Share the festive season with your pet by making him these healthy low-fat turkey treats.

For many families, holiday dinners wouldn’t be complete without turkey. And that goes for your dog or cat too. Although you shouldn’t give him the fatty leftovers from your own roast bird – no skin or cooked bones either — you can use raw ground turkey to make some special festive treats for him.

Turkey is low in fat and high in protein, and contains both Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids. It’s a good source of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc, and is also a valuable source of B vitamins, including B2, B3, B6 and B12.

When making these recipes, choose organic ingredients wherever possible. Look for organic, pasture-raised turkey if you can. If you can’t find it at the grocery store or market, check with local farmers.

Turkey dinner

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey thighs
1 cup sweet potatoes or yams, grated or shredded
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ cup fresh salal berries or cranberries
1 clove garlic, finely minced (optional)
1 teaspoon sea salt, e.g. Himalayan, Antarctic
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

Instructions: Cooked edition

1. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan, cake pan or pie plate, and line it with grated/shredded sweet potatoes or yams. Sprinkle minced garlic on top. Add ½ cup stock and lightly beaten egg.
2. Add ¼ cup parsley, then add ¼ cup salal berries or cranberries. Add ground turkey and the remaining ½ cup stock. Sprinkle sea salt on top. Add remaining parsley and salal berries or cranberries. Gently press down with a spatula or the back of a serving fork.
3. Bake for one hour.
4. Cool completely before slicing and serving. Store in the fridge. This dish can also be prepared to the point of baking, then frozen and baked at a later time.

Instructions: Raw edition

1. Thoroughly combine all ingredients, and serve.

 

Turkey biscuits

Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey thighs
1 cup sweet potatoes or yams, grated or shredded
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ cup fresh salal berries or cranberries
1 clove garlic, finely minced (optional)
1 teaspoon sea salt, e.g. Himalayan, Antarctic
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon first pressed olive oil
2 cups whole oat flakes

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then transfer to the cookie sheet, lightly press down, and score with a knife.
3. Bake for one hour.
4. Cool completely before storing in a container in the fridge.

 

Salal berries and leaves

Salal is often called the “plant of perseverance”. The berries are a nutritionally-packed food source, and contain vitamins A, C and E, fiber and riboflavin, along with antioxidants known for their anti-cancer properties.

The leaves have a long medicinal history as a poultice for wounds, and as a tea for coughs and colds, and a variety of digestive problems, including indigestion and diarrhea. Salal has also long been used as a tonic for recovery from illness, and to boost the immune system.

“The tea is astringent and anti-inflammatory, both locally to the throat and upper intestinal mucosa, and through the bloodstream, to the urinary tract, sinuses, and lungs,” wrote Michael Moore, author of Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West.

If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where salal grows, you can make your own teas and tonics. Simply gather healthy, green salal leaves during the spring and summer months. Bundle them together with twine or a rubber band, and hang them in a dry warm place, out of the sun. When the leaves are dry and crackly to the touch, strip them from the branches and store them in a jar or Ziploc bag. Add one tablespoon of crushed leaves per cup of hot filtered water, and infuse for 20 minutes.

Salal berries make an excellent base for fruit leather. The Salish people used to mash the berries then dry them into cakes on cedar planks, or in skunk cabbage leaves, to be used during the winter months. The Haida used salal to thicken wild salmon eggs.