- Dogs Who Eat Raw

Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,

We've had a big fluff of a snowfall in our corner of Wisconsin. First all the snow melted and we dogs felt like it might be spring. We didn't even mind the dampness on our paws because a hound knows that spring brings one thing: rabbits. The Gute will get delirious with want if he hears me say that. So at first we thought rabbits might be soon coming and we were eager to just sit in the melting out of doors and survey the world from our backyard.

Then we had occasion to take our girl Me to the dog park. She recently purchased a pedometer and is now interested in how many steps are everywhere. (It is 1,000 to go around the pup park once. Now she is eager to go around 3 and 4 times instead of 2 because she feels so much accomplishment with the pedometer.) We dogs don't need a pedometer. We have internal meters that tell us 20,000 steps and the girl wants us to come in from the woods; 40,000 steps and we might come in; 100,000 steps and she's going to be real mad at Gute for not coming back at 50,000 steps.

Well, in other news, our girl Me is in a play and this coming week she will be absent most of the time. So today we are mixing up another batch of dog breakfast goodness so we have aplenty for the week of her negligence. We've modified the recipe from December and here it is for your plenteous enjoyment.

This concoction is based on a whole-diet formula of 10-20% organ meat, 5-10% bone (based on the pups bowels, you could say), 70-80% muscle meat (with a little skin and ligaments and as much cartilage as a bird has to offer) and only 5% vegetable. (50% of the aforementioned Meat and most all of the bone is eaten at suppertime in the form of tasty bird necks. Only 57 cents a pound, and that makes our girl happy.) Some say the meats and organs should all be from the same source - like all chicken/turkey or all beef or all pork (don't feed your pups pork unless you have a special extra good source like an organic farm - pork isn't really fit for dogs. Or girls.) We mix it up as we buy whatever's cheap.

The Raw Breakfast Meal of Hounds

8 oz liver
8 oz gizzards
22 oz muscle meat (with some skin, ligaments, cartilage)
12 oz vegetables (as great a variety as you can - roots and above ground - but NO mushroom or onion)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon kelp powder
1/2 c. yogurt
3 eggs with shells

Grind the meats together in a meat grinder. Mince the vegetables in a blender with the apple cider vinegar, garlic, kelp, yogurt, and eggs with shells. The finer they mince, the more nutrients we dogs can garner from them. Blend nicely with the ground meats and spoon into muffin pans, piling 5 oz in each. We also make some in ice cube trays for days when a dog deserves a treat.

Notes from Eli: We think this food is fine. It's not the right combination for the cat, however, so we always know if he's been in our food. He throws it up. A cat ought to know better.

Notes from the Gute: This is a tasty food. We especially like the frozen chicken necks (partially thawed, but the frozen part makes them easier for me to chew them up and cleans my sparkly whites too). We would like to add that a girl needn't go to all of this trouble as a hound would be just as pleased if not more so to just have one rabbit carcass per day. Or two if they're small.

- Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,

We dogs had the sheer delight of making Scalloped Potatoes and Ham tonight. Elias calls them "Escalloped," to be a little pretentious. I would have called it Cheesy Potato Goodness and Ham, but it's a classic recipe that deserves its respectful name.

Our Girl Me had been on the lookout for ham with this dish in mind. Some recipes use all out whipping cream which we know would be to die for, but in more ways than one. So we opt for the lesser fat but just as creamy-wonderful variation.

We found the recipe on epicurious.com but changed it to suit our houndish tastes. Enjoy like us!

(E)Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (we used raw white cheddar with cilantro and garlic)
1 cup shredded hard cheese (we used asiago, you can use parmesan)
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound ham steak, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups whole milk

Spray a 13x9 pan with oil. Arrange half of the sliced potatoes in the pan, overlapping edges. Dot with half of the butter. Sprinkle with half of the salt and pepper. Cover with shallots and cubes of ham. Sprinkle half of each type of cheese over this layer. Layer remaining potatoes atop these and sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. Reserve remaining cheese for later. Pour milk over all.

Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Remove foil - milk may have separated (no worries). Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cook uncovered 45 more minutes til bubbly, browned, and fragrant. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

We don't know if this can be reheated. We'll tell you tomorrow.

Your Hound and Dutiful Servant Chef,
King Guthrie, The Gute