Pork Chops, Pumpkin & Broccoli

by Jennifer Wheeler

The perfect fall meal, pork chops are a relatively inexpensive protein. We often pair meat with things that are seeded in cooking – like pumkins and squash – because the pups love the seeds and pulp, and they don’t go to waste. In fact, I usually roast some of the seeds so the humans can enjoy them too! Broccoli is also great because our pups love the nutritious stalks, but the kids won’t touch them.

Ingredients: pork chops, broccoli, pumpkins, broth, thyme.
Budget: none of these ingredients is expensive, but make sure you buy broccoli with the full stalk, not just the crown. It is less expensive, and you’ll be using all of it. Same goes for the pumpkins – buy them whole, not pre-cut.
Nutrition: The meat is the star of the show for the dogs. They may or may not eat the veg, and don’t be surprised if you see seeds in the poop.
Waste Not: Everything here is used – pumpkin guts, broccoli stalks, bones, and trimmings.

The Humans Get:

Grilled chops, steamed broccoli, pumpkin soup made with roasted pumpkin puree, broth, thyme, salt and pepper.

The Big Guy Gets:

A whole, raw pork chop, pumpkin pulp and seeds, broccoli stalks, the leftover cooked bones. Not all dogs can eat cooked bones. We have been feeding them to Azzy for 10 years, and he can digest them well.

The Little Guy Gets:

All the cooked trimmings from the chops – the fatty and cartilage bits that he loves but the people don’t plus all the same veg that the big guy gets. He doesn’t get the cooked pork bones.

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About the author

Jennifer Wheeler

Writer, Owner at NYC Doggies

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