Cooked Recipes Thread

[mschauer]

I'd like this thread to be a place where folks can come to find tried and proven cooked home-made recipes.

I'm going to start it off by adding a post for the food I just made. I'll be including a nutritional analysis of my food but that is by no means a requirement.

Everybody share your recipes!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I posted my homemade beef cat food in another thread, but guess I can post it here as well. 

3 lb chuck roast

1.5 oz beef liver

1.5 oz chicken liver

.75 oz Alnutrin w/eggshell powder (or 6.7 grams per lb of meat if your scale can go that way!)

water

put chuck roast (untrimmed) in a casserole dish with approx. 1/2 cup water and tightly cover with foil.  Bake at 330 degrees for 3 hours. 

while cooling, pan fry the liver in a little of the grease from the roast.

mix Alnutrin in "some" water (I used a cup, then added more but I think this is really discretionary based on how you want your final product)  Place everything in whatever machinery you are using to chop, grind, puree, etc. to get your final product.  I used a blender because I was looking for a pate consistency.  I'm guessing you could use a food processor.  For smaller batches I have used a Magic Bullet!

package up and your done.  I used snack sized zip lock bags to package into 5 oz servings, then put those inside a large freezer bag labeled with the date and exactly what is in there.   With the ziplock bags, I could get as much air as possible out before sealing, and then could press them pretty flat so they didn't take up much room ever though there are several in the larger bag.

 

[mschauer]

I posted my homemade beef cat food in another thread, but guess I can post it here as well. 

I was hoping you would. 

 

[mschauer]

Updated - Nutrient analysis now reflects retention of minerals by using cooking liquid

Here's the beef food I just made. I cooked the beef, kidney, and heart in a pressure cooker. I added 2 cups of water to the cooker and cooked on high for 1 hour and 15 mins. I then let the pressure release naturally. After cooking the internal temperature was 210. That is quite a bit higher than I intended. Next time I'll try 1 hour. I want to cook for as short a time as possible.

It would work just as well roasted in the oven. Just be sure to cover the pan as tightly as possible to hold in moisture. I fried the liver in a pan. Being able to monitor the temperature during cooking is a big advantage of cooking in the oven!

I started with :

4 lbs beef chuck roast

1 lb beef heart

1/2 lb beef kidney

1/4 lb beef liver

(see full recipe below the food images)

After cooking I had:

2.5 lbs beef

9 oz heart

3.5 oz kidney

3 oz liver

4 cups of liquid

I ground everything using my meat grinder and the result looked like this:

DryGround.JPG

• mschauer
• Aug 24, 2013

Those are little bits of scrambled egg mixed in there also.

After adding back the liquid and all the supplements plus an additional cup of water (because it seemed a bit dry) it looked like this:

Finished.JPG

• mschauer
• Aug 24, 2013

The recipe:

Click here for a directory of printable cooked recipes

The end result was 6.3 lbs of food at about 40 calories/oz.

The kitties had it for lunch. Jeta didn't hesitate just dove right in. The others weren't so sure about it at first. I think it smells quite a bit different from anything else they eat. But, after putting their favorite toppers on they all cleaned their plates! 

 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

mschauer, this time you made up your own supplements to add to it?  Last time you used Alnutrin, didn't you?  What made you change your mind, and how did you figure out which weight to use...raw or cooked (just curious).  Simplified version please

I think it might be a good idea to actually put the supplements up in your recipe, because some people, like me, are used to reading recipe ingredients all together and might miss that you still needs those things.  I was looking at your list and thought...where's the calcium?   It was just a fluke that the Egglands Best  caught my eye as I was scrolling down to see if there were any more posts following yours, as I don't normally look at the analysis's (TMI for my overtaxed brain

 )

 

[mschauer]

mschauer, this time you made up your own supplements to add to it?  Last time you used Alnutrin, didn't you?  What made you change your mind, and how did you figure out which weight to use...raw or cooked (just curious).  Simplified version please

Previously I had 2 posts, one was a beef recipe that used Alnutrin and the other that used my supplements. A couple of days ago I asked the mods to delete the post with the Alnutrin. I plan on reposting it after I get Marta's comments on the corrected analysis I sent her this morning. I've corrected both analyses to reflect the minerals that leach from the meat during cooking but that are reclaimed when the cooking liquid is used to make the food.

I think it might be a good idea to actually put the supplements up in your recipe, because some people, like me, are used to reading recipe ingredients all together and might miss that you still needs those things.  I was looking at your list and thought...where's the calcium?   It was just a fluke that the Egglands Best  caught my eye as I was scrolling down to see if there were any more posts following yours, as I don't normally look at the analysis's (TMI for my overtaxed brain 

 )

?? I don't understand. All the supplements are listed. Do you mean I should move the food images below the ingredients and analysis? 

Edit: I just added that the full recipe is below the images. In any new posts I'll put the recipe at the top and the notes below. 

 

[ldg]

mschauer , did you ever work out how to use Alnutrin with cooked food? I don't remember off-hand the questions. Honestly, given the nutrient loss during cooking depending on method and reclaiming all the pan drippings or cooking liquid is rather minimal, doesn't it work if you use the Alnutrin WITHOUT calcium, and then just add the right amount of eggshell or MCHA (or bone meal) separately to get to the right Ca ratio? :dk:

 

[ldg]

And mschauer another question. With the basic recipe you used for beef, can't that be used with any protein and basically produce the same complete nutritional result - even without the kidney? :dk: For instance, using chicken thigh, heart and chicken liver, instead of beef. Or pork meat, pork heart, and pork liver, etc.

