You’ve heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” but you may not realize that the same principle holds true for your pets. At the Paws & Claws Holistic Animal Hospital in Plano, Texas, the foundation of every health-care plan starts with a good natural diet. This is true whether a pet is sick and trying to recover from an illness, or the pet just needs to stay healthy in order to reduce the chance of developing serious diseases later in life. 
As Gayle Pruitt states in her new book, The Dog-Gone Good Cookbook, cooking for your pet should be fun and easy as well as provide a nutritious diet for both you and your pet. Included in her book are over 100 balanced, delicious recipes that are gluten-, corn-, and soy-free, in an effort to minimize any food reactions and to maximize health.
Gayle has taken all the work out of cooking for your pet, as the book provides lists of foods that dogs should never have, lists of foods that you and your pet can experience together, as well as sections for equipment and supplies, techniques, staples, ingredients to keep on hand, and natural “doggie” supplements, such as probiotics and EFA’s. The book also contains recipes for your dog only that are both raw and cooked. The Dog-Gone Good Cookbook is a user-friendly and valuable resource for sharing a hearty meal with all of your family members, including the four-legged ones!
I enjoy cooking, but cooking for just me is not nearly as much fun as cooking for others. There’s nothing more fulfilling than sitting down and enjoying good, home-cooked food in the companionship of your family and friends. And if your roommate/ family/ best friend is your pup (like my dog, Nellie), The Dog-Gone Good Cookbook will be your new constant cooking guide. The cookbook offers over 100 delicious, healthy recipes that are wonderfully nutritious for both humans and canines.
Gayle’s background in nutrition gave her the knowledge that she needed to bring her dogs back to full health by feeding them high-quality, human-grade food with natural nutrients. Gayle is a certified nutritionist and chef. In her day job, she does nutritional research and develops recipes for businesses and food companies. She also does research on the ingredients in commercial dog foods and made the decision to cook for herself and her dogs after seeing some scary ingredients in well-known commercial dog foods. Cooking delicious recipes that are nutritious as well as corn-, sugar-, soy-, and dairy-free, Gayle says that both her and her dogs’ health have improved “100%.” Dog owners who are taking care to monitor their own nutritional needs need to be advised of the same type of needs that guide their pets to vigor and good health.
Today’s recipe from the cookbook is the Brined Chicken. Not only does brining draw out toxins from the chicken, but the brine is absorbed into the tissues, making the chicken more tender and juicy. The general guide-line is 1/4 cup kosher salt per 1 quart of water.
Ingredients:
- 4 quarts water
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1 whole chicken, rinsed
- herbs of choice (Gayle recommends a teaspoon of tumeric, thyme, dill, etc.)
In a large pot, combine enough water with kosher salt to cover chicken; stir. Place the whole rinsed chicken in the pot and add herbs. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
It Takes Guts® 