washing them under the water,and roast the corn with husk at 375F for 30 minutes. Let it cool down and take the kernels off), 3 oz chicken tender,3 oz boneless leg of lamb, 1 oz chicken liver, 1 oz ricotta cheese and puree them
2. pour chicken-lamb mixture into a bowl, and add 1 oz cooked kokuho rose rice (Japanese rice) and stir with wooden spoon
3. Fill the tortellini with about a little less than 1/2 tsp worth of filling
** If you had leftover filling, you can still make baked meatball.Palette liked oven bake chicken and lamb meatball very much.
Bake the meatball at 425F for 12-14 minutes
<Pink sauce; Beet yogurt sauce>
1. In the mixer,add 1/2 oz steamed beet and 3 oz Stonyfield organic yogurt plain with whole milk and puree them
The K9 chicken and lamb Tortellini whole recipe without pink sauce (beet yogurt sauce) is 1288kcal,and 1 Tortellini is 25 kcal. You can look up nutrition profile at nutritiondata.self.com website here.
The whole tortellini recipe offer 23% calcium (233 mg).
If you were going to make this outside the regular feeding, consider the kcal added to your dog's regular menu.
As noted above, since whole recipe kcal came out much more than Palette's daily intake kcal, I simply divided 625kcal she would have gotten with raw diet by 25 (one tortellini kcal) to figure out how many tortellini she can have.
On the day I served this dish,Palette had raw diet breakfast menu earlier in the morning so, I counted about 300kcal worth of Tortellini (about 12 count) and cooked them up and served them.
Palette really loved the special menu made for her. She ate it like she had not been fed for ages,lol.
What is that? What is that?
Me trying to use you as ladder..
Almost there...
See my wet nose?
Attention to my mom so I go run to my din din as fast as I can...
Is it ok yet?
Hmm.... I don't know what this is, but it is tasty.I love it!
*lick,lick,lick..*
That was gooood!
Still licking my chops!
As you can see,Palette really liked it. I would still prefer to feed regular raw diet menu but,I think once in a while she can get super special meal like this
I hope this entry has given you some insight of decoding kibble ingredients, and gave you the tool to understand what are in the food better.
Yassy's Japan Trip Diary November 2012; Day 4 Part 4
In the previous entry titled "Yassy's Japan Trip Diary November, 2012; Day 4 Part 3" , I wrote that on the day we came back from Nagano prefecture, we decided to stop by one of local grocery stores
to pick up the bread.
One of the bread that I picked up was "Melon Pan"
They are my favorite bread I can have them only in Japan if not homemade. My husband loves them too.
"Me-lo-n" means "cantaloupe","Pa-n" means "bread" in Japanese.
It is a round shaped bread with crisp cookie dough on top.
Under the crisp cookie dough,there is enriched dough.
It got no cantaloupe in the dough. The bread is called "Melon pan" because the shape of the bread resembled to cantaloupe.
However, if you visit region famous for cantaloupe such as Hokkaido prefecture,which is diamond shaped northern island, I think you may find Melon pan with cantaloupe flavored filling inside since they are known to have white chocolate bar with cantaloupe flavored chocolate underneath them as souvenir.
You can find the Japan map at about.com website here. Look for number 1. That is Hokkaido prefecture.
Hokkaido is famous for white potatoes, crabs, sea urchin,squid, salmon roe,scallops, dairy products such as cheese, melons, ramen noodle, snow festival.
I have never been to Hokkaido yet,but my father did and have seen beautiful pictures of snow sculpture at the festival. I would love to go there and see those stuff and enjoy all the popular food there too!
The festival runs for a week in February,and you can read more on the festival at the official site here. It is in English.
When you go to Sapporo Snow festival, you can see snow/ice sculpture of anime characters, famous buildings such as castle, famous sports players, animals etc..
Here is the youtube video to show you what the Sapporo snow festival is like.
Sapporo snow festival No.1
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
Sapporo Snow festival No.2
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
The melon pan looks like this.
Melon pan..
Just recently, my husband told me that he has got a surprise hidden inside our fridge. Therefore, I started hunting for the mystery surprise.
Well, I found a container with "Surprise!" written on the top lid.
I thought it must be it! Then, I opened up and whoa! I was so happy!
Can you guess what it was?
It was chocolate cake with flan on top.
In Japan, when people say "purin",it describe what is called "flan" over here in the states, and I love them.
The flan he got me almost tasted like what we call "yaki purin",which means baked flan. It was good. I do not like super sticky sweet cake or desert, but they were not overly sweet and light amount of sweetness to it and I loved them!
This one got slight coconut flavor to it, also and it was interesting desert to taste.
The Chocolate cake with flan on top looked like this. Pardon my nibble on the edge.I was super excited and,I wanted to taste it before taking picture
Chocolate cake with flan on top..
This desert was from El Paso Mexican restaurant. You can find them in several location in VA. If you like to check this one out, here is their website to browse through what they got as menu.
Because he got me this super surprise for me, I thought I would return the surprise to him and,I made Melon pan
I thought making melon pan would be something he would be least expected, and I could give him a surprise
I spent time baking melon pan and, I think it got good taste similar to commercially made one.Only difference will be thickness of the crust (the cookie dough). Texture wise,I think it is good.
I really wanted to surprise him so,I did not say anything about it and then.. he found the "Melon pan". He said "Melon pan? You made it?"
The "melon pan" disappeared with quick pace
He said he really liked them.
In this entry, I thought I would share this Japanese bread recipe; Melon pan,which many people probably have never heard of,unless they have visited our country "Japan" in the past.
It was a huge hit with my husband and Palette the Corgi,and I was satisfied with how it came out.
Homemade Melon pan...
Ingredients for Melon pan;
1 tsp active dry yeast
4.5 tsp white sugar
1C Unbleached bread flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Egg lightly beaten
1/3C water
1 tbs butter melted
1/2 tsp milk
Extra virgin olive oil
yellow corn meal for dusting the baking sheet
Ingredients for the cookie dough crust;
2 tbs butter melted
1/8C plus 4 tsp white table sugar
1/2 Egg lightly beaten
1/2C plus 7 tsp Unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Extra white table sugar for coating the cookie dough with sugar
0. Preheat the oven at 200F and when it reached to 200F,turn the oven off
1. To a microwave safe bowl, pour 1/3 C water, microwave about 20 seconds or so
2.Take a temperature of the water. If the temperature was at 110F-115F, add 1 tsp of active dry yeast, 4.5 tsp white sugar, and mix well and let it sit a while (about 5-10 minutes)
** If you use jar of dry yeast, make sure the yeast is at room temperature. Cold yeast would not make your dough rise properly.
