Purina Beneful Originals Has a New Formula, and We Have a New Healthy Recipe for You Too!

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Dog food is kind of a big thing in my family. With two Olde Boston Bulldogs that are, um – energetic to say the least – our little Oliver and Lulu need all the nutrition they can get. Seriously. It’s like having two toddlers running around. So, when I saw that Purina Beneful Originals was reformulated I was all in!

 

I’m going to admit something – for many, many years, I wasn’t a dog person. I was totally a cat person. From our first cat (a tabby named Albert that we got when I was 7-years-old), I’ve always been all about felines. That was until I met my now-husband. He’d always had dogs and when we moved in together, that also meant moving in with Duke (his Shepard mix).

Fast forward 17 years, and we’ve had four dogs (including our current two) and one human (that would be our almost 15-year-old son, who by the way, is very much a dog person).

 

 

This brings me back to the nutrition thing. That’s why we feed our dogs Purina Beneful Originals. And, I’m glad we do! Why? Because now Purina Beneful Originals and IncrediBites has a new reformulation – with meat as the #1 ingredient and NO sugar added! It was actually created with dog owners in mind, using real feedback and relying on two years of research.

Obviously the dogs aren’t the only ones in the house who need a healthy diet. My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last spring. Now that the dog’s main dish is sugar-free, it matches pretty perfectly to my son’s new meal plan. Not that we ate a high-sugar diet (type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, and NOT a disease that is a result of lifestyle choices), but there’s always room for improvement. Healthy eating isn’t an option for us, it’s a must-do.

Okay, Ollie and Lu (our little nicknames for the dogs) get the good stuff with the NEW Beneful Formula! Dry Dog Food Reformulation – and they are incredibly happy about it (or at least they seem so, as they can’t exactly tell me). I love the idea that the new formula has meat as a main ingredient, and wanted to recreate a similar ‘meal’ idea for our family. With that in mind, I got a few steaks and an awesome array of fresh veggies. The result? A rainbow vegetable and meat recipe that’s a total parallel to the new Purina Beneful Originals. I can also take care of getting both meals (the Purina for our dogs and the ingredients for my family) at one place! The reformulated Purina Beneful Originals is available at most grocery stores and retailers such as Target and Walmart (and who doesn’t like getting everything in one easy shopping trip?).

 

 

Before I get into the recipe specifics, I need to make an important point – this is not a dog food recipe. The new Purina Beneful Originals takes care of that. I treat my dogs to a tasty meal with it, so there really isn’t much else they need. One thing they certainly don’t need is ‘people food’. Are our dogs part of the family? Yes, of course they are. Do they sit at the table and eat with us? No, they don’t. People food isn’t made for dogs. That’s why our Ollie and Lu get their Purina Beneful Originals, and not the meal from our plates.

 

Also, dogs often have sensitive stomachs. Our little Lulu certainly does. Even though we’ve been feeding them Purina brand food for what seems like forever, we didn’t want to just dive right in with the new Purina Beneful Originals. We started slowly adding it to their existing diet. This let them get used to the new formula, without giving them any tummy issues. Eventually we phased out the old food, and were able to completely feed them the new one.

Okay, okay, and onto the recipe. And, by the way – it’s totally simple. I’m not exactly ready to audition for Top Chef. So, this is easy enough for even the novice to try. But, it’s still super-healthy, completely colorful and tasty.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        Steak -- look for a thick cut or if you want to go the easy, non-slicing route, get cubed steak from your butcher’s section.

·        Rainbow veggies – pick whatever’s in season (I used yellow, green and red peppers, zucchini, beets and radishes).

·        Fresh mint

·        1 lemon

·        Olive oil

·        Skewers (the shish-kabob kind)

Here’s What to Do:

1. If the steak isn’t cubed already, cut it into cubes.

2. Put the steak into a mixing bowl, and drizzle the olive oil on top.

3. Finely chop the mint. Add it to the mixing bowl.

4. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice into the mixing bowl.

5. Mix everything in the bowl. Cover with foil, and refrigerate for one hour (if it ends up being longer, that’s okay too).

6. While the steak is marinating, chop the veggies. If you’re using beets, slice them lengthwise.

 

7. Add the meat and veggies (except for the beets) to the skewers. Alternate the meat with the vegetables.

 

8. Grill the skewers (if you’re cooking beets, grill them separately) until the meat is completely cooked. Never eat raw or undercooked meat (you can pull off one cooled piece of meat from a skewer and cut it in half to make sure that it’s completely cooked).

Serve the steak and rainbow vegetables on the skewers or take everything off before you add it to the plate. That’s it! It’s so very simple. Maybe it’s not as easy as opening up a bag of Purina Beneful Originals.  But, like the Purina Beneful Originals reformulation, it spotlights meat in a refreshingly healthy way.

 

Are you ready to try Purina Beneful Originals new formula? Sign up for a free sample here.

What's your favorite healthy meat recipe? Share it with us in the comments section below!