Worldly Cuisines - African Sunset

I am always looking for different foods to try with my Bitty Birdies. Not only do I think it is important for them to have a quality and varied diet, but I also think it is great as enrichment too! I saw the Worldly Cuisines line by Higgins on My Safe Bird Store and was excited to try one! The Worldly Cuisine line is a cookable line of bird blends that is all natural and additive free (which I love). I chose the African Sunset blend to try first. It was super easy to prepare, just add boiling water and let simmer!
Below is the description and ingredient list.

African Sunset

A taste inspired by the many flavors of Africa including flax, sweet potato, papaya, pineapple, cashews and more all mixed in bed of pre-rinsed quinoa.

Ingredients: Quinoa, Hulled Millet, Cracked Wheat, Pasta, Flaxseed, Chopped Almond, Cashew Pieces, Dehydrated Cranberries, Papaya Granules, Pineapple Granules, Sweet Potato Dices, Cinnamon Powder, Dried Kelp, Tomato, Spinach, Annatto.

While cooking I noticed the blend smelled so good! You can really see and smell the spices! Once cooked, I decided to top it with some crumbled up dry Goldenfeast Hibiscus flowers and some chopped Kale. I offered the Bitty Birdies their dinners and it was a hit!! Opie dove right in! Bonnie & Clyde were a bit more reserved (as usual), but seemed to enjoy it as well! I am very happy with it, and love how easy it was to prepare. I will be trying other blends in the future for sure!

Sprouts

Since I really want to offer a healthy and varied diet, I decided to try sprouts! They are very similar to what many birds would be foraging for in the wild, and are very healthy for them nutritionally. After shopping around, I ordered a bag of Lil Bird Sprout Mix from Sprout People which is a mix specifically for smaller birds with 27 (YES 27) different varieties of certified organic seeds! 

I have tons of mason jars around here already, so ordered a BPA free sprouting lid off of Amazon (here) to fit a wide mouth jar to be my sprouter. Once everything came in I followed the very detailed instructions from Sprout People which you can read here. The only thing I did a bit differently is add one or two drops of GSE aka Grapefruit Seed Extract to the water for the initial soak. GSE is a natural disinfectant which is bird safe. *Look for a post on GSE soon!

Anyways, everything went perfectly, and in a few days I had some beautiful sprouts! At first Opie wouldn't touch them, but like with all new foods, he was willing to try them IF and only IF I hand fed him. Once he tried them he was hooked though! I have been offering them about every other day, usually as a topping to his chop. I couldn't be happier with the seeds from Sprout People and will surely buy them again when my pound runs out! 

First Chop Done!

I have been reading a lot about fresh foods and "Chop" and decided to give it a try! Chop is basically a large batch of chopped up and mixed fresh foods. The beauty of chop is that it is a way to prepare large batches of fresh food, that can be frozen and then thawed as needed. I decided to do a chop that consisted of the foods below. I used veggies, grains, and beans, thinking I would top with fresh fruit after I thawed it. All ingredients that I used were organic and washed well to be extra safe. If when thawed the consistency is too runny, I will add steel cut oats to soak up some of the extra moisture.

Greens - kale, collard, & mustard greens.
Quinoa - cooked lightly so that it would soak up a bit of the extra juice from the greens.
Whole grain pasta- cooked al dente.
13 Bean Soup - soaked overnight, then cooked.
Carrots - shredded.
Red, yellow & green bell peppers - diced with seeds.
Canned pumpkin - lightly baked.
Broccoli florets.
Yellow squash - diced.
Peas & green beans - diced.
Corn - off the cob.

Here is what the chop looked like once done:

I then divided the chop into these baby food freezing trays which I had left over from making my son home made baby food (I love that they have lids). Once frozen, the cubes can be popped out and put into large ziplock freezer bags for storage with the date made written on the bag in sharpie. Then to use you can just thaw as needed! Perfect portions for Biddy Birdies!! :)

Birdy Bread - First batch!

Yesterday I made my first batch of birdy bread! I am really trying to keep busy waiting for Opie if you couldn't tell ;) Since this was my first time trying to make it, I decided to go with a mix and bought Momma's Bird Bread in Harvest Loaf. The directions were super simple...just mix in 2 Tbsp oil (not olive, I chose coconut), 1 cup of water or chicken stock (I used water), and two eggs with shells. So I mixed it all up and poured it into a silicone mini loaf pan since with such a little bird, smaller servings will be better. Then I followed the baking instructions, and voila! My first batch of birdy bread! I love how much seed and dehydrated fruits and veggies are in it! If it didn't have the crushed up egg shells baked it, I would have tried a slice for sure!

Since