Turkey Broth Dog Treats

This post was originally published for the Iowa Food and Family Project "Join My Journey". Each month Kristin Porter from Iowa Girl Eats will be visiting family farms and businesses to learn about the Iowa ingredients that make their way to our plates at home and in restaurants. She and the Iowa Food and Family Project have invited Iowa food and lifestyle bloggers to contribute to this journey. In August, Kristin and the gang are exploring turkey. Here is my contribution to the journey.

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Our pups mean the world to us. They are truly part of our little family, and we want to give them the best.

Yeah, yeah - that sounds cliche, but it’s true! We take our dogs with us on trips, hire a fantastic pet sitter to come to our home when they can’t travel with us, have memberships at our local dog park, and even make homemade dog treats for our pooches.

Here are Manny and Bruce:

They LOVE homemade dog treats - especially the peanut butter treats made by our pet sitter and these turkey broth treats that I’m sharing with you today.

After I roast a chicken or turkey, I always toss the carcass in the slow cooker with some herbs, veggie scraps, and water and let it cook all day (or overnight) to make a rich, nutritious, flavorful stock. Then, I simply let it cool in pint jars in the fridge before moving the jars to the freezer for long-term storage. When I have a recipe that calls or chicken or turkey stock, all I do is thaw out a jar.

This particular recipe I am sharing calls for about a cup of turkey stock, as well as other easy-to-find pantry ingredients, and makes about one gallon bag of treats. Plus, the treats keep for 4 weeks on the counter or in the fridge, or 6 months in the freezer.

Homemade Turkey Broth Dog Treats

You’ll need: 3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup of cornmeal
3 T. of canola oil
3/4 cup of turkey stock (bonus points if you use stock you’ve made yourself!)
3 eggs

Directions: 

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl, then let firm up in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out to your desired thickness, and cut into shapes using dog bone cookie cutters. You can also simply use a pizza cutter and cut into squares, which is much easier than using a dog bone cookie cutter.

I totally recommend the cookie cutter if you’re giving these treats as a gift, though. They look pretty special. 

Then, bake at 375* for about 30 minutes. The dog treats should be brown and crunchy. You don’t want soggy treats here; crunchy is better!

The next time you make turkey or chicken, don’t throw that carcass out! Make yourself some delicious, nutritious stock to use in these dog treats and more.