Reviewed by Marilyn Dalrymple

If you worry as much about your pet’s health as you do your own, and are concerned about what you feed your canine or feline, this is the book for you.  I enjoyed reading it; Chow Hound:  Wholesome Home Cooking for Your Doggie, holds 74 recipes for everything from muffins, to pies, to biscuits, quiche and holiday and celebration treats.

The book is clearly written – you don’t have to be a Julia Child to produce the recipes.  The ingredients and equipment are probably already in your kitchen and refrigerator and you will find that many of the recipes are as good for people as they are for the pets.   Recipes do not contain processed sugar and other ingredients that are not good for humans or pets.

I tried the Carrot Cornmeal Bars.  Ingredients include canola oil, applesauce, honey, eggs, cornmeal and carrots.  A bit of baking powder and salt are added, too.   After I gathered the ingredients, making the bars took only minutes.  They were irresistible for me and my two dogs.   Needless to say, the bars will be made frequently in my home.  As with most recipes in this book, the bars can be frozen so you can make a good supply of them at one time and have a good supply on hand.

Author Eve Adamson lists foods that should never be given to dogs and she warns that treats should not comprise your pet’s entire diet.   To make recipes easy to find she devised a method to make searching for a particular recipe easy.  An icon under the title of each recipe denotes the main ingredient of each, and whether or not a recipe is grain-free.  She’s thought of just about everything that makes using this delightful book fun, helpful, useful and easy to use.

Since the recipes are easy to make, and the list of ingredients for most is short, children can help with the cooking and baking.   I’ll bet the first recipes children will want to try will be the Mutt Macaroons and Boo-tiful Halloween Bread.

There are recipes for cats, too.  I’m sure my two felines will love the Here Kitty, Kitty Tuna Pie.

If you look on the shelf where I store my cook books you can easily tell the books and recipes I use often, and those that don’t get used much.  I can tell you now that Chow Hound will show the signs of wear and tear early on, not just because I am concerned about my pet’s health, but because the book is delightful.  The next recipe I will be trying is the Crunchy Apple Crisp, which includes apples, yogurt, oats, and nuts and seeds; sounds good enough to serve to guests, does it not?

Eve Adamson has worked as a full time freelance writer since 1995, authoring or co-authoring books on subjects as various as yoga, the Mediterranean diet, and Labrador Retrievers, as well as hundreds of articles for animal companion, food, and lifestyle magazines. You'll find her online at www.eveadamson.com

Chow Hound:  Wholesome Home Cooking for Your Doggie (Sterling Innovation/ Oct 2009) By Eve Adamson

FirstLook Review: Happy Dog By Billy Rafferty and Jill Cahr

Copyright © 2006-2010, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.