Doing a DIY Lifestyle

Doing a DIY Lifestyle
I’ve never believed you should pay for something you can easily do for yourself. Yesterday, I made strawberry cordials and Almond Joys. Last week it was two weeks’ worth of food for the four dogs (one black Lab and three small dogs) and their relatives.
There have been times that making a living took so much time and/or effort that there was nothing left of me at the end of the day. A prolonged illness that forced my retirement was another excuse to do less. But, when and where possible, I still do for myself what I can and pay others only when necessary.
The buck stops here. Therefore, I either do it myself or make sure the person I pay does it to my specs.

Good enough for Human Consumption
We first “got into” making our own dog food when the Lab got out and went courting some of the girls down the street. He picked up pin worms during those jaunts, and before we caught it, nearly died of anemia. To fatten him up (we still offer the dry, commercial dog food as free choice) we used a recipe from a web site, and the slow cooker.
For the meat, I had a lot of pork loin (I’d laid it in by mistake) for the first couple of batches; we used up some beef roast in another batch; I tried some Mackerel I’m not sure where I came up with (big flop, that one – and it stunk the house up, too,) but, the one flavor they all agreed on and haven’t yet tired of, was the dark meat chicken quarters. At $4.99 for a ten-pound bag, we get the biggest bang for our buck, as well.
I used up a lot of white rice I had in storage, to make way for new stocks, and cleaned out the freezer and pantry of vegetables. They prefer their asparagus fresh, right out of the garden, but unfortunately (for the dogs) that’s how I like mine, too. They don’t care a lot for pumpkin and disdain celery, but they eat sweet potatoes or yams, if not offered too often, and the squash that seems to get lost in the other flavors. Except spaghetti squash. –My dogs just love spaghetti squash! They will eat it, hot or cold, with or without the savory gravy and chicken and rice mix.
After we used up the rice I had on hand, we started buying up the brown rice in the local stores. We live in a small town in central Oklahoma, so we must travel thirty or forty miles, to a bit larger community, for bulk staples. –Since the dog food was rather an impromptu experiment, so was the acquisition process. The boullion was equally difficult to keep on hand, since we were using about twice what we really needed at first.

When I say, “We,” I am referring to myself and my home health provider, Tami. This is her, with the Lab. His name is Pete, short for Pepper the Third, P. T., or Petie. He and Sally the Dachshund (Sally, short for Salina – Salt and Pepper if you will) came to live with me only weeks after I moved into the house I was buying. They were the fulfillment of a long-standing desire to have a pet I could do well by. Two, to keep each other company while I worked. She was born on Valentine’s day in 2008, in Phoenix, AZ, and he was born (into a litter of 16!) two weeks later and less than a mile from here, on the 28th of February. They came to live with me when she was six weeks old and he was four weeks. I still get a pang on my heart strings when I see their baby pictures.

