Might as well... Yum!

[Monica]

I thought I'd make up my own version of "Kitchen Sink" for my birds to see if they'd like it. They've had fried rice before, plain rice, and just chopped veggies. When I feed them veggies or fruits, they normally only got one type at a time. I had tried feeding them mixed veggies in the past with little success, so I didn't bother. Around the time Lissa posted her Kitchen Sink Recipe I was thinking about cooking up some rice and mixing it with chopped veggies, I just never got around to doing it. Add to that, I hardly ever take any photos of when my birds ate, so I thought I'd make today "special"!

I started out with 5oz of 15 bean soup, cooked that for an hour, rinsed well, and back into the pot. I then rinsed about a 1/4 cup of white rice (the only type we get, and a lot of it... while rinsing the rice however, Squirt, the cat got into the container [it's a cleaned out and painted tub of what used to be cat litter...] and was digging around in the rice!!! Least his name fits him well...), and 1/4 cup of the sprout mix I have. I rinsed the sprout mix and rice together, and added it into the bean mix, and cooked for another 15-20 minutes (maybe longer than it needed??? Could have easily used the rice cooker instead, but oh well!).

Once done, I looked through our freezer and only found 2 bags of mixed veggies, only one that I could use (it had corn, carrot, green bean, peas, and lima beans). Well, since I made more than I thought I would of the bean/rice/sprout mix, I added in 3/4 cups of the frozen mix of veggies, added 1/2 cup of chopped green bell pepper, and 1 romain leaf. Mixed it all up in a bowl and went to go get the bird dishes to fill 'em up.

Came back and Squirt was on the floor with a green bean he was munching on! The little bugger snuck up ONTO the counter to get himself a green bean! Needless to say, Kodi stole the green bean and ate it, so I gave Squirt another one. I then washed the birds' dishes, filled them up, but before giving them to the birds, I gave each dog a spoon full of the mix, and the cats 1 spoon full to split between themselves. Bullet wasn't too impressed but still ate some, Kita ate it, and puppy ate it because it was food, otherwise he wouldn't have ate it... Squirt though was quite happy, sittin on top of the washer eating his fill! Brought Sprite on over to see if she wanted some, but because she's more picky she didn't want any.

So I went to go feed the birds, giving them their dishes. Casey was immediately interested, Noel was a bit stand offish (I was standing too close for her comfort, but she liked it!), all the other tiels loved it, Smurf was singing in the food dish as he ate! Sophia had a few nibbles herself. The oldest bourke (surprisingly) had some before her little sis (I didn't actually see her sis eat any to be honest), and Cosmo and Georgia weren't interested. The birds were not really hungry, though out of the 12 birds here, only 3 didn't try any, or at least that I noticed... I was kind of surprised that the little bourke didn't eat any, but even more surprised that Cosmo didn't... Cosmo was my first budgie that ate greens (but he came here eating greens). He's the one that got the rest of my budgies (at the time) eating fresh foods! I'm not sure what's up with him today, but I will be keeping an eye on the little hermit... Anyway, here's some photos!


This is our my 'kitchen sink' came out... as well as the sprout mixe used in it...

The rest of the photos you'll have to click to enlarge, but enjoy!


Squirt eating his 'kitchen sink' (didn't get any of the dogs)




Casey being a mess... and checking out food! She actually spilled the entire thing, so I had to go get them more! Both Noel and Casey liked it!




Noel munchin on a bell pepper piece, and gettin some food




Smurf eating as he sings, and Sophia being curious and taking a couple small nibbles



The older bourke checking out a dish (she didn't actually eat from that one... but from the one sunshine ate out of)



This is the first time I've fed the new tiels anything like this, but surprisingly they took to it quite well! Even the parents who are stubborn! Or at least very unsure.... Here's Sunshine!



And here is Kirby with a piece of lettuce (he got his dad interested, which in turn got Kiwi interested, and Kiwi was more interested in the food on Pistachios beak than what was in the dish! But she still ate some!)

[Vincent_The_Bird]

wow I just might have to try out your recipe!!

Im working on a birdie quesa dia kinda thing now (with my limited cooking skills lol) I can rock a good (and healthy!) quesa dia for people!

Its really encouraging to hear that you got your budgies to eat their greens, Vincent won't buy anything but broccoli.

Also I have to pester you again, gellatin, is that alright for a conure (I saw this great looking cranberry stuff, oh does he love cranberry! at the store but the only thing I wasnt sure about on the label was gealitin, berry and some animal, gotta re-check the lable)

Anyway that stuff looks good enough for me to eat - yum indeed!

