Thanksgiving Cook-Off!

This year, we're going to spice things up! Show off your favorite recipe that you cook for your bird, and you could win FREE PRIZES! We're accepting any type of recipe, from BirdieBread/Muffins to mashes, mixes or popsicles! So be creative, and get cookin'!

PRIZES:
The three top winners will be given a free Lafeber's Nutri-Forage Make Your Own Treats kit, and the first place's winning recipe will be featured on our website, in our Holiday Edition Newsletter, on our brochures/catalogs and right here on our blog!

TO JOIN THE COOK-OFF:
Submit your favorite, original bird recipe(s) on of this form: http://www.parrotworld.net/Submit-Your-Bird-Friendly-Recipes-s/5807.htm
(Please fill out a new form PER recipe entry. You can submit as many recipes as you'd like!)

Submit your entry on or before December 7th, 2009 in order to be elligable to win prizes.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

When carving your Jack-O-Lantern this Halloween, save your Pumpkin's seeds and make delicious bird treats out of them, instead!

Full of flavor, these little seeds pack a great big punch that our birds [and we] cannot resist! Collect all your pumpkin's seeds into a bowl and submerge with water. Soaking the seeds is a neccesarry step in roasting the seeds, since the water they absorb while soaking will steam-cook them instead of drying them out. You want your seeds to be not-too-squishy, not-too-crunchy after roasting.

To keep your seeds underwater, you can set a concave strainer or collander on top of them, in the bowl to circumvent your seeds from floating at the top of the water. You can cut up a green or red pepper and place in the water to give your seeds more flavor. Our parrots have relatively few taste buds compared to us, so spicy foods that seem potent to us barely taste at all to our birds. Or, you can dust them with Chili Powder before cooking to give them an extra kick!

Let them soak for a full 24 hours, and then drain the water. Place the seeds on a greased or lined cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees until crisp and golden on the outside. Let cool and serve to your bird in foraging toys such as the Carousel Foraging Toy or Learn & Turn Logs.

Image compliments of Hardcore Herbivore