We have a Winner!

You should know by now that this is not the sort of blog where you can win things. So you shouldn't be so excited about coming to read today's post. Really.

When you were little did you go and harvest weeds from the garden, chop them up and mix in dirt or water and pretend to be cooking? Make a big mess of yuckiness and make your Mum pretend to eat it? Or try to trick your little brother into actually eating it?

No, I never did that last one, either.

Our Little Black Dog has been off his food for a bit. He's never been hugely fascinated by food - if there is anything else going on that is interesting his food will be left until later. And every now and again he just doesn't seem to want his food. He will leave it all day and only when he's starving will he come back and finish off what the magpies have left.

He's been going through this phase for a while now, and I've been a little concerned. I've tried different varieties of tinned food, but he's not interested. Yesterday I bought some ingredients to make up a doggy-themed goulash (obviously without the onion that is poison to pooches).

I got out my biggest pot and heated some oil, put on some rice to cook, 2 kilos of mince to brown and chopped up a couple of cups worth of vegetables to go in it with a little water. Then, the secret ingredient. I cut up some lamb's fry (liver) and added it to the mix. I added the cooked rice, mixed it all in and left it to stew for a bit. I looked at it and was reminded of those mud pies we used to make as kids.

There was no way I was going to sample this little concoction.

Unfortunately I came back to my desk to do some work and forgot I'd left it on the stove. Ran to rescue it when I suddenly remembered and there was a little burnt on the bottom, and the smell of burnt liver was pretty putrid.

There was no way I was going to sample this little concoction.

By the way, there is in fact no way to get rid of the smell of burnt liver from your kitchen.

You simply have to wait until your nose gets used to it.

Anyway, when it had cooled I spooned a single serve into separate bags and added a couple of raw chicken necks and bung them into the freezer. I had just enough room for them around the tubs and tubs of frozen mango.

The test was this morning at breakfast time. I dumped the cup of dry food into the bottom of the LBD's bowl. Then added one of my magic packets.

I carried the food down and gave it to the LBD. He sniffed for a moment, then dug into it. Usually he will lift out and eat the chicken necks first, but no, he was into the real food. I walked away and he didn't follow - too busy chewing loudly at his breakfast (I really must teach him to chew with his mouth closed, it's disgusting).

I went down half and hour later to hang out some washing and not only was the food all gone, but he went back and hopefully licked at the empty bowl.

We have a winner!

What's the chance that he will tire of home cooked meals before I tire of making them?

... Approximately None!