** Water temperature to rise the dough (proof the dough) should be at 110F-115F. Lower temperature water would not proof the dough properly, and higher temperature water would kill the yeast and would not proof the dough properly.
You should see the frothy stuff on top like this..
3. To a big bowl, add 1C Unbleached bread flour, 1/4 tsp salt and mix well
4. Add 1/2 Egg lightly beaten,1 tbs butter melted, 1/2 tsp milk, and yeast-sugar-water mixture to the flour-salt mixture and mix well
5. When dough became to form a ball, toss them onto lightly floured surface, and start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth surface.. about 6-8 minutes.
** Using silpat mat is easy to work with
** If the dough was sticky, add flour 1 tbs at a time and knead until not too sticky but not too dry
6. You can test your dough to see if you knead it more. Do the Windowpane test.
What is windowpane test??
Windowpane test is the test the gluten development in the dough.
What you do is to cut off small piece of dough,and gently stretch out/pulling to see if it will hold a paper-thin membrane.If it tore apart,you would knead a bit more and do the test again.
7. When dough comes together;smooth and elastic, drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil onto empty bowl and smear it around side and inside bottom to make easy for you to take the dough out later
8. Place the dough into the bowl,drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the dough and smear the olive oil all around the dough
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the dough in the oven,set the timer for 90 minutes
10. 90 minutes later, dough will be larger size in volume
11. Once the dough gets nearly double in volume, take the dough out from the bowl onto the lightly floured surface
12. Punch down the dough, and cut them into 4 portions,and form a nice ball
13. Line the cookie sheet with non stick foil,and dust it with yellow corn meal,and place the ball of dough
14. Cover the dough with plastic wrap,and put it back into the oven for 2nd proofing
15. Let it rise for 30 minutes
16. Cut the cookie dough log* (recipe follows) into 4 section
17. Place the plastic wrap over the working surface, place cookie dough cut side down
18. Cover the cookie dough with another plastic wrap,and start rolling out the dough to circle,and remove the top plastic wrap
19. Place the bread dough on the center and wet your finger with water and wet the edge of the cookie dough and by using plastic wrap, cover the bread dough with the cookie dough
** The dough would not cover the entire dough. Just top and edges around the dough.
20. Score the cookie dough criss cross
21. Dip the bread top into table sugar
22. Place the sugar coasted and scored bread dough onto the baking sheet,mist the dough with water, and cover with plastic wrap
23. Let it rest about 40 minutes
24. Preheat the oven at 400F
25. Mist the dough with water spray,and bake them for 14-16 minutes.
** Make sure to rotate the bread pan half way through for the even baking
26. If the internal temperature was about 190F,the bread is done baking
27. Cool them down on the cooling rack
Makes: 4 Melon pan (about 4.5" diameter)
<Cookie dough crust>
1. In the mixing bowl, add 2 tbs room temperature bread,1/8C plus 4 tsp white table sugar,and mix them until it gets whitish and texture becomes fluffy
2. Add 1/2 lightly beaten Egg,and mix well to combine
3. In one new bowl, add 1/2C plus 7 tsp unbleached all purpose flour shifted, and 1/4 tsp baking powder and mix well
4. Add flour-baking powder mix to egg-butter-sugar mixture a little bit at a time,
5. Roll the dough into round log and wrap them with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge
6. When 2nd proofing 30 minutes is passed, take the cookie dough log out and cut them into 4 sections
7. Follow the step # 17 and after
Palette was coming and going the kitchen as usual. Then when I was putting the Melon pan on the cooling rack, she was staring me like this..
Look,mom.I am being good..
I know good "down" brings yummies!
I tore tiny bit of Melon pan and let her taste test it.She was super excited!
I want one,I want one!
*pant,pant,pant*
Mom: That's my finger,Palette
Palette: Oops! Sorry,mom.
I know you got some more left!
3.2.1.. Jump!
Nom,nom,nom...
Gooood!
See? My wet nose?
Here comes Palette!
Last bite..
Palette really loved this bread,and you can see how wet her nose was
She had one nice jackpot snack of the day
After such an excitement, she came downstairs with me and,she was resting on her side but fell asleep.
She was twitching in her sleep. Hmm,I see her mouse was moving.
I wonder she was having a dream of having more of Melon pan
Enjoy!
One of the bread that I picked up was "Melon Pan"
They are my favorite bread I can have them only in Japan if not homemade. My husband loves them too.
"Me-lo-n" means "cantaloupe","Pa-n" means "bread" in Japanese.
It is a round shaped bread with crisp cookie dough on top.
Under the crisp cookie dough,there is enriched dough.
It got no cantaloupe in the dough. The bread is called "Melon pan" because the shape of the bread resembled to cantaloupe.
However, if you visit region famous for cantaloupe such as Hokkaido prefecture,which is diamond shaped northern island, I think you may find Melon pan with cantaloupe flavored filling inside since they are known to have white chocolate bar with cantaloupe flavored chocolate underneath them as souvenir.
You can find the Japan map at about.com website here. Look for number 1. That is Hokkaido prefecture.
Hokkaido is famous for white potatoes, crabs, sea urchin,squid, salmon roe,scallops, dairy products such as cheese, melons, ramen noodle, snow festival.
I have never been to Hokkaido yet,but my father did and have seen beautiful pictures of snow sculpture at the festival. I would love to go there and see those stuff and enjoy all the popular food there too!
The festival runs for a week in February,and you can read more on the festival at the official site here. It is in English.
When you go to Sapporo Snow festival, you can see snow/ice sculpture of anime characters, famous buildings such as castle, famous sports players, animals etc..
Here is the youtube video to show you what the Sapporo snow festival is like.
Sapporo snow festival No.1
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
Sapporo Snow festival No.2
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
The melon pan looks like this.
Melon pan..
Just recently, my husband told me that he has got a surprise hidden inside our fridge. Therefore, I started hunting for the mystery surprise.
Well, I found a container with "Surprise!" written on the top lid.
I thought it must be it! Then, I opened up and whoa! I was so happy!
Can you guess what it was?
It was chocolate cake with flan on top.
In Japan, when people say "purin",it describe what is called "flan" over here in the states, and I love them.
The flan he got me almost tasted like what we call "yaki purin",which means baked flan. It was good. I do not like super sticky sweet cake or desert, but they were not overly sweet and light amount of sweetness to it and I loved them!
This one got slight coconut flavor to it, also and it was interesting desert to taste.
The Chocolate cake with flan on top looked like this. Pardon my nibble on the edge.I was super excited and,I wanted to taste it before taking picture
Chocolate cake with flan on top..
This desert was from El Paso Mexican restaurant. You can find them in several location in VA. If you like to check this one out, here is their website to browse through what they got as menu.
