October's "Cooking for the birds"

It seems like yesterday I was posting about a big batch of cooked food I had prepared for the birds and divided into daily portions. I had enough for a little over two weeks.

Well this week-end we took the last little bag out of the freezer and I was faced with making a new batch. Don't get me wrong, I was quite happy having meals prepared ahead of time as I'm still pretty busy at work and don't care to do much when I get home, so I figured an afternoon of work now was well worth it.

I wanted to add a bit more variety to the mix and intended to use every vegetable pictured here -



Swiss chard
Kale*
Bell peppers*
Okra
Chili
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots
Sweet Potato
Golden beets
Pumpkin
Butternut squash*
Broccoli*
Runner beans (not pictured)

I said "intended" because, once I got going, a few ingredients got "dropped out" - mostly because I was tired of chopping and I had also injured myself (a nice cut through my index nail - ouch!) when dicing the chili - and those are marked with an asterisk. Initially, I had planned to include the left out items by preparing them today, and while I will chop up (or get the boy to do it) the kale, I'll probably keep the butternut squash, broccoli and bell peppers for something else.

In addition to the veggies, I also cooked some chick peas, quinoa and French lentils. Here is what the mix looked like at the end of the day yesterday.



I cooked the pumpkin, sweet potato and beets really well and gave the carrots, runner beans, Brussels sprouts and okra a few minutes in boiling water only.

I've never really used okra and did read that it could get slimy but oh my gosh - I never imagined it would be that bad! I rinsed everything well in cold water and drained before adding to the big container and the okra just kept giving off whatever it is that makes it so slimy! However, although it seemed unappealing to me, it might well work in the birds favor as they prefer their food on the sticky side...

It doesn't show in the picture, but I ended up with a LOT of food - the bowl in which it's pictured is quite huge - and although I still have to bag it (waiting to add the kale), I'm sure I'll end up with food for more than 2 weeks this time.

The birds got some last night and, if I say so myself, it was a success. Even Petey, who's a very picky eater, had his head in his bowl and seldom lifted it out until he was done. He also pinned his eyes in a very content way!

I think for next time, I'll just set myself to doing this over two days - I don't want any more accidents related to being tired and not as attentive anymore!