Dog meals and snacks don't have to hard to make or take a lot of time. Many snacks can be grabbed straight out of your refrigerator and are much healthier than baked goods.

However, there are a few things that I have noticed regarding many homemade dog food recipes that you should avoid doing.

1. Don't microwave your dog's food. Microwaving kills vitamins, minerals and nutrients. The radiation also alters the cell structure of the food. Scientific studies have shown that humans that eat microwaved foods have significant and disturbing changes in their blood cells. Microwaving has many serious side-effects, including altering the minerals in vegetables into cancerous free radicals. It's bad enough that we humans continue to use microwaves to cook our food... let's not subject our animals to it as well.

2. Many recipes that I've seen promote using beef/chicken bouillon cubes and/or canned beef/chicken broth. These products have very high and unhealthy sodium levels. Either use sodium reduced broths or better yet make your own.

3. Obviously, some sort of flour is needed to bind together baked dog biscuits. However, instead of using white flour, whole wheat flour and/or cornmeal in your recipes, substitute spelt flour instead. It's much more easily digestible for both humans and animals. Flour and cornmeal are hard for animals to digest and many are or can become allergic to these grains.

4. Don't feed your dog too many "baked" treats that contain flour and cornmeal. Opt for more natural, healthy, and uncooked treats (some recipes are listed below).

Healthy Homemade Dog Food Recipes

You can make up several days worth of dog food at one time or cook them up while you prepare your own supper. Here are a few recipes to try out:

Shepherd Pie

6 oz beef or chicken broth (low sodium or make your own)

1 pound ground beef, chicken or turkey

1 cup mashed potatoes

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (no onions or mushrooms)

Mix broth, meat and vegetables together. Grease casserole dish and pat mixture into dish. Top with potatoes. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sometimes your dog may have a slightly upset stomach with possibly some diarrhea involved. The following recipe is a nice bland mixture that still tastes good and should help to solve your pup's tummy problems.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut up (either raw or cooked)

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked carrots

1 cup non or low-fat cottage cheese

Mix together and serve according to you’re dog’s size, weight and activity level. This recipe should be good for one large dog for 1 main meal or 2 smaller meals. If you desire, you can also add 1 tbsp of flax seed oil for added essential fatty acids.

Quick Dog Treats

Dogs, like humans, like to have their snacks. The following two snacks are healthy and quick to prepare:

Frosty Cube Treats

1 large container plain yogurt (make sure it contains live acidophilus cultures and no sugar or artificial sweeteners)

1 cup ground carrots OR ground apples OR lightly cooked ground liver

Mix together and fill ice-cube trays. Freeze. Pop one out for a treat when frozen.

Banana Mash

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 tbsp flax seed oil

Mix together and serve for a nice, quick, healthy snack.