Because he got me this super surprise for me, I thought I would return the surprise to him and,I made Melon pan
I thought making melon pan would be something he would be least expected, and I could give him a surprise
I spent time baking melon pan and, I think it got good taste similar to commercially made one.Only difference will be thickness of the crust (the cookie dough). Texture wise,I think it is good.
I really wanted to surprise him so,I did not say anything about it and then.. he found the "Melon pan". He said "Melon pan? You made it?"
The "melon pan" disappeared with quick pace
He said he really liked them.
In this entry, I thought I would share this Japanese bread recipe; Melon pan,which many people probably have never heard of,unless they have visited our country "Japan" in the past.
It was a huge hit with my husband and Palette the Corgi,and I was satisfied with how it came out.
Homemade Melon pan...
Ingredients for Melon pan;
1 tsp active dry yeast
4.5 tsp white sugar
1C Unbleached bread flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Egg lightly beaten
1/3C water
1 tbs butter melted
1/2 tsp milk
Extra virgin olive oil
yellow corn meal for dusting the baking sheet
Ingredients for the cookie dough crust;
2 tbs butter melted
1/8C plus 4 tsp white table sugar
1/2 Egg lightly beaten
1/2C plus 7 tsp Unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Extra white table sugar for coating the cookie dough with sugar
0. Preheat the oven at 200F and when it reached to 200F,turn the oven off
1. To a microwave safe bowl, pour 1/3 C water, microwave about 20 seconds or so
2.Take a temperature of the water. If the temperature was at 110F-115F, add 1 tsp of active dry yeast, 4.5 tsp white sugar, and mix well and let it sit a while (about 5-10 minutes)
** If you use jar of dry yeast, make sure the yeast is at room temperature. Cold yeast would not make your dough rise properly.
** Water temperature to rise the dough (proof the dough) should be at 110F-115F. Lower temperature water would not proof the dough properly, and higher temperature water would kill the yeast and would not proof the dough properly.
You should see the frothy stuff on top like this..
3. To a big bowl, add 1C Unbleached bread flour, 1/4 tsp salt and mix well
4. Add 1/2 Egg lightly beaten,1 tbs butter melted, 1/2 tsp milk, and yeast-sugar-water mixture to the flour-salt mixture and mix well
5. When dough became to form a ball, toss them onto lightly floured surface, and start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth surface.. about 6-8 minutes.
** Using silpat mat is easy to work with
** If the dough was sticky, add flour 1 tbs at a time and knead until not too sticky but not too dry
6. You can test your dough to see if you knead it more. Do the Windowpane test.
What is windowpane test??
Windowpane test is the test the gluten development in the dough.
What you do is to cut off small piece of dough,and gently stretch out/pulling to see if it will hold a paper-thin membrane.If it tore apart,you would knead a bit more and do the test again.
7. When dough comes together;smooth and elastic, drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil onto empty bowl and smear it around side and inside bottom to make easy for you to take the dough out later
8. Place the dough into the bowl,drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the dough and smear the olive oil all around the dough
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the dough in the oven,set the timer for 90 minutes
10. 90 minutes later, dough will be larger size in volume
11. Once the dough gets nearly double in volume, take the dough out from the bowl onto the lightly floured surface
12. Punch down the dough, and cut them into 4 portions,and form a nice ball
13. Line the cookie sheet with non stick foil,and dust it with yellow corn meal,and place the ball of dough
14. Cover the dough with plastic wrap,and put it back into the oven for 2nd proofing
15. Let it rise for 30 minutes
16. Cut the cookie dough log* (recipe follows) into 4 section
17. Place the plastic wrap over the working surface, place cookie dough cut side down
18. Cover the cookie dough with another plastic wrap,and start rolling out the dough to circle,and remove the top plastic wrap
19. Place the bread dough on the center and wet your finger with water and wet the edge of the cookie dough and by using plastic wrap, cover the bread dough with the cookie dough
** The dough would not cover the entire dough. Just top and edges around the dough.
20. Score the cookie dough criss cross
21. Dip the bread top into table sugar
22. Place the sugar coasted and scored bread dough onto the baking sheet,mist the dough with water, and cover with plastic wrap
23. Let it rest about 40 minutes
24. Preheat the oven at 400F
25. Mist the dough with water spray,and bake them for 14-16 minutes.
** Make sure to rotate the bread pan half way through for the even baking
26. If the internal temperature was about 190F,the bread is done baking
27. Cool them down on the cooling rack
Makes: 4 Melon pan (about 4.5" diameter)
<Cookie dough crust>
1. In the mixing bowl, add 2 tbs room temperature bread,1/8C plus 4 tsp white table sugar,and mix them until it gets whitish and texture becomes fluffy
2. Add 1/2 lightly beaten Egg,and mix well to combine
3. In one new bowl, add 1/2C plus 7 tsp unbleached all purpose flour shifted, and 1/4 tsp baking powder and mix well
4. Add flour-baking powder mix to egg-butter-sugar mixture a little bit at a time,
5. Roll the dough into round log and wrap them with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge
6. When 2nd proofing 30 minutes is passed, take the cookie dough log out and cut them into 4 sections
7. Follow the step # 17 and after
Palette was coming and going the kitchen as usual. Then when I was putting the Melon pan on the cooling rack, she was staring me like this..
Look,mom.I am being good..
I know good "down" brings yummies!
I tore tiny bit of Melon pan and let her taste test it.She was super excited!
I want one,I want one!
*pant,pant,pant*
Mom: That's my finger,Palette
Palette: Oops! Sorry,mom.
I know you got some more left!
3.2.1.. Jump!
Nom,nom,nom...
Gooood!
See? My wet nose?
Here comes Palette!
Last bite..
Palette really loved this bread,and you can see how wet her nose was
She had one nice jackpot snack of the day
After such an excitement, she came downstairs with me and,she was resting on her side but fell asleep.
She was twitching in her sleep. Hmm,I see her mouse was moving.
I wonder she was having a dream of having more of Melon pan
Enjoy!
Paws up?Paws down?Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part III-Dog Bones
In previous entry titled"Do you really know what's going into your dog stomach?? Part I", I wrote about why I have changed Palette's diet.
Then in the entry titled"Do you really know what's going into your dog stomach?? Part II", I wrote that it is important for you to know what are in the treats you give to your dogs, not just being careful about dog food ingredients.
Then in the entry titled"Do you really know what's going into your dog stomach?? Part III", I wrote that it is also important for you to know where the treats are made, and if no full ingredients list for treats were shown on the website, you should ask the store what are in it,where it is made before you purchase them.
Here, in the series titled "Paws up? Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen", I would like to take you on a tour behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog kitchen.
