Recipes

Birdie Breads by Charles King

Hav­ing a hard time get­ting your picky par­rot to eat their veg­gies? You can hide a mul­ti­tude of good things in birdie breads and your feath­ered angels will gob­ble them up!
Our imag­i­na­tion is the only lim­it, real­ly, when mak­ing the bread! You can find lots of recipes. When I see canned ingre­di­ents, I try to sub­sti­tute some­thing fresh or dif­fer­ent alto­geth­er. Don’t like those sweet corn­bread mix­es? Just use half corn­meal and half whole grain flour. I found these vari­a­tions quickly:

ETA: Our ‘Too prefers veg­eta­bles to fruit. We rarely add any fruit, just sub­sti­tute grat­ed or chopped pep­pers, squash, car­rots, yams, etc.

Basic Birdie Bread

  • 2 box­es Jiffy corn muf­fin mix
  • 3 T. bak­ing powder
  • 1 tsp. Spirulina
  • 2 eggs and shells (puree in blender)
  • 4 jars baby food (car­rots, sweet pota­toes, a fruit, chicken/turkey with rice, noo­dles, or vegetables)
  • 3/4 c. peanut butter
  • 2 c. baby cere­al (buy low­est per­cent of iron)
  • 1 1/2 c. shredded/chopped veg­gies (usu­al­ly car­rots or broccoli)
  • Almost any of the baby foods can be used but choose those with a high Vit­a­min A content.

Note: – the bat­ter will be hard to mix!! Mix wet and dry ingre­di­ents sep­a­rate­ly. Com­bine wet and dry ingre­di­ents along with shredded/chopped veg­gies. Spray 9×13 pan with cook­ing spray and bake about 30 min. in a 400 degree pre­heat­ed oven. Cool on rack, cut into squares and freeze in 3 day batches.
Option­al addi­tions: Chopped nuts, toast­ed soy­bean bits, shred­ded low fat cheese, dried fruit (small pieces), shaved cut­tle­bone, toast­ed sun­flower ker­nels, pureed bananas peeled, pureed fresh man­go, papaya or kiwi {reduce num­ber of jars of baby food)

    Birdie Apple Cinnamon Muffins

  • 3 c. flour
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 1 1/2 t. cream tartar
  • 3/4 t. bak­ing soda
  • 1/2 t. orange peel
  • 1/2 t. cinnamon
  • 1/2 c. butter
  • 1 c. fine­ly chopped apple
  • 1 c. french vanil­la yogurt
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Mix all togeth­er. Fill greased muf­fin cups 2/3rds full. Makes 22 muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 min­utes. 325 degrees for Baker’s Secret pans. After bak­ing, brush tops of warm muffins with melt­ed but­ter & then dip in mix­ture of 1/2 t. cin­na­mon & 1/3 c. sugar.

Birdie Pumpkin Bread

  • 3 c. sug­ar plus bit of molasses
  • 1 c. veg­etable oil
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 16 oz. canned pumpkin
  • 3 1/2 c. flour
  • 2 t. soda
  • 1/2 t. ground cloves
  • 1 t. each cin­na­mon, all­spice, nutmeg
  • 2/3 c. water
  • 2 c. nuts (option­al)

Mix sug­ar, oil & eggs togeth­er. Add pump­kin, then add dry ingre­di­ents then water, stir­ring until just mixed. Pour bat­ter into 2 greased & floured loaf pans. Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour, or makes 6 mini loaves in 40 minutes

Birdie Apricot Nut Bread

  • 1 c. snipped dry apricots
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 2 T. soft butter
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 c. orange juice
  • 2 c. flour
  • 1 t. cream of tartar
  • 3/4 t. bak­ing soda
  • 3/4 c. chopped nuts

Soak apri­cots in warm water for 30 min­utes. (option­al) Cream togeth­er sug­ar, but­ter & egg. Stir in orange juice. Com­bine flour, bak­ing soda & cream of tar­tar. Drain apri­cots well; add to bat­ter. Stir togeth­er. Add nuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min or until bread tests done. Cool ten min­utes in pan before remov­ing to wire rack. If use mini loaf pans makes 4 loaves & Baker’s Secret pans 28 min­utes. A dou­ble recipe yields 7 loaves at 325 degrees for 33 min in Baker’s Secret pans.

