Veggie Mix - recipe and call for critique

[zandperl]

Whenever I travel I board Kappa at the local parrot store where I originally bought her. The owner is a crotchety old woman who cares greatly about her birds, takes very good care of them, and often tells everyone else they're doing everything wrong. She has decided that I am feeding Kappa the Wrong Veggie Diet, specifically that I give Kappa too

Comments

[troubleagain]

Uh...it's better than Sunshine's....(but I try! She resists me!) She gets Harrison's, some seed, and a veggie/grain mush that isn't quite as thorough as yours in covering *everything.*

[zandperl]

I was lucky that Kappa was weaned onto a veggie mix. As a result she'll eat just about anything, it's great!

[bloolark]

It took me literally seven or eight months to coax Pineapple to eat a veggie mix. Lovebirds can be stubborn as mules about those sort of things (and stubborn about everything else too).

[troubleagain]

Yes, they can! She got tricked into eating her veggie mush. I had it in a clear bowl, and she tried to attack my finger and got a mouthful of mush! She decided she liked it, and kept going! :D

[bloolark]

The only thing I'd suggest in this mix is to add a little bit more leafy greens (depending on how much you're actually adding), and to vary things. My usual mix is similar to yours, though I stay away from wheat in the grain part because babycaw seems sensitive to it

[bloolark]

Oh, and, I don't usually add egg. I don't think it's a bad addition, but I probably wouldn't do it every time.

I also don't know that I'd go to the trouble of cooking anything that isn't a starchy vitamin A veggie (yams, squash, etc), just because I am that lazy. :) It probably helps to do half and half though.

If you're really interested in diets and you have a lot of free time, the FeedingFeathers group on yahoogroups is excellent, if exceedingly spammy.

[bloolark]

And one more trick, and then seriously, I will shut up.

If you want to keep some of the water from the cooking, and/or you have particularly wet veggies (I put everything through a food processor so it is essentially mush -- actually, I'll snap a picture in a moment), using either uncooked pasta or steel cut or rolled oats will absorb the excess liquid.

[zandperl]

I've been wondering about whether cooking the grains is necessary. I believe I've read that cooking beans is, and everything else I cook half for variety - both in entertaining Kappa and keeping her flexible, and in case there are nutrients that take different forms when cooked or something like that.

I do make in large batches, freeze everything, and serve it cold, so that's my concession to laziness. :)

[bloolark]

It's surprisingly hard to take a picture of food in a bowl. However, I did manage this:

[troubleagain]

OMG, that's a great pic of Theo! Do your birds fly over and wipe their beaks on you like Sunshine does me?

[zandperl]

Kappa likes to give me broccoli kisses. Hot pepper kisses are the worst though.

[troubleagain]

o_O I bet!

Think that they must have mis labled them,

[wolfdancer]

I have Mung beans but there under a dif lable.

Re: Think that they must have mis labled them,

[wolfdancer]

Looking at the bag states that there dried peas. Good to know what they are.

[nezzie]

Where do you get your kale and other greens from? And I guess, really, any vegies...I finally found a place that sells kale, but it's wal-mart, so I doubt it's organic. And the organic section at my other grocery stores consist of grapes/apples/peppers/mushrooms/carrots and...tofu products. That is -it-. I am so paranoid about non-organic foods but I just don't know where else to go. Is non organic EVER ok? I've got a good organic source for beans and grains, but as far as vegetables go they pretty much have the same sad selection.

His food looks great to me, but I agree that I would also chop the bits finer, and perhaps I might personally try a mush method, that sounds good.

[bloolark]

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52420 has a list of foods that are really required to be organic, and those that you can probably get away with.

I get my greens from an organic grocery store, but I'm guessing you don't have access to that. You might want to check out CSAs and other things locally.

[zandperl]

a list of foods that are really required to be organic

A quick rule of thumb is if you can only do one thing organic, get organic berries. Those are always the things at the top of every list I've seen for residual pesticides.

You might want to check out CSAs and other things locally.

Good point. Farm shares are another way they refer to CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). (That is, I think there are differences in how the two work practically, but in both cases you're buying from local farmers and not through a grocery store.)

[zandperl]

I have a local food coop - I refer to it as my local earthy crunchy granola hippie food coop. ;) The veggies come in three types: organic, locally grown, and locally grown AND organic. I don't buy my own food there, but I'm willing to pay the extra for Kappa.

I agree that I would also chop the bits finer, and perhaps I might personally try a mush method

Oh, Kappa's perfectly happy with the large chunks, so there's no need for me to go smaller, and she does eat everything. She's also fine with it coming right out of the fridge, or warm from the microwave. She's not picky at all, it's great. :) It's the composition that I'm concerned about (for health reasons), not the presentation.