Chef Monica!

[Monica]

The budgies normally eat their greens, the only two who didn't (for who knows what reason) were Cosmo (he's the one who taught all the other budgies to eat fresh foods!) and Georgia. I think though that that was the first meal 4 new tiels!

Gelatin is as it says it is.... It comes from bone marrow, and from my understanding, the cooking process goes along the lines of boiling the bones to remove the marrow, letting it cool and somehow separating the water from the marrow to let it dry, then making that into powder.... it was something along those lines... But as to whether or not it's good for birds, it is!

The only thing I'm afraid is that someone else will see this stuff in the fridge or freezer and think they can eat it, not even asking who it belongs to!

And in the last bit, all I do have to say is:

"Don't tell me cats DON'T eat peas!!!"

[Vincent_The_Bird]

hehe its okay, my birds are healthier than most people (at least nutritionaly!) My mother only comes by the house about once a week since she moved out to good ol' VA, guess I'll have to warn her but the stuff was cheep, about 51 cents at the delly and I got PLENTY! She asked me why I wanted such a small portion it was so funny when I said to give to my bird! It did taste pretty good, Orange-cranberry, he thought it was the best dessert ever, really chowed down (after his veggies and fresh stuff first)!

[poi_lover]

Good job, Monica! Woooo-hoooo!

[jimpierce7]

I tell ya it looks good!!! I made this manna mash stuff that when it was done.........oh lets just say that it did not look appatizing at all. But ya know......its the first thing other than pellets Sophie would eat. Maybe next time I will make it so it looks a little better. :)

I bet it does taste good too Monica.

[dislater]

I made my own version of the Kitchen Sink recipe this morning and it looks soooo yummy! I can't wait until dinner-time for Twiggy and Glory to try it.

It makes about 4 gallons, I think. I froze it in 2 day portions and I think I have enough for 4 months for my 2 birdy-gurlz. I used my food=processor to chop the green-beans and green, yellow and red peppers as my girls like them to be chopped up small. I think next time I make it I may at pine nuts to the mix.

Thanks Lissa for the recipe. di

[Monica]

Well, today I decided to look through the 'Healthy Bird Cookbook' but realised that we didn't have most of the items needed for many of the recipes (need to go shopping this weekend to replenish supplies...), but there were a few that I could make, doing some subsitution... Got to the end of the recipes where it included Chicken Soup, and possible things to add to it, one of them being egg drops....

That got me to thinking, so I created my own recipe. It is as follows...

3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup flour
Pinch or two of salt (for the eggs when they go in the water... helps keep them together better)
2 tbps 'Song Treat'
2 tbps Regular Seed Mix
2 tbps mixed frozen veggies chopped (food processor)

Mix eggs, flour and salt well, or until there are no more lumps. Mix in seed mix and chopped veggies. Stir well. Let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes (for better egg drops). In a pot of boiling water, using a coffee spoon (or 1/2 tsp) scoop up a spoon full of the birdie egg drop mix, and place into the water (may need to use another spoon to scrape the mix off of). Fill the bottom with with birdie egg drops until you can't fit in any more. If need be, turn the stove down to medium or medium low. Let cook for 15-20 minutes.

Once done, remove egg drops and place onto a platter with paper towels to help remove excess amounts of water. Once cooled, serve as is to medium to large birds, or chop/dice up for smaller birds.


OOORRRRRR........


In a small frying pan, lightly grease and set on medium to medium high. Once pan is hot enough, put in a spoon full (coffee spoon or 1/2 tsp) of birdie egg drops around the pot, being sure to space out each drop so as to not touch eachother. Once the drop has glazed over well, flip over and cook until it becomes golden. If you flip too soon the drop will stick to the spatula. Once done on each side, place on a platter with paper towels to cool. Serve as is to medium to large birds, or tear up into smaller pieces for smaller birds.




Either way that it's cooked, it comes out REALLY thick! All the birds have tried this, and one of the bourkes really liked it, surprisingly enough! For larger birds, one can use larger pieces of veggies, nuts, and a few seeds, or less seeds and more veggies... Either way, since the birds are now taking to eating cooked foods, they are actually getting into it more! It still seems funny though that before I tried feeding them cooked foods but they hardly took any notice to it, and preferred the fresh food, so I didn't really bother cooking much for them! Noel and Casey would occasionally get some of our dinners but the birds were normally fed just pieces of fresh food... Well, now that all seem to like cooked food, I can now try feeding various foods to them that they wouldn't eat before!!! Strange...