Tami introduced the first Chihuahua rescue in June or July of 2015. That one multiplied while I was recovering from back surgery (courtship in August, she delivered on October 14, 2015). Of three pups, we lost one to unfortunate curiosity when he found a pack of rat and mouse poison to play with. I kept the brown one (story behind him, too) and Tami took the black one that looks like his Daddy, her other rescued Chihuahua. Since her dogs stay with us while Tami works for her other clients, they eat here, and she finances most of what we cook.
But I digress.
The old slow cooker only made enough food to last this crew a couple of days. It seemed I always had the house full of steam and mess, and neither of us was getting much else done. Tami bought two, 7-quart slow cookers. Each holds a ten-pound bag of chicken quarters, enough to last for a week if all six dogs eat it every day and not too many humans get into it. I can use the old pot for the squash, if necessary, but find it works out well if I just cook up a bunch at a time in one of the big ones. We got four squashes this week and it was enough to fill out the two current recipes (batches), put enough in the freezer for the next two batches, and still leave me a bit for my own consumption and to give the Guys as treats.
To prepare the spaghetti squash easily, I cut it in thirds or quarters, lengthwise, remove the rag and seeds, and cut the strips again, cross-wise, placing it in the pot with lightly salted water to cover, rind and all. When the flesh is tender, and starts to separate into strings, I cool it a bit (enough to comfortably handle) and slice the flesh into squares, still in the rind. Then, the squares separate easily from the rind, with a lot less waste and effort. Other squashes are easier to peel raw, but spaghetti squash is the pits.
I’ll use about a quart of this per batch of finished food, so we have quart-sized freezer containers (I bought a freezer especially for this) as well as some bigger ones, that hold enough food for two days, for the whole pack.
I use the same, filtered water I use for cooking my own food, when I prepare rations for the fur babies. Since I don’t like burnt coffee, I heat water in the coffee pot and use an individual filter to make my drinks a cup at a time. The pot holds about five cups, just about enough to start cooking the ten pounds of chicken in a crock pot. To each crock, before pouring in the water, I add ¼ cup of chicken boullion powder (purchased from Wal Mart’s food storage area in a #10 can) and a heaping tablespoon of beef paste from the local grocery store. The chicken comes frozen, and is still cold when I pull the pieces apart for cooking, so the hot water helps start the cooking, dissolves the flavorings, and mostly suffices for everything else that will go in.
The chicken will be done in four or five hours. It will have produced enough liquid to top up the pot and the meat will fall off the bone. I use a wire scoop (made for deep frying) to fish it all out and place in a bowl for refrigerating. While the chicken cools, I add a pound of long grain, brown rice (also available in bulk, from WalMart.com) to the liquid in the crock pot, turn down the heat, and let that cook until the rice is soft enough that it doesn’t crunch when you take a bite, but it can still cook a bit, if desired. Sometimes I’ll add some water, but I want it dry, as you’ll see, soon.
When the rice is done, I unplug the crock pot and add the partly thawed or freshly cooked squash and two cans of mixed vegetables. Depending on how dry the rice is, I might drain the veggies before adding.
While this mixture cools, I debone the chicken. I use a large bowl to cool it, large enough that I can stash the meat along one side and push the unprocessed pieces to the other side. I save the bag the chicken came packaged in from the store, for isolating the bones. In another life I might find the time to further process them into bone broth, but not now. I have a cookie sheet ready for the skins, fat, and connective tissue. Usually I don’t even spray it with pan coating, since the skin renders to lots of fat.
There’s usually some broth in the bottom of the meat bowl that will go back into the crock with the meat when I’m done. By this time, the little dogs are trying to climb my leg to get at it, and they will eat it out of my hand if I let them. But, it also works well to add some of the hot water from the coffee pot and let it sit a few minutes. The rice makes a nice, nutritious gravy, and the heat makes it a home-cooked, hot meal!
When the skins and fat are rendered down in the oven, they are crispy and delicious, the perfect treat for a cold winter morning or a muggy summer afternoon. One teenager described it as tasting like bacon. I’ve tried drying some of the meat as well, and it is to die for! – The Guys get what is left over when we’ve had ours.
I have had people follow their noses to the crock pots, while I’m cooking this stuff, and help themselves. Most are amazed to know they’re eating “the dog food.” –A few commented that it needs only some onion or garlic (my preference, if I’m eating it) but, those are definite no-no’s for feeding to dogs.
It did get the job done for the ailing Lab, and it has been a true lifesaver for Sally, since she’s developed congestive heart problems. The young ones, of course, thrive on it.
To recap, the recipe as I make it, follows. Ten pounds of chicken feeds the six dogs for a week; doubling it still takes only two days, saving me that much time and making life much easier for all of us.

Hot Homemade Meals for the Dogs
7-quart slow cooker, sprayed with non-stick coating
10 lbs chicken quarters, rinsed and arranged in cooker (I use hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle as a precaution when cleaning all surfaces the raw chicken has contacted)
¼ cup powdered chicken flavored boullion (Augason Farms, 4 lbs bulk from WalMart.com)
1 rounded Tablespoon beef base paste (Frosty Acres Restaurant Pride, from local food market)
4-5 cups of hot filtered water from coffeepot
Combine and cook until chicken is tender, 4-5 hours. Remove meat from broth in pot and add
1 pound (2 ½ cups) of long grain, brown rice or whole barley (available from local food markets but also available in 26-pound food storage buckets, Augason Farms, WalMart.com)
The small packages of rice do not cook as consistently as the bulk rice. The gravy is a bit richer with the bulk rice, as well. While these items are not available for site-to-store, they are available in many larger stores, and in our case were shipped right to our door.
To the cooked rice, add
2 cans of Veg-All or other mixed vegetables, and
1 prepared squash (butternut, acorn, zucchini, pumpkin) OR sweet potato, or spaghetti squash (our Guy’s favorite)
Debone the chicken, saving the skins and fat for rendering in a hot (400-degree F) oven. The chicken includes backs and tails, so it would be dangerous for the small dogs. The ribs and hollow leg bones would also be hazardous for the Lab. The bones could be cooked down, for bone broth, but that is another article, altogether.

Mix the meat into the rice mix, store in the freezer in 2-quart containers (each makes 2 meals). To serve, add 4-5 cups hot water to one quart of the thawed product, to make a thick gravy before feeding.
Humorous note: I have one dog who hates the corn, leaving it in her bowl. Another leaves the peas in his. When they finish, they exchange bowls and clean up the very last of everything!
Nothing goes to waste, where there is diversity. – Aunt Katy