Just Right by Purina product first thoughts

At the end of October, I posed this shot as a "teaser":

Well, it's because we'd just gotten our box of customized Just Right by Purina food. I was approached by a rep to see if we were interested in trying out Purina's new customizable food. I did a test run to see what the ingredients ended up as, and then said yes.

(these offers also always seem to come at a time when Elka has become bored with her current food)

Product Review: Natural Balance Jerky Bark dog treats

I'm able to share this review with you, product made available courtesy of Chewy.com!

I picked the Natural Balance Jerky Bark treats because the flavors sounded interesting (subjective, I know; I'm not going to eat them) and because they're made in the United States. We got the Chicken and Sweet Potato. They're grain free, which is not an allergy issue with Elka, but just a preference for me when it comes to purchasing her ingestible products.

As always, she was very excited to see the package come in the mail. Poor dog; most of the time, the packages we get are books or similar things that have nothing to do with her. But frequently enough, it's toys or food or treats, and well, we know about random reward schedules. So she gets excited.

Tasty Tuesday: Vodka sauce

When I was little, I loved pasta. LOVED it. When we went to restaurants, I wanted spaghetti with butter on it. Sometimes cheese, but only American. I graduated to cheddar eventually. At home, I loved boxed macaroni and cheese. In fact, it's one of the first things I learned how to make on my own, on the stove.

I still don't much like red sauce. I am from the state of New Jersey, which means I must love tomatoes, and I do, but I pretty much can't/don't tolerate cooked tomatoes. Only in specific instances.

One of these instances? Penne a la vodka. Or rather, pasta with vodka sauce. I don't always use penne, though some kind of ridged tubular pasta is best, to catch the sauce most efficiently. I tried it at a restaurant once, when somebody else at the table had it, and went home and finagled my own formula, involving chipotle in addition to the regular crushed red pepper, and sometimes using bacon instead of the pancetta. I also use Asiago instead of regular parmesan, and some white cheddar (picky picky, right?), and add diced chicken breast.

Because of the alcohol (and because it's so darn good), this is one dish that doesn't typically get shared with Elka.

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things....

We frequently have a hard time keeping toys on hand in this house. Elka loves toys, and as I've said before, Elka's love is not a gentle one.

Amusingly, squeaky toys used to actually have some level of protection from her. The squeak made her hesitate, jump back, regroup. That seems to have gone away in its entirety, though, and the squeaking only encourages her.

Nature's Logic, Sardine oil and food review

So, waaaaay back in October, I won a giveaway from CindyLu's Muse for a 16 oz bottle of Nature's Logic Sardine Oil. I thought "Awesome!" because we give Elka olive oil or coconut oil on her kibble about once a day, especially in the winter, because she'll frequently end up with slightly dry and flaky skin.

Well, when the rep contacted me for my address, CindyLu's Muse had mentioned that I was a blogger as well. So, I was offered a bag of Nature's Logic kibble, my flavor choice (well, I had the choice of canned as well, but kibble works out better for us)! Good deal, right?

Elka was pretty excited when I told her...primed at the food bowl, in fact.

Still Buffaloed

Happily, I'm still satisfied with how Elka does on the Blue Buffalo food. All of the flavors, in fact; she's tried the Salmon, the Duck, and the Chicken. I ran out of my initial bag, bought after the initial recall panic, and the Mr. Chewy bag that I got, and so headed off to the Feed and Seed to get some more (seriously, this dog just keeps eating! Granted, they were the smaller bags.)

I was also happy to walk into the store, go to the Blue Buffalo section, and see this sign:

Elka wasn't unhappy, precisely. She was far more interested in eating the food than wearing the bandana.

Tasty Tuesday May 15, 2012: Rachael Ray Nutrish Soup Bones review

I have a compulsion.

Even in the grocery store, where I know I will not find dog food I'm willing to give Elka, I still go down the dog aisle. I look at the treats, and the ingredients of food, squeeze squeaky toys and look for tennis balls that I have not bought before. I'm sure I must have an interesting look on my face, depending on the object of my attention; horror or disgust when it comes to the food ingredients, amusement when it comes to the durability of the toys (or lack thereof). I do buy things, once in awhile.

I do occasionally buy the Rachael Ray Just 6 treats, because they do, in fact, have only six ingredients (which could be worse), and Elka seems to like them well enough. There's apparently a "Just 6" kibble now as well; it has many many 6's of ingredients. I will not buy it.

Recently, I bought a bag of chicken flavored "Soup bones" for Elka. It's doggie junk food, I'm not fooling myself, but every once in awhile, I look for something to give her that I think might occupy her for a little while, or interest her.

Tasty Tuesday May 8, 2012: Where the buffalo roam

So, after last week's Diamond Pet Food recalls, including their Friday "as we go out the door" announcement of recall expansion, we aren't doing Taste of the Wild anymore. I'm not saying that we're dropping it forever, necessarily, but definitely for the foreseeable future.

What have we gone with, you ask? Blue Buffalo Wilderness.

I actually had to sing the first verse of "Home on the Range" to remember the line about the buffalo. I hope you appreciate me. Elka did not.