Stressing the food? Not anymore! Chop convert

[DexMom]

I also soak my beans overnight, then rinse, fill the pot with fresh water and simmer for 45-60 minutes depending on the type/size of bean.

I did have one batch of beans (a bean soup mix) that I soaked overnight and when I drained them to rinse the next morning, they smelled foul. I wasn't taking any chances, so I threw them away.

 

[Jeepnman]

If you wizz in the processor raw it's better, goes kind of frothy and IMO not so smelly. Let me know what you think?

I cooked the beans and Quinoa for about 15 minutes. What does everyone else do?

@ Jeepnman - My instructions for
Quinoa says rinse first and then 20 min simmer, leave to stand after draining for 10 mins.

Beans (only got Mung which are small in) it says first SOAK for 12 hours, rinse and drain. Cover + fresh water and simmer 30-40 minutes. If soak/cook not done right it can have consequences. Please read the packet.

I used a 15 bean mix and soaked them overnight before I cooked them as well as followed the directions on the quinoa. I used fresh celery, carrots, jalapenos and bell peppers, apples, grapefruit, squash, and frozen peas, corn, and blackberries. I may omit the beans next time and just use some fresh sprouts to see if that is the culprit. Thanks to all.

 

[plumsmum2005]

I cooked the beans and Quinoa for about 15 minutes. What does everyone else do?

@ Jeepnman - My instructions for
Quinoa says rinse first and then 20 min simmer, leave to stand after draining for 10 mins.

Beans (only got Mung which are small in) it says first SOAK for 12 hours, rinse and drain. Cover + fresh water and simmer 30-40 minutes. If soak/cook not done right it can have consequences. Please read the packet.

I used a 15 bean mix and soaked them overnight before I cooked them as well as followed the directions on the quinoa. I used fresh celery, carrots, jalapenos and bell peppers, apples, grapefruit, squash, and frozen peas, corn, and blackberries. I may omit the beans next time and just use some fresh sprouts to see if that is the culprit. Thanks to all.

Hi my point is the beans can be toxic if not cooked properly etc especially red kidney. They are fine otherwise. Re your list of ingredients maybe serve the fruit separately except the apple which I have found cooks down and is fine. Happy cooking.

 

[camo]

Chris,

I missed this post, great to hear you are getting back into the chop, and had success with the batch. Love the picture, Jasper looks very impressed...lol

Cheers,

Cameron

 

[Anansi]

Chris,

I missed this post, great to hear you are getting back into the chop, and had success with the batch. Love the picture, Jasper looks very impressed...lol

Cheers,

Cameron

Hahaha! Are you guys taking turns calling each other's birds by the wrong name? ROTFL! Chris' ekkie is Parker. Jasper is Katie's little green guy.

Guess you're both even, now. Lol!

 

[chris-md]

Thanks all! Wow, where do I start? Been a bit overwhelmed with life lately, just getting back to normal, and I find this runaway beast

I admit I'm hard pressed to recall why my previous attempts were failing so miserably, but I think it might have been the addition of fruits. My tact here was to essentially take a bunch of drier foods (mostly veggies) plus grains. The most questionable thing in this mix is frozen cubed turnip, which can be a little messy. But I only put a bit in, nothing to overwhelm the mix.

This fits with my feeding practices: drier stuff during the day that won't spoil since it has to sit in the cage for 12+ hours, wet stuff (i.e. fruits) is fed in the evening when I'm around to clean up after a couple hours.

 

[chris-md]

Chris,

I missed this post, great to hear you are getting back into the chop, and had success with the batch. Love the picture, Jasper looks very impressed...lol

Cheers,

Cameron

Hahaha! Are you guys taking turns calling each other's birds by the wrong name? ROTFL! Chris' ekkie is Parker. Jasper is Katie's little green guy.

Guess you're both even, now. Lol!

:11poke: I'm dying over here!!

 

[kozykitty]

I'm going to try this. Gloria (BFA) likes cooked barley and farro so I have those. I bought some jalapenos, a red bell pepper, broccoli, radishes, cabbage, carrots, green beans to chop. I'll also throw in some frozen corn and pomegranate after. Can I put in chia and flax seeds? I bought some in the bulk section at our organic store.

Also--when freezing--do you just thaw or do you heat? My instinct is to pull out a bag the night before and put it in the fridge, then heating just enough to bring it to room temperature. Does that sound about right?

One more question--how much coconut oil do you drizzle? I don't want it to go bad as I leave her chop dish in all day when I'm at work then I give her fresh in the evening. I'm a newbie to all of this. Thanks!

 

[plumsmum2005]

I'm going to try this. Gloria (BFA) likes cooked barley and farro so I have those. I bought some jalapenos, a red bell pepper, broccoli, radishes, cabbage, carrots, green beans to chop. I'll also throw in some frozen corn and pomegranate after. Can I put in chia and flax seeds? I bought some in the bulk section at our organic store.

Also--when freezing--do you just thaw or do you heat? My instinct is to pull out a bag the night before and put it in the fridge, then heating just enough to bring it to room temperature. Does that sound about right?

One more question--how much coconut oil do you drizzle? I don't want it to go bad as I leave her chop dish in all day when I'm at work then I give her fresh in the evening. I'm a newbie to all of this. Thanks!