Then,I would like to show you some of the treats that did not make it to our store, and I would like to give you the reasons why we do not carry certain products sometimes we get requests for.
Through these entries,you would also find some tips and suggestion to find good/most suited treats for your furry friends.
Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen is built with the concept of "k9 restaurant".
Our dog "Palette" is k9 executive chef, who does taste test the treats and give me more information on the individual treats we are thinking about carrying.
As you already know, since she shows you the taste testing time via youtube video for the taste testing series titled "Palette's note", you can also watch and learn what the treats in the question is like if we decided to carry them.
Palette and I have been a great team,working together striving to offer quality, not quantity. Since she cannot read letters, I will read the information for the specific treats and,she does tastes test the treats, and gives me paws up, paws down along with more detail information such as treats texture, which no one can tell you unless some one does taste test it for real.
We like to give as much information as possible for each treats, and I think it is a big advantage for other dog lovers too.
For last 2 entries; "Paws up?Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen", "Paws up?Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part II", I have written more about which treats did not make it to the store and why.
Here, I would like to spot light on treats we would not carry, and why.
I always tell you that we never carry everything, anything by throwing the buzzwords such as "high quality","premium" etc.. just because they may sell well.
We are very picky about what to offer,what not to offer.
I also tell you that if you browse through the store, and see what we offer, you may notice that we would not carry certain things that could be found at other pet supply stores.
There are reasons for that.
In this entry, I would like to write why we do not carry dog bones, and in the future entry, why we do not carry rawhide chews,which sometimes, we get asked why we do not offer them via customers.
Dog bones..
If you follow my blog entries, you know that Palette is our very first dog and, before learning more about fresh food diet, a.k.a. raw diet,I did not know much about what are good/bad to give dogs as chews.
We have got sterilized beef bones, dog bones such as knuckle bones,rib bones,femur bones,shank bones,marrow bones etc etc.. from pet supply stores. I remember Palette spent hours on those bones. She has got rawhide chews, she has got compressed raw hide bones.. She also got Nylabones before.
Now, she never ever get those anymore.
Is Dog Bones good for dogs?
After learning more about fresh food diet;raw diet, and I have switched Palette diet, I have learned so many things about so many topics.
One of the things that I learned back then,was about cooked bones,which applies to "Dog bones" too since they are cooked bones.
First thing that I do not like about those bones is the choice of cut.
Almost all the time, you find "dog bone" knuckle bones, femur bones, knee cap bones, shin bones, sterilized bones.. very thick hard bone from big animals such as cow.
"Knuckle/femur/marrow" bones are called : "weight bearing bones" in the raw diet term, and even though raw bones are softer than cooked bones, we would not feed those hard thick bones from big animals.
The weight bearing bones are, even if in "raw" state, it could wear the teeth or break teeth,and I am not comfortable giving it to Palette either.
Second thing about the Dog bone that I do not like is the fact that they are cooked.
Cooked bones are dangerous. They becomes hard and brittle and splinter sharp.
One time,Palette was gnawing the dog rib bones as a puppy and, when she bit chunk off the bone, the bone cracked spear shape with very pointy top. I was not comfortable at all to let her keep gnawing them,and I took the bone away, and tossed it.
I also has my own personal experience with cooked bone with Palette before I switch her diet to raw diet and, its experience has confirmed that cooked bones are not good for dogs,and that they are dangerous to give to dogs.
The incident was with roasted ham bones which all the ham was trimmed off for Christmas dinner.
If you look around, there are dog bone with Pork Ham bone variety too.
I thought the freshly roasted ham bones will be a jackpot for Palette,and one Christmas day,she has got Ham bone,which we trimmed off the hams for our dinner.
She really liked it, and demolished pretty good chunk of it. However, she was really miserable later on.
Luckily,there was no blockage or anything,but she started pooping out very hard rock-like golf sized ball poop frequently first. You could not squash the poop with shovel even!It was like a cement consistency.
It got me wonder if the cooked bone fragment did not come out from the rear end, it would plug up the intestine like that,which will be scary because it was really really hard poop.
Then, hours later, she was miserable with diarrhea, and she suffered diarrhea for 2-3 days.
Not only that, every time she goes potty, it required her to have her butt washed before going back to what she was doing before. It was miserable..
Since then, I learned more about bones in general.Therefore, no cooked bones or dog bones were given to Palette.
I have seen some "recipes" for "dog bones" and "poultry paws" cooked in the oven on the internet before.
However, do not try them.
Baking at 350F for beef bones, 250F for oil coasted poultry paws is basically cooking the bones and, it would never be safe.
As you know, water boils at 212F (100C). Thus, the temperature in those internet recipe is more than the temperature water can reach to the boiling point.
With curiosity, I checked my oven how much lower they can go.
My oven was 170F as lowest baking temperature. My dehydrator's highest temperature is 155F. A little lower than lowest oven temperature.
The dehydrator can go as low as 95F,even though the lowest temperature 95 F is usually for herb drying.
The temperature is not the only difference how food is effected.
Oven baked food is cooked inside the oven with high dry heat.
On the other hand, dehydrator takes moisture out from the food without cooking them by using both air and lowest temperature enough to take the moisture out from the food.
Good example might be dehydrated shiitake mushroom. You have seen it at the grocery store in the little pouch, and you will rehydrate them in the warm water and then use those as you would with fresh one in your cooking.
To dehydrated shiitake mushroom, what it is is that they are washed and cut to strips and simply placed on the dehydrator for about 6-8 hours.
Hours later, you would notice that the mushroom gets shrink in size and,moisture was removed.
Last thing about what I do not like about Dog bone is the ingredient.
It maybe a surprising fact for some of you but, if you flip the bag over, and start reading the ingredient in it, it is not a single ingredient bones!
For example, Product A "Knuckle bones" contains ..
" Beef knuckle bone, propionic acid (a preservative), phosphoric acid (natural acidifier), acetic acid, potassium sorbate (a preservative)"
Product B "Shank bone" says they are cured with spices (but they never list what spices are used to flavor the dog bone"
Product C " Pork Joint bone" says they are cured with salt,pepper,and spice (which they never list what spice is used), and hickory smoked.
This is the another problems I find with dog bones other than choice of cut or the fact they are cooked bones.
Why would they need salt,pepper, and spices? Wouldn't bone itself (of course it has to be the safer cut of bones and raw state but...) tasty enough and no flavor enhancement necessary?
Those cured bones would probably make dogs very thirsty, and they would ring the potty bell quite frequently.
In the past, I got tendon treats that I thought will be unique and interesting.
Well, I did taste tested with Palette, she loved those but she tended to drink a whole lot of water after consuming the treats and it resulted in frequent potty call.
