Making food for your pet is:

• Fun - pets love almost anything you make, even the healthy recipes
• Easy
• Cheap - much cheaper than store bought treats which  can cost $10+ per pound for basic treats

Pet Power Bars - healthy for cats and dogs - grain free

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 Sweet Potatoes, with skin
• 8 ounces mixed vegetables, we use a bag of mixed cauliflower, broccoli, carrots
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 egg
• 3 cups flour - we use rice flour to keep the recipe wheat free
• Water as necessary

Equipment

• small food processor
• oven
• mixing bowl
• cookie sheet, non stick

Steps

1. Clean Sweet Potatoes to remove dirt, pesticide residue, etc. from the skin, which is left on
2. Slice Sweet Potatoes into flat slices
3. Mix Sweet Potatoes, Vegetables, Egg (without shell) into food processor, and puree - this is a good place to stop and simply feed your pets fresh, raw mixed vegetables
4. Transfer ingredients from food processor to mixing bowl
5. Add Flour to mixing bowl
6. Mix all ingredients in mixing bowl
7. Add small amounts of canola oil, water, and flour as required to create a firm mixture which is firm enough to be molded, but not so firm that it crumbles; there is a lot of liquid in the vegetables and egg so add enough flour that the treats will firm while being baked
8. Take a handful of mixture, form it into a cookie, and place it on pan, or roll out the entire mixture as one long sheet of dough, and cut with a pizza cutter after the baking is complete
9. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Comments

This is a healthy recipe for dogs and cats.  There is a lot of liquid already in the vegetables, egg and canola oil, so none or only a little more is necessary.  There are five major colors of fruits and vegetables, and getting some amount of each color is optimal - this recipe includes three.  Any bars or cookies which are not going to be eaten within two days should be frozen, to preserve nutrients.  Many pets will eat them frozen and if so, that is the easiest way to serve.  If the mixture is too moist and the treats are not firm after being baked, do not throw the mixture out.  Place it in a container in the refigerator, and add it to your pet's food, a couple tablespoons per day.

Dehydrated - Sweet Potato, Beef Heart, Beef Liver

About Dehydration

Dehydrating food is attempting to remove the moisture.  This increases storage life.  Read more about the benefits of dehydration.

When we dehydrate meat, it is at 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 - 12 hours.  The end result is the meat is not cooked, it is dehydrated, and very similar to the raw food.  We suggest not feeding dehydrated meat products to sick pets.  For our own pets, and the pets at Iowa Pet Adoptions, we do routinely feed raw and dehydrated meat products.

Our Dehydration Method

All our dehydrated products are simply sliced and dehydrated, with no added ingredients or perservatives.  We use separate dehydration trays for meat and non meat foods to enhance food safety.