Hello and apologies for adding to this runaway beast LOL

I did add Chia (ground) and it's OK just dulls the colour a bit and helps dry it up.

I do this and it's fine but also Okay to pull out and warm from frozen. Sorry can't answer the oil bit as I don't use this, although think I remember it being mentioned before in this thread. Perhaps as a suggestion just add the oil in the evening?

 

[Doublete]

I take mine out the night before.
Put a portion on the plate, microwave for 30 sec (too long creates hot spots).
I do remember a member used to warm in a pan with a drizzle of coconut oil on it then.

 

[chris-md]

I take mine out the night before.
Put a portion on the plate, microwave for 30 sec (too long creates hot spots).
I do remember a member used to warm in a pan with a drizzle of coconut oil on it then.

Ew, dishes on top having to wash the food bowls...couldn't do it. Kudos to whoever that member is for their dedication. Everything I do is to lighten my load

I just throw it in a watch glass (that glass you see on cooking shows that hold the herbs), cover with water, and microwave it for 45 seconds.

 

[chris-md]

Add away plumsmum!

 

[plumsmum2005]

Thanks - when it's good it's good!

 

[Anansi]

I warm my chop with hot water until it's VERY warm, though just short of hot. (Remember mine is refrigerated, not frozen. I only keep up to 3 days' worth, all in the fridge.) And then I serve it out into their individual bowls and add maybe a fifth of a teaspoon to each. The heat helps it to melt nicely as I mix it all together.

 

[lplummer52]

Yeah, I tried a couple chop recipes. It sure would be easier. But Screech won't eat it. He wants things he can recognize I guess.....like apple, orange, kale stalks, fresh peas, corn on the cob, brown rice, white beans and anything else he finds on our plates. No chop for him. He just throws it all out if his dish trying to find something he recognizes.

 

[Christinenc2000]

I keep trying chop. Mainly what I did this last time was ...... Left over Rice. Add some chopped veggies one fruit . Fridge it went. Took about two tbs Every evening and he ate it up SO like Stephen its Fridge not frozen so far. It is also in chunks Not chopped fine. Either way this saved me a few days work in the evenings.

I also put in Microwave for no more than 9 seconds. Just enough to knock the chill off. I worry to much about hot spots LOL


I know a week or two's worth would be so much easier. I still chop fresh fruit in the morning for him . Takes me a few min so no big deal.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I'd like to add my two cents, please.

For the last 25 or so years, I've been using sort of my own version of "chop", in combination with a few other elements. The Rickeybird eats Harrison's pellets for about 50% of his daily intake. He also recreives a few portions of what my husband (a competitive cyclist) fixes for himself... VERY MUCH a chop, but in smaller daily combinations: if you combined his weekly intake of stuff, it would be a dish of chop! In addition, he gets a big red or green chile pepper every day, which he guts for the seeds and then eats a bit of the flesh.

I used to treat him to cottage cheese and yogurt, but was recently advised by a scholarly person to stop, and who also advised me to add some seeds as a snack, which I now do.

For those of you who are having trouble with the classic chop, maybe this might help?

Do *I* eat the same healthy diet as my parrot and husband? I invoke my right not to incriminate myself!

 

[chris-md]

For those who FREEZE I figured out where I went wrong in original batches, and why it looks so awful:

DO NOT freeze, then defrost in the fridge overnight, then heat up what you need. When you defrost overnight it comes out looking NASTY. Instead, Take directly what you from the freezer for each meal and warm that up in water and serve. It looks much more appetizing

 

[Boopzhart]

I tried chop when I first started, but for some reason it always became super slimy and wilted upon reheating after freezing. Not sure what I've done differently but I've made two gigantic batches of chop and they are really keeping well when reheated. I just made 34 days worth of chop yesterday (if served once a day, with fruit being dinner. 17 days if fed twice a day) and I must say I'm converted!

Even better is that Parker loves it, for the most part. Here's a pic of him trying to pig out



This has it all:
Barley
Kale
Turnips
Corn
Peas
Green beans
Carrots
Oats
Radish
Cauliflower

To each serving this I'll add an oil (either coconut, flax seed, or red palm tree oil), sprouts, and maybe a top dressing of coconut shavings.

That I've gotten chop to work is really a big load off my back. No more food anxiety for the most part! The food processor has been one of the best purchases I've ever made! The challenge is learning what attachment to use on which food item. Shredder is great for most things like leafy greens and fruits. Stuff he won't eat like carrots and turnips needs to be chopped finer, not matchstick style. So the bottom rotating blender style blade is much more appropriate for these.

Go chop!!

Tysm for this .

 

[cytherian]

Is there a number of different chop recipes around? If a lot of people "wing it," is there any kind of general rule of thumb?
We feed our Ekkies two different pellet mixes that are specially formulated for Eclectus parrots, by a breeder who is an expert. So we trust her. For fresh food we'd been doing a ritual of fruits in the morning and veggies in the evening. We've now backed off on the fruits to a much smaller portion and sometimes skip. But veggies have been whole ones. Cucumber, snap peas, peas, carrots, peppers, and corn. It sounds like a chop is a better way to go, in terms of a more rounded nutritional content.

Our Ekkies LOVE to crunch. That is their major delight. With peppers they LOVE the seeds most of all. Is there a particular veggie good to add to chop that has a satisfying crunch to it?

One other question -- is there any difference in their poop when dieting well on a chop?