It made me wondered why and,I found out from the maker of the treats that they have salt cured the tendons.
There is no sure proof with me on this, but they got me wonder whether they were too salty for Palette, and she needed water to get rid of salty taste in her mouth..
The tendon treats she had problem with is not offered to others through our store.
If you would like to give a dog bone, give them a raw bones (but avoid weight bearing bones;knuckle,femur,marrow bones from big animals like cow).
The raw bone would not need any flavor enhancement. It is tasty just "as is".
There are so many choices you can give your dogs; whole fish such as whole sardines, pork ribs, portion cut poultry (Chicken,Duck,Pheasant etc..),Duck neck, poultry paws (Chicken/Duck),portion cut rabbit..
Nom,nom,nom....
I love Duck foot!
Of course,if you switch your dog's diet totally,then, the menu should be focus on meat rather than bone itself,but you really do not need any "preservatives" or "flavor enhancement" at all.
Even if raw bones was only for recreational/snack time purpose, giving the "real" fresh bones are much better than commercially made dog bones flavored up with things they never list what spices are used, plus they are cooked bones and dangerous.
With the knowledge that I acquired by learning more about raw diet along with my own personal experience with cooked bones,I am not comfortable giving all those cooked dog bones to Palette even. Therefore,I never offer those to other dog lovers through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen website as well.
As you know, if she wanted to chew the bones,she has one; in the fresh form, as part of her diet menu everyday.
If she wanted to chew something outside the meal time, then, she has another safer chews such as Antlers,bully sticks,and Himalayan Dog Chew..
She does not need any more dog bones she loved so much when she was a puppy.
If you are looking for chews to occupy your dogs, my personal recommendation will be Antlers.
If you worry that they may be too hard for your dogs, choose the Antler with some velvet left on.They are softer Antlers than regular Antlers and, they would not last as long as regular Antlers would,but its texture is softer and,it might let you feel comfortable giving it to your dogs.
That being said, it is not always the case of "bigger,heavier the better". It is important to pick the right size Antlers. The sizing information is provided on our website under the product page.Please use it as guide.
Also, if the dogs were trying to break the Antlers into half by putting the whole body weight over the Antlers,then, they are not the good chew for them.
Always supervise your dogs with chew to understand how they chew the chews.It will give you the clues to be able to pick the right chews for your dogs.
My second recommendation is Himalayan Dog Chew (Hard cheese stick chew).
Our medium chewer Palette spent 20 min to gnawing off 1" chunk and,I think,they are great chew. Even if you have senior dogs and found that the chew was a little hard for them,then, you can still make its texture different for them.
One thing unique about the Hard cheese stick is that,nubby ends (when it got too small for your dogs to chew on),you can always microwave them to puff it up.
When it gets puffed it up, it gets almost like a cracker texture.Very crunchy and, Palette loves those!
If you find the original texture of Cheese stick was too hard then, boil the water in a pan,and toss the cheese stick in,and let it boil for about 25 minutes,and its texture changes to softer enough for you to cut it through.
Therefore, at that moment,you could cut them into preferable size chunk,and pffed it up as needed basis or, cut them into small pieces to use them as training treats.
Or, without cutting the cheese stick, let the dogs chew while they are still softer texture.
After 24 hours, maker of the chew says it gets back to its original texture.
This what I like about the chew.Your dog can enjoy multiple ways to enjoy the chews.
It also works as food topper; simply grate the cheese stick with microplane grater over your dog's food. I have done that before and,Palette "thinks" the cheese topper was extra special stuff, and she really loved the way food was served
I have got 2 of these Microplane grater "classic",and it works great to grate ginger,garlic,cheese, and it grates into fine cheese flakes.
My third recommendation will be bully sticks. No matter how thick,how long they are,they would not lasts as long as Antlers would but,many dogs adores them, and it is good chews to have them on hand.
We carry, buffalo bully sticks, Twisted Lamb pizzle sticks, and Beef bully sticks.
At this moment, if you are looking for thickest possible for bully sticks, I would recommend Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Beef bully sticks "Super Monster". They are available with 6" and 12".
There you have it,the answer to the question why we do not carry Dog bones at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
When you would like some treats/chew recommendation from us,please feel free to use the contact us form.
We are happy to help you to pick the good treats/chews for your dogs.
I like every moment working for Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
I like making other dogs smiles with healthier chews we provide.
About 6 years ago, if the lady in the puppy training class we have attended did not say "Why don't you start dog bakery shop?" when I brought sugar free,salt free, mini banana muffin for Palette's classmates on their graduation day, I would probably did not think about opening this K9 restaurant.
I am happy that I did.
That little "mini banana muffin for dogs" that I made really means a lot to me. It always bring me back to the memory,where I found myself flocked by Palette's classmates wagging their tail..
That muffin was a huge hit!
I maybe should share the recipe later.Your dogs would love them too!
Then in the entry titled"Do you really know what's going into your dog stomach?? Part II", I wrote that it is important for you to know what are in the treats you give to your dogs, not just being careful about dog food ingredients.
Then in the entry titled"Do you really know what's going into your dog stomach?? Part III", I wrote that it is also important for you to know where the treats are made, and if no full ingredients list for treats were shown on the website, you should ask the store what are in it,where it is made before you purchase them.
Here, in the series titled "Paws up? Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen", I would like to take you on a tour behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog kitchen.
Then,I would like to show you some of the treats that did not make it to our store, and I would like to give you the reasons why we do not carry certain products sometimes we get requests for.
Through these entries,you would also find some tips and suggestion to find good/most suited treats for your furry friends.
Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen is built with the concept of "k9 restaurant".
Our dog "Palette" is k9 executive chef, who does taste test the treats and give me more information on the individual treats we are thinking about carrying.
As you already know, since she shows you the taste testing time via youtube video for the taste testing series titled "Palette's note", you can also watch and learn what the treats in the question is like if we decided to carry them.
Palette and I have been a great team,working together striving to offer quality, not quantity. Since she cannot read letters, I will read the information for the specific treats and,she does tastes test the treats, and gives me paws up, paws down along with more detail information such as treats texture, which no one can tell you unless some one does taste test it for real.
We like to give as much information as possible for each treats, and I think it is a big advantage for other dog lovers too.
For last 2 entries; "Paws up?Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen", "Paws up?Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part II", I have written more about which treats did not make it to the store and why.
Here, I would like to spot light on treats we would not carry, and why.
I always tell you that we never carry everything, anything by throwing the buzzwords such as "high quality","premium" etc.. just because they may sell well.
We are very picky about what to offer,what not to offer.
I also tell you that if you browse through the store, and see what we offer, you may notice that we would not carry certain things that could be found at other pet supply stores.