And for cats that don't need single-source proteins, wouldn't one be able to mix and match meats and easily sourced kidney, hearts, or liver?

And for those that can't source hearts, since the recipe has taurine, can't meat just be substituted for heart and the recipe remain balanced?

 

[mschauer]

@mschauer, did you ever work out how to use Alnutrin with cooked food? I don't remember off-hand the questions. Honestly, given the nutrient loss during cooking depending on method and reclaiming all the pan drippings or cooking liquid is rather minimal, doesn't it work if you use the Alnutrin WITHOUT calcium, and then just add the right amount of eggshell or MCHA (or bone meal) separately to get to the right Ca ratio?

Yes, Marta did get back to me and said that from the analysis I gave her using Alnutrin with cooked ingredients seems to work fine. BUT, I've since decided that the way I did that analysis was a bit wonky. During cooking vitamins are degraded and minerals and some vitamins are lost due to leaching into cooking liquids. So my first approach was to modify the USDA database entries for the cooked ingredients to show the amount of minerals in the raw equivalents to reflect recovering those minerals by using the cooking liquid in the recipe. I decided that wasn't a very honest approach. Plus it would be a pain to modify every cooked ingredient that way. I decided the more honest way was to use raw ingredients in the analysis then target higher minimum levels of the vitamins known to be degraded during cooking.

So, I've been making some major changes to my analysis program to allow me to easily and clearly show such an adjustment. I won't bore you with the details but lets just say It's been a bit of a PITA. 

 

The problem with using Alnutrin with cooked ingredients is that if you use enough of it so that the B vitamin lose is covered the Ca goes way up. It doesn't go so high as to be dangerous but it could well be higher than some people want. So the solution is to use some Alnutrin then add calcium and/or B vitamins to tweak the Ca and vitamin levels.

And @mschauer  another question. With the basic recipe you used for beef, can't that be used with any protein and basically produce the same complete nutritional result - even without the kidney? 

 For instance, using chicken thigh, heart and chicken liver, instead of beef. Or pork meat, pork heart, and pork liver, etc.

And for cats that don't need single-source proteins, wouldn't one be able to mix and match meats and easily sourced kidney, hearts, or liver?

And for those that can't source hearts, since the recipe has taurine, can't meat just be substituted for heart and the recipe remain balanced?

 

[ldg]

Thank you.

And yes, I was thinking the easiest way to use the Alnutrin with cooked would be to use the Alnutrin WITHOUT calcium, and then add the eggshell (or whatever) separately. Seems that's on target.

 

[mschauer]

Thank you.

And yes, I was thinking the easiest way to use the Alnutrin with cooked would be to use the Alnutrin WITHOUT calcium, and then add the eggshell (or whatever) separately. Seems that's on target.

Or Alnutrin w/Calcium can be used with the addition of some B-Complex.

 

[ldg]

From this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/267724/cooked-rabbit-recipe

Cooked Rabbit Recipe, using ground rabbit meat and organs. The USDA database does not have information for rabbit organs, so in the recipe other organs were substituted as a proxy. Hare Today does have a rabbit organ mix that is approximately 50% liver, 25% heart, and 25% kidney.

Of course, if you don't need a single-source protein diet, the recipe ingredients as listed can be used.

I changed my mind and used chicken liver and heart in the recipe. The analysis comes up very low in vit A and iron without them so I thought it best to show them.

Click here for a directory of printable cooked recipes

The vitamin supplements and fish oil should all be added after the meat and organs are cooked.

Questions associated with the development of the recipe:

"Do you think it's reasonable to substitute the chicken heart and liver in the recipe above with the same amount of Hare Today's ground rabbit organs (which is 50% liver, 25% heart and 25% kidney)?"

Answer: "I think that would work well."

FYI, Hare Today:

Boneless ground rabbit https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_35&products_id=31
Boneless ground rabbit organs: https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_35&products_id=234

Hare Today products need not be used. Any rabbit meat, or any heart and liver can be used, really.

.

 

[goholistic]

I'd be interested in knowing if and how well the Alnutrin works with cooked recipes once you get the program where you want it to be.

 

[mschauer]

I can actually do the analysis with Alnutrin now. It's just awkward to not be able to make it clear that the lose of B vitamins due to cooking has been considered.

The rabbit recipe actually is OK with just Alnutrin and no other supplements:

Click here for a directory of printable cooked recipes.

 

[goholistic]

 
I can actually do the analysis with Alnutrin now. It's just awkward to not be able to make it clear that the lose of B vitamins due to cooking has been considered.

The rabbit recipe actually is OK with just Alnutrin and no other supplements:

Edit: Rats! I just realized I uploaded and provided a link to the PNG not the PDF as intended. Hopefully the edit window will still be open when I get home and I can correct that.

Thank you! 

 

[mschauer]

Click here for a directory of printable cooked recipes.

 

[ldg]

THANK YOU!

 

[mschauer]

Click here for a directory of printable cooked recipes

 

[ldg]

mschauer, this is absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[silverpersian]

Does anyone have a balanced recipe for a fish-based meal? I have wild salmon and ocean perch at home. My kitty might have an allergy to chicken, so I would like to incorporate these occasionally. I know that too much fish would be a bad idea, but I assume that once a week or so would be fine. I have been adding sardines to his food every once in a while, and he likes them.

Thanks for your help.