Hey, fellow pet lovers!
Today’s post is a fairly short one wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a lovely relaxing few days off. The build-up to Christmas for me has been so hectic but today is all about spending time with the family and as I mentioned in my previous post, Christmas Foods to Avoid for our Canine and Feline Friends, eating lovely food. As well as wishing you all a very merry Christmas I’ve also put a delicious turkey and cranberry treat recipe in today post for your all our canine friends.
So let’s jump straight in and get the festive day started!
Merry Christmas from epoch.pet
Today is all about relaxing and my day has started off well, my partner and I got up and had our usual cupper, while we watched/helped the girls open their presents. They didn’t get that much this year but they did get a good little selection of new toys as we have plenty on their list to get them in 2019.
We go to my partner’s parents for Christmas day each year which is really lovely but that, unfortunately, means the girls have to stay home for a few hours while we’re out. However, they’ve had a really good start to the day opening their little presents and going out back to have a good run around.
It’s always so lovely when we make it home each year as the girls are so excited to see us and even more excited to get their tea! Once they’re all fed later on tonight I plan to make a lovely hot chocolate, hop in bed and get all cosy and watch a Christmas Movie.
How Cute???
They look so cute, Lily was the only one we managed to get a costume for as there were none in Nia’s size. However, I have plenty of time to plan in advance for next year so any suggestions on what the girls should be are more than welcome. I figured to let the cat of this Christmas as she hated being dressed up on Halloween, so Lily drew the short straw and got an Elf costume and Nia had to make do with a little Elf hat.
Homemade Dehydrated Turkey & Cranberry Jerky 🦃
What you will need to make these delicious Christmas treats for your furry friend?
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A Chopping board (Non-essential)
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A large Mixing Bowl.
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A Sharp knife.
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Gloves if you mind getting your hands dirty.
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Scales (Non-essential)
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A Dehydrator.
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An airtight container to put your finished treats in.
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100 grams of fresh cranberries.
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Raw minced turkey, I just used one packet which was 500 grams but you can do as much as you like as long as you have enough space in your dehydrator.
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A jerky Gun.
Step One, Sort out your Dehydrator and Trays
The first thing to do is sort your dehydrator and trays out, if you have followed one of my treat recipes before then you will already know that this is the always the first step, so that when you’re ready to pipe your turkey jerky you can easily stick everything on your trays without having to wash your hands in between.
Step Two, Make your Cranberry Sauce
I only used a very small amount of Cranberries, just 100 grams as I couldn’t find much information about cranberries for our canine friends. However, cranberries are fine for them in moderation but you should stay away from buying dried cranberries as they can be filled with glucose syrup.
Also, make your own cranberry sauce and don’t use store-bought as it can also be filled with a myriad of nasties and have plenty of sugar in it to make it taste delicious. I literally used 100 grams of fresh cranberries, gave them a quick wash and then chucked them in a pan with a little bit of water, just enough to cover them.
Then simply stick the pan on the hob and let it bubble away for ten to 15 minutes until your cranberry sauce has thickened. I crushed my cranberries every now and then, to help the sauce form.
Step Three, Mix your Cranberry Sauce and Turkey
The next step is to mix your cranberry sauce and turkey mince together in a bowl, I actually didn’t use all of my sauce and added about three tablespoons to my 500-gram pack of turkey mince. Mix it in well with your hands and once all combined we can move onto the next step.
Step Four, Place your Turkey mixture into your jerky gun
Now we have made our cranberry sauce and have mixed it with our turkey mince, it’s time to transfer our mixture to your jerky gun.
Step Five, Transfer Jerky to the Dehydrator Trays
Now that you have piped your jerky onto your trays using your jerky gun it is time to move on to the next step and stick your trays in the dehydrator.
Step Six, Transport Trays to the Dehydrator
Your so close to having finished Christmas jerky for your lovely pooch, the last thing to do is to stick your trays in the dehydrator to start the cooking process.
Place all your turkey into the dehydrator on its highest setting. We have an Excalibur nine-tray dehydrator and it has a set timer on so we can choose to leave it on for 24 hours or longer.
However, if you don’t have a timer then just keep checking on it but it will take at least 16 hours if not 24 depending on how thick your treats are. I take my turkey jerky off the non-stick Excalibur paper halfway through the cooking process to ensure all moisture has been removed.
If you haven’t checked out my previous post which is a product review of Excalibur Dehydrator then head over there after reading this to learn more.
Step Seven, Put your finished Turkey and Cranberry Jerky in an airtight tub
Now you have tasty homemade Christmas treats for your canine friend, my girl Lily loves these but unfortunately, Nia cannot have Turkey so I made her a few Cranberry and yoghurt frozen bones with the leftover sauce.
Thanks for reading today’s post, this year has been insane but this blog is something that brings me so much joy and I am so grateful to each and every one of you guys!! This Saturday’s post is going to be a review of my blogging journey so far, I plan to talk about my ups and downs and list a few of my favourite posts so far so stick around for that.
Merry Christmas everyone and take care!! Don’t forget to read last Tuesday’s post which is all about Christmas Foods to Avoid for our Canine and Feline Friends!
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