There are reasons for that.
In this entry, I would like to write why we do not carry dog bones, and in the future entry, why we do not carry rawhide chews,which sometimes, we get asked why we do not offer them via customers.
Dog bones..
If you follow my blog entries, you know that Palette is our very first dog and, before learning more about fresh food diet, a.k.a. raw diet,I did not know much about what are good/bad to give dogs as chews.
We have got sterilized beef bones, dog bones such as knuckle bones,rib bones,femur bones,shank bones,marrow bones etc etc.. from pet supply stores. I remember Palette spent hours on those bones. She has got rawhide chews, she has got compressed raw hide bones.. She also got Nylabones before.
Now, she never ever get those anymore.
Is Dog Bones good for dogs?
After learning more about fresh food diet;raw diet, and I have switched Palette diet, I have learned so many things about so many topics.
One of the things that I learned back then,was about cooked bones,which applies to "Dog bones" too since they are cooked bones.
First thing that I do not like about those bones is the choice of cut.
Almost all the time, you find "dog bone" knuckle bones, femur bones, knee cap bones, shin bones, sterilized bones.. very thick hard bone from big animals such as cow.
"Knuckle/femur/marrow" bones are called : "weight bearing bones" in the raw diet term, and even though raw bones are softer than cooked bones, we would not feed those hard thick bones from big animals.
The weight bearing bones are, even if in "raw" state, it could wear the teeth or break teeth,and I am not comfortable giving it to Palette either.
Second thing about the Dog bone that I do not like is the fact that they are cooked.
Cooked bones are dangerous. They becomes hard and brittle and splinter sharp.
One time,Palette was gnawing the dog rib bones as a puppy and, when she bit chunk off the bone, the bone cracked spear shape with very pointy top. I was not comfortable at all to let her keep gnawing them,and I took the bone away, and tossed it.
I also has my own personal experience with cooked bone with Palette before I switch her diet to raw diet and, its experience has confirmed that cooked bones are not good for dogs,and that they are dangerous to give to dogs.
The incident was with roasted ham bones which all the ham was trimmed off for Christmas dinner.
If you look around, there are dog bone with Pork Ham bone variety too.
I thought the freshly roasted ham bones will be a jackpot for Palette,and one Christmas day,she has got Ham bone,which we trimmed off the hams for our dinner.
She really liked it, and demolished pretty good chunk of it. However, she was really miserable later on.
Luckily,there was no blockage or anything,but she started pooping out very hard rock-like golf sized ball poop frequently first. You could not squash the poop with shovel even!It was like a cement consistency.
It got me wonder if the cooked bone fragment did not come out from the rear end, it would plug up the intestine like that,which will be scary because it was really really hard poop.
Then, hours later, she was miserable with diarrhea, and she suffered diarrhea for 2-3 days.
Not only that, every time she goes potty, it required her to have her butt washed before going back to what she was doing before. It was miserable..
Since then, I learned more about bones in general.Therefore, no cooked bones or dog bones were given to Palette.
I have seen some "recipes" for "dog bones" and "poultry paws" cooked in the oven on the internet before.
However, do not try them.
Baking at 350F for beef bones, 250F for oil coasted poultry paws is basically cooking the bones and, it would never be safe.
As you know, water boils at 212F (100C). Thus, the temperature in those internet recipe is more than the temperature water can reach to the boiling point.
With curiosity, I checked my oven how much lower they can go.
My oven was 170F as lowest baking temperature. My dehydrator's highest temperature is 155F. A little lower than lowest oven temperature.
The dehydrator can go as low as 95F,even though the lowest temperature 95 F is usually for herb drying.
The temperature is not the only difference how food is effected.
Oven baked food is cooked inside the oven with high dry heat.
On the other hand, dehydrator takes moisture out from the food without cooking them by using both air and lowest temperature enough to take the moisture out from the food.
Good example might be dehydrated shiitake mushroom. You have seen it at the grocery store in the little pouch, and you will rehydrate them in the warm water and then use those as you would with fresh one in your cooking.
To dehydrated shiitake mushroom, what it is is that they are washed and cut to strips and simply placed on the dehydrator for about 6-8 hours.
Hours later, you would notice that the mushroom gets shrink in size and,moisture was removed.
Last thing about what I do not like about Dog bone is the ingredient.
It maybe a surprising fact for some of you but, if you flip the bag over, and start reading the ingredient in it, it is not a single ingredient bones!
For example, Product A "Knuckle bones" contains ..
" Beef knuckle bone, propionic acid (a preservative), phosphoric acid (natural acidifier), acetic acid, potassium sorbate (a preservative)"
Product B "Shank bone" says they are cured with spices (but they never list what spices are used to flavor the dog bone"
Product C " Pork Joint bone" says they are cured with salt,pepper,and spice (which they never list what spice is used), and hickory smoked.
This is the another problems I find with dog bones other than choice of cut or the fact they are cooked bones.
Why would they need salt,pepper, and spices? Wouldn't bone itself (of course it has to be the safer cut of bones and raw state but...) tasty enough and no flavor enhancement necessary?
Those cured bones would probably make dogs very thirsty, and they would ring the potty bell quite frequently.
In the past, I got tendon treats that I thought will be unique and interesting.
Well, I did taste tested with Palette, she loved those but she tended to drink a whole lot of water after consuming the treats and it resulted in frequent potty call.
It made me wondered why and,I found out from the maker of the treats that they have salt cured the tendons.
There is no sure proof with me on this, but they got me wonder whether they were too salty for Palette, and she needed water to get rid of salty taste in her mouth..
The tendon treats she had problem with is not offered to others through our store.
If you would like to give a dog bone, give them a raw bones (but avoid weight bearing bones;knuckle,femur,marrow bones from big animals like cow).
The raw bone would not need any flavor enhancement. It is tasty just "as is".
There are so many choices you can give your dogs; whole fish such as whole sardines, pork ribs, portion cut poultry (Chicken,Duck,Pheasant etc..),Duck neck, poultry paws (Chicken/Duck),portion cut rabbit..
Nom,nom,nom....
I love Duck foot!
Of course,if you switch your dog's diet totally,then, the menu should be focus on meat rather than bone itself,but you really do not need any "preservatives" or "flavor enhancement" at all.
Even if raw bones was only for recreational/snack time purpose, giving the "real" fresh bones are much better than commercially made dog bones flavored up with things they never list what spices are used, plus they are cooked bones and dangerous.
With the knowledge that I acquired by learning more about raw diet along with my own personal experience with cooked bones,I am not comfortable giving all those cooked dog bones to Palette even. Therefore,I never offer those to other dog lovers through Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen website as well.
As you know, if she wanted to chew the bones,she has one; in the fresh form, as part of her diet menu everyday.
