NYC DoggiesBeef Stew
by Jennifer Wheeler
This one-pot meal is a winter favorite! Hearty beef and vitamin-rich vegetables make this one of the most balanced meals for the human and canine family members. All of the trimmings – beef, potato peels, and carrot tops – are incorporated into our pups’ dinner.
Hearty Beef Stew
Ingredients: Beef (try getting a whole chuck-eye roast), carrots, potatoes, thyme, broth, onions & garlic (not for the pups).
Budget: Chuck-eye beef is not only flavorful and tender when stewed, but very affordable. We get it for $5/pound at its regular price. By getting a whole roast and trimming it yourself, you will save money and have better quality meat. Don’t worry, the dogs will get all those trimmings!
Nutrition: Protein is at the heart of this meal, and it is supplmented with vitamin c and fiber from the carrots, and essential minerals from the potatoes.
Waste Not: Making beef stew is the perfect opportunity to buy whole foods and give all the delicious trimmings to your dogs – peels, skins, fat, cartilage. It’s all delicious and nutritious.
The Humans Get:
A hearty bowl of stew with a hunk of crusty bread. There are a lot of wonderful recipes, but my favorite is from America’s Test Kitchen. You can access the recipe for free in this story by NPR. There are a few things in the stew that the humans get and the dogs don’t: red wine added to the broth, pearled onions, and garlic.
The Big Guy Gets:
A big bowlful of raw meat mixed with carrot peels, raw carrot pieces, chunks of cooked potato, and raw peas. As long as the peels are mixed in with the beef, Azzy gobbles them right up, and that is wonderful because they are loaded with minerals. As an added bonus, the recipe we use calls for a few anchovies, so Azzy gets whatever is left in the tin. Yum!
The Little Guy Gets:
The meat trimmings are very fatty, and our little guy doesn’t handle rich foods quite as well as Azzy, so he gets a much smaller portion of the trimmings with a couple of chunks of prime beef thrown in. He also won’t eat the peels so Ollie just gets whole chunks of carrots, potatoes and peas.
More Recipes
Whole Dog Parenting
With discomforting frequency, the urban dogs we encounter are decked out in designer dog gear and learning the top-trending cult training methods, but they are not happy, healthy, or well-behaved.
The Silent Killer of Urban Dogs
More dogs live in cities than ever before. Yet, just beneath the veneer of polished urban style – dog spas and luxury gear – lies an alternative picture of life in the city for many dogs...
Teaching Games – A Healthy Start to Puppy Training
Puppy play is the first step in puppy training. These games will help you develop a common language, and promote good habits for life
Socialization Guidelines for Urban Puppies
Between the ages of 7 and 16 weeks your puppy needs to be introduced to the diverse and exciting environment in which she lives. It's the only chance you'll have to lay the groundwork for a properly socialized dog.
Housebreaking Guidelines for Urban Puppies
Housebreaking a puppy isn’t rocket science, but it does require dedication and vigilance, and the devil is often in the details. Learn more about our approach to housebreaking a puppy.
Cleaning Out the Pantry
To make space for 2021, and I’m going to purge my pantry. Lucky for me, I have two dogs who are more than willing to help me finish the task. Lucky for them, it's delicious and nutritious work!
About the author
Jennifer is a writer and graduate of NYU School of Law. Jennifer researches and writes original, science-based articles for the NYC Doggies blog, and her writing on other topics can be found in the Huffington Post. Jennifer and Ovidiu have co-authored the upcoming book, WHOLE DOG PARENTING: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO RAISE AND TRAIN AN URBAN PUP
