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So your entries came pouring in.  That means it was a successful competition, although I didn’t get out of my kitchen for at least a week.  It also means all the neighbourhood dogs are fat and think my house is the newest outlet of a Gourmet Doggy Drive-Thru.

The criteria were simple.  Original, nutritious, delicious.  So we started scanning recipes.  Any that included ingredients that were not good for your 4-paws were immediately scrunched into balls and given to the pooches to play with.  Or eat.  Mostly they ate.  Where we could, we amended an ingredient for a healthier option, then started narrowing down the entries.

We ended up with 7 that met all the criteria, and set to baking, frying, mixing & measuring.  From those 7 our judges chose the top 4, so it was back to the kitchen last week for a final bake-off.

Our 4 final choices were:

  • Banana & Peanut Butter Doggy Biscuits
  • Liver Balls
  • Tasty Chicken Stock Dog Treats
  • Gluten free Sardine Pastries

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Each Judge was given 2 samples each of all the above recipes.  11 judges meant a LOT of baking.  This is what they had to say:

 

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Ted Trowell:  “Sardines may be my favourite but liver balls & peanut butter biscuits are my new favourite”

The Scrump Finlay: “Lemme taste, lemme taste, cant hold me back” (then he screamed a little).

Juno Abrahamse: “OMG, I love them.  Everyone’s a winner.  Twice.”

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Juno, Bruno & Harley Maloney: “It’s a 3 way tie.  We definitely love the liver balls”

Lily & Roxy Finlay: “We see them, we eat them, we love them.  Liver balls”

IMG-20140703-WA0007Cody & Molly Billett:  “Its Christmas, peanut butter!  It’s Christmas, chicken stock cookies!  It’s Christmas, liver balls, ooh!”

Jake Abrahamse: “Hmm, I’ll eat the hand that feeds too”

Felix the Cat: “Whatever! Leave them on a bone china plate, maybe I’ll eat them, maybe I wont.”

20140703_211603-1Eventually they all agreed.  Except Felix.  So the others stripped him of his title and sent him to lie by his bone china plate.  Being a cat, and believing he was far superior to all this dog-drooling excitement, he didn’t really give a damn.  Anyway, it was the liver balls that took top honours.  Not even the sardine pastries came close.

So in the end, it was pure delicious simplicity that won out.  And to be honest, these liver balls are good enough for us to eat too (although we didn’t).  My daughter came wondering into the kitchen asking “What are you cooking Mom, that smells delicious”.  Of course when I told her, she left the house because she absolutely hates liver and cant bear to be in the same room with it.  But you get the point, until she found out, she actually loved it.

So congratulations to Maxine Dawn Carter, and here is her winning recipe:

  •  Liver
  • Olive oil
  • Breadcrumbs (we made our own with low GI wholewheat bread)Cook the liver.  Blend into a hard paste, and add the breadcrumbs.  Roll into little balls.   Lightly fry in a little olive oil.

These can also be baked in the oven if you prefer not to fry.  We tried both ways and each work equally well.

And finally a big thank you to everyone who took the time to find a recipe and send it in.  Your participation is greatly appreciated.  Continue to watch our page for more competitions, you could still win a voucher.