If she wanted to chew something outside the meal time, then, she has another safer chews such as Antlers,bully sticks,and Himalayan Dog Chew..
She does not need any more dog bones she loved so much when she was a puppy.
If you are looking for chews to occupy your dogs, my personal recommendation will be Antlers.
If you worry that they may be too hard for your dogs, choose the Antler with some velvet left on.They are softer Antlers than regular Antlers and, they would not last as long as regular Antlers would,but its texture is softer and,it might let you feel comfortable giving it to your dogs.
That being said, it is not always the case of "bigger,heavier the better". It is important to pick the right size Antlers. The sizing information is provided on our website under the product page.Please use it as guide.
Also, if the dogs were trying to break the Antlers into half by putting the whole body weight over the Antlers,then, they are not the good chew for them.
Always supervise your dogs with chew to understand how they chew the chews.It will give you the clues to be able to pick the right chews for your dogs.
My second recommendation is Himalayan Dog Chew (Hard cheese stick chew).
Our medium chewer Palette spent 20 min to gnawing off 1" chunk and,I think,they are great chew. Even if you have senior dogs and found that the chew was a little hard for them,then, you can still make its texture different for them.
One thing unique about the Hard cheese stick is that,nubby ends (when it got too small for your dogs to chew on),you can always microwave them to puff it up.
When it gets puffed it up, it gets almost like a cracker texture.Very crunchy and, Palette loves those!
If you find the original texture of Cheese stick was too hard then, boil the water in a pan,and toss the cheese stick in,and let it boil for about 25 minutes,and its texture changes to softer enough for you to cut it through.
Therefore, at that moment,you could cut them into preferable size chunk,and pffed it up as needed basis or, cut them into small pieces to use them as training treats.
Or, without cutting the cheese stick, let the dogs chew while they are still softer texture.
After 24 hours, maker of the chew says it gets back to its original texture.
This what I like about the chew.Your dog can enjoy multiple ways to enjoy the chews.
It also works as food topper; simply grate the cheese stick with microplane grater over your dog's food. I have done that before and,Palette "thinks" the cheese topper was extra special stuff, and she really loved the way food was served
I have got 2 of these Microplane grater "classic",and it works great to grate ginger,garlic,cheese, and it grates into fine cheese flakes.
My third recommendation will be bully sticks. No matter how thick,how long they are,they would not lasts as long as Antlers would but,many dogs adores them, and it is good chews to have them on hand.
We carry, buffalo bully sticks, Twisted Lamb pizzle sticks, and Beef bully sticks.
At this moment, if you are looking for thickest possible for bully sticks, I would recommend Grass-fed Moo! Odor Free Beef bully sticks "Super Monster". They are available with 6" and 12".
There you have it,the answer to the question why we do not carry Dog bones at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
When you would like some treats/chew recommendation from us,please feel free to use the contact us form.
We are happy to help you to pick the good treats/chews for your dogs.
I like every moment working for Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen.
I like making other dogs smiles with healthier chews we provide.
About 6 years ago, if the lady in the puppy training class we have attended did not say "Why don't you start dog bakery shop?" when I brought sugar free,salt free, mini banana muffin for Palette's classmates on their graduation day, I would probably did not think about opening this K9 restaurant.
I am happy that I did.
That little "mini banana muffin for dogs" that I made really means a lot to me. It always bring me back to the memory,where I found myself flocked by Palette's classmates wagging their tail..
That muffin was a huge hit!
I maybe should share the recipe later.Your dogs would love them too!
French cooking:Lobster bisque
If you ask me what kinds of soup I love most, I would say it would be "Lobster bisque".
Bisque is type of French soup that are often creamy,velvety texture, and since it is made from strained broth using shell of lobster,crab,shrimp etc, the soup has full of flavor in one sip.
One of the restaurant we love to go to has very rich,flavorful lobster bisque, and I got hook with the soup.
Until we visited the restaurant and taste the soup,I did not know about lobster bisque. I did not have it back home in Japan, and I fell in love with the flavor of the soup.
Since the first taste of the lobster bisque at the restaurant, every time I visit the restaurant, I always order them along with the main meal.
If you like me, and loves lobster bisque, I would recommend the lobster bisque from "Bravo!Cucina Italiana" restaurant.
The soup is very flavorful. Although they do not put meaty chunks of lobster meat on top of the soup, they do use tender poached shrimps as garnish. They are very tasty soup.
I do not know what they do to the shrimps,but they do excel in the shrimp department.That being said, if you dine in Bravo! restaurant, then, order shrimp base dish.You would not get disappointed.
I do know how to make tender shrimp and, I can serve very tender shrimp than some of the other restaurants, but theirs are a little bit more tender than mine.
I have not tried poached shrimp, and that might be the key other than marinade that I do for shrimp. Maybe, I will try poaching the shrimp next time and see how it comes out.
In case you have missed the marinade recipe for tender shrimp from past entries, here is how you make the marinade for the tender shrimp.
******************************************************************
<Tender Shrimp Marinade>
Ingredients for the tender shrimp marinade;
1 tbs sake
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs corn starch
10 shrimp (I usually use 10 shrimp for this)
3 tbs water
1. In the small container, add 1 tbs sake,1/4 tsp kosher salt,1 tbs corn starch and 3 tbs water, and mix well.Then, add peeled,divined shrimp and massage shrimp with your hand and marinade them in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
** Marinading shrimp make shrimp crisp tender
2. Wash the shrimp very well under running water, pat them dry,and season it as your recipe instructs you for the dish you will be making.
*************************************************************
Normally, I make soup more during the cold months, but now and then, I make soup in the other seasons as well.
The other day, I made lobster bisque,using lobster tail and it came out real good. Therefore, I thought I would share the recipe with you.
You can take the base of the recipe, and you can make it with shrimp,crab as well.
If it was with crab, you would want to cook with the crab shell, and if it were shrimp, you would want to save the shell when you will be marinading the shrimp in the small container and use the shell only to build the base flavor of the base with other ingredients,and add the shrimp chunks at the very last minutes so you would not overcook the shrimp.
Peeled shrimp chunks should get cooked through in about couple of minutes in the soup.
The lobster tail is not the staple ingredient at our house,but when the special occasion comes such as wedding anniversary, I tend to get them for the special meal on the special day.
Lobster bisque with cream sherry..