Birdie Banana Nut Bread

  • 3.5 c. flour
  • 2 t. cream tartar
  • 1.5 t. bak­ing soda
  • 2/3 c. apple­sauce (or 2 apples chopped finely)
  • 1 1/3 c. sugar
  • 4 eggs, well beaten
  • 2 c. ripe mashed bananas
  • 1 c. chopped baby carrots
  • 2 c. pecans
  • 1 jar baby food, win­ter squash or sweet pota­to (option­al)

Bake 350 for about 30–33 min makes 6 mini loaves or approx 1 hour for 2 large loaves

Pineapple Carrot Bread

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sug­ar (can use less)
  • 1 t. bak­ing soda
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups shred­ded carrots
  • 1 cup veg­etable oil (or 1 c. applesauce)
  • 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineap­ple, drained
  • 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 2 t. vanil­la extract

Com­bine flour, sug­ar, bak­ing soda, cin­na­mon. In anoth­er bowl, beat eggs, add car­rots, oil, pineap­ple, nuts & vanil­la. Stir moist ingre­di­ents into dry ingre­di­ents, mix­ing just until moist­ened. Spoon into 2 greased & floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 65–75 min­utes or until loaves test done. Cool 10 min­utes in pans before remov­ing to wire racks. Makes 6 mini loaves, if baked in Baker’s secret pans at 325 degrees takes 35–40 minutes.

Birdie Corn Bread #1

  • 1 box of corn­bread mix
  • 1 extra egg (includ­ed shells)
  • 1 c. frozen mixed vegetables

Bake as direct­ed. Cut into serv­ing sizes and freeze. Defrost and serve as needed.

Eight Grain Corn Bread

  • 2 boxes(8 1/2 oz.) Jiffy Corn Muf­fin Mix
  • 2 c. Eight Grain Cere­al, not cooked
  • 1 c. peanut butter
  • 4 eggs with shells

Mix ingre­di­ents in a large bowl, adding enough water to make a cake-like bat­ter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30–35 minutes.

A Great Birdie Bread

  • 2 C cock­atiel crumbles
  • 1 banana
  • 1/3 C wheat germ oil
  • 6 eggs–with shell
  • 3T pump­kin, yams or squash
  • 1/3 C veg­etable oil
  • 1 1/2 T apple­sauce or 1/2 apple
  • 1 C thawed frozen mixed vegetables
  • 1 C cooked dry beans
  • 1 C cooked brown rice
  • 2 C corn meal
  • 4 T bak­ing powder

Food process first 8 ingre­di­ents. Add beans & rice and blend until pul­ver­ized. Add to corn­meal and bak­ing pow­der. Mix well. Add water if too thick. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 min­utes til done.
*You can find wheat germ oil (for hors­es) at most feed stores. Freeze the stuff crum­bled, zap about 1 T. per bird per day.

Pam Skidmore’s Birdy Muffins

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

  • 1 1/4 cups flour; I used 3/4 cup spelt flour and 3/4 cup fava and gar­ban­zo flour
  • 1/2–3/4 cup of ground Har­risons (using a cof­fee grinder) to the batter
  • 1 1/2 cups organ­ic quick cook­ing oatmeal
  • 1/2 tsp bak­ing powder
  • 1/2 tsp bak­ing soda
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 1 tsp wheat germ
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 cup almonds
  • 4 egg Whites (no yolks)
  • 1/3 cup Extra Vir­gin Olive oil
  • 2 con­tain­ers Organ­ic Apple baby Food
  • 1/2 cup Blueberries
  • 1–2 Tbsp Hemp Seed
  • 1–2 tbsp Chia seed
  • 1–2 Tbsp Sesame seed
  • and 1–2 Tbsp Organ­ic Mil­let Papaya Juice, as need­ed to get cor­rect consistency

Pre­heat oven to 375 degrees; use mini muffins and bake approx 15 mins until done. Make a moist muf­fin, which they all love. (I mod­i­fied this from a recipe in healthy bird cook­book; feel free to add/change as you like ~0~
Find the flour/fava/garbanzo flours at this site per Pam Bob’s Red Mill