Sunday, January 14, 2007

Doggie Burgers (and birdie burgers too)


My guys got a treat yesterday. I made them Isaboo's Bacon-Cheese-Barley Burgers from the December/January issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

These are pretty easy to make. And what I like about them is that even though they take about 30 minutes to complete, you can do other things most of the time. It takes about 20 minutes for the barley to cook. The ingredients are really healthy: barley, chicken stock, cheese, and a little bit of bacon. The only problem I had was that they fell apart a bit while I was cooking them.

I kept telling my dogs that they were getting special treats and Charlie Bird got jealous. He wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It's so healthy so I gave him some too. Cheese is one of his favorites but he really liked the barley too.


This recipe make four patties. I gave my two dogs one each and brought the other two over to my friend's house for her two dogs. All four of them snarfed it down and were very happy.

Isaboo's Bacon-Cheese-Barley Burgers
Isaboo's Bacon-Cheese-Barley Burgers
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
2 slices lean bacon
1 large egg
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, bring the barley and chicken broth to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool.

While the barley is cooking, in a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Reserve the fat from the bacon for cooking the burgers. Finely chop the bacon and add to the cooled barley. Mix in the egg, bread crumbs and cheese. Combine thoroughly and score into 4 equal pieces. Wet your hands and form the pieces into patties.

Reheat the bacon fat and cook the burgers over medium heat for 4 minutes on each side.


Check out the round-up of Weekend Dog Blogging hosted each week by Sweetnicks.


5 comments:

Becky said...

i cannot imagine spending 30 minutes making dinner for my dogs. your puppies are very lucky! :)

Rachel Rubin said...

i guess i didn't really think about it. i just saw the recipe in the magazine and thought i'd give it a try. i don't usually "make" them dinner! this was a treat.

Madeline said...

I love that Kitchen Basics stock. That's good stuff.

Marsha said...

I too swear by Vigo brand products. The breadcrumbs, artichokes, rice (when I need it). They are so good and much cheaper than other brands!

Jennifer said...

I love it! I wrote a short blog about treats for doggies. When I get one I probably will do the same for a birthday or such!

What kind of dogs do you have?