Ingredients for Lobster bisque with cream sherry
2 cloves of garlic grated
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1 carrot rough chopped
1 celery rough chopped
1 lobster tail cut into half lengthwise
1/4C cream sherry plus 1 tbs cream sherry per serving
1/2 tbs black peppercorn cracked
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
5 fresh thyme sprigs
2/3C Crushed tomato sauce
1 Bay leaf
2C heavy cream
2C water
1/4C butter
1/4C unbleached all purpose flour
Extra virgin olive oil
Morton's Natures Season
Handful of Italian Flat Parsley chopped
1. Cut the Lobster tail into half lengthwise
2. Drizzle Extra virgin Olive oil in the wide mouth pan, and add 1/2 Sweet onion rough chopped, 2 cloves of garlic grated,1 carrot rough chopped, 1 celery rough chopped and stir and cook til lobster shell turns red in color
** Keep stirring so it would not get burns on you
3. Take the lobster out,and add 1/4C cream sherry into the pan
4. Add 1/2 tbs black peppercorn cracked, pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 bay leaf, 5 thyme sprigs, and 2/3C Crushed tomato sauce,and stir
5. Add 2C water,2C heavy cream and bring them to boil,and once boil,turn the heat down to simmer
6. Meanwhile, take out the lobster meat from the shell and rough chop them and set it aside
7. Add the lobster shell back into the soup,and let it simmer to reduce the soup a bit,and thicken a little
8. In the Dutch oven such as Le creuset, melt 1/4C butter and when it got bubbly,add 1/4C flour and stir
9. Keep stirring till the roux becomes close to peanut butter color
10. Place the kitchen sieve over the big bowl and pour the creamy bisque to strain the soup
11. Add the strained soup back into the Dutch oven,and stir
12. Add chopped lobster meat into the soup,and stir and season it with Morton's Natures Season to taste
13. Pour the soup in the cup, add about 1 tbs cream sherry on top of the soup,and garnish the soup with chopped Flat leave Italian parsley and serve
** The addition of the cream sherry on top on the bisque adds more depth of the flavor in the soup.Stir the soup before tasting the soup.
Makes about 3-4 serving
Enjoy!
Bisque is type of French soup that are often creamy,velvety texture, and since it is made from strained broth using shell of lobster,crab,shrimp etc, the soup has full of flavor in one sip.
One of the restaurant we love to go to has very rich,flavorful lobster bisque, and I got hook with the soup.
Until we visited the restaurant and taste the soup,I did not know about lobster bisque. I did not have it back home in Japan, and I fell in love with the flavor of the soup.
Since the first taste of the lobster bisque at the restaurant, every time I visit the restaurant, I always order them along with the main meal.
If you like me, and loves lobster bisque, I would recommend the lobster bisque from "Bravo!Cucina Italiana" restaurant.
The soup is very flavorful. Although they do not put meaty chunks of lobster meat on top of the soup, they do use tender poached shrimps as garnish. They are very tasty soup.
I do not know what they do to the shrimps,but they do excel in the shrimp department.That being said, if you dine in Bravo! restaurant, then, order shrimp base dish.You would not get disappointed.
I do know how to make tender shrimp and, I can serve very tender shrimp than some of the other restaurants, but theirs are a little bit more tender than mine.
I have not tried poached shrimp, and that might be the key other than marinade that I do for shrimp. Maybe, I will try poaching the shrimp next time and see how it comes out.
In case you have missed the marinade recipe for tender shrimp from past entries, here is how you make the marinade for the tender shrimp.
******************************************************************
<Tender Shrimp Marinade>
Ingredients for the tender shrimp marinade;
1 tbs sake
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs corn starch
10 shrimp (I usually use 10 shrimp for this)
3 tbs water
1. In the small container, add 1 tbs sake,1/4 tsp kosher salt,1 tbs corn starch and 3 tbs water, and mix well.Then, add peeled,divined shrimp and massage shrimp with your hand and marinade them in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
** Marinading shrimp make shrimp crisp tender
2. Wash the shrimp very well under running water, pat them dry,and season it as your recipe instructs you for the dish you will be making.
*************************************************************
Normally, I make soup more during the cold months, but now and then, I make soup in the other seasons as well.
The other day, I made lobster bisque,using lobster tail and it came out real good. Therefore, I thought I would share the recipe with you.
You can take the base of the recipe, and you can make it with shrimp,crab as well.
If it was with crab, you would want to cook with the crab shell, and if it were shrimp, you would want to save the shell when you will be marinading the shrimp in the small container and use the shell only to build the base flavor of the base with other ingredients,and add the shrimp chunks at the very last minutes so you would not overcook the shrimp.
Peeled shrimp chunks should get cooked through in about couple of minutes in the soup.
The lobster tail is not the staple ingredient at our house,but when the special occasion comes such as wedding anniversary, I tend to get them for the special meal on the special day.
Lobster bisque with cream sherry..
Ingredients for Lobster bisque with cream sherry
2 cloves of garlic grated
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1 carrot rough chopped
1 celery rough chopped
1 lobster tail cut into half lengthwise
1/4C cream sherry plus 1 tbs cream sherry per serving
1/2 tbs black peppercorn cracked
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
5 fresh thyme sprigs
2/3C Crushed tomato sauce
1 Bay leaf
2C heavy cream
2C water
1/4C butter
1/4C unbleached all purpose flour
Extra virgin olive oil
Morton's Natures Season
Handful of Italian Flat Parsley chopped
1. Cut the Lobster tail into half lengthwise
2. Drizzle Extra virgin Olive oil in the wide mouth pan, and add 1/2 Sweet onion rough chopped, 2 cloves of garlic grated,1 carrot rough chopped, 1 celery rough chopped and stir and cook til lobster shell turns red in color
** Keep stirring so it would not get burns on you
3. Take the lobster out,and add 1/4C cream sherry into the pan
4. Add 1/2 tbs black peppercorn cracked, pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 bay leaf, 5 thyme sprigs, and 2/3C Crushed tomato sauce,and stir
5. Add 2C water,2C heavy cream and bring them to boil,and once boil,turn the heat down to simmer
6. Meanwhile, take out the lobster meat from the shell and rough chop them and set it aside
7. Add the lobster shell back into the soup,and let it simmer to reduce the soup a bit,and thicken a little
8. In the Dutch oven such as Le creuset, melt 1/4C butter and when it got bubbly,add 1/4C flour and stir
9. Keep stirring till the roux becomes close to peanut butter color
10. Place the kitchen sieve over the big bowl and pour the creamy bisque to strain the soup
11. Add the strained soup back into the Dutch oven,and stir
12. Add chopped lobster meat into the soup,and stir and season it with Morton's Natures Season to taste
13. Pour the soup in the cup, add about 1 tbs cream sherry on top of the soup,and garnish the soup with chopped Flat leave Italian parsley and serve
** The addition of the cream sherry on top on the bisque adds more depth of the flavor in the soup.Stir the soup before tasting the soup.
Makes about 3-4 serving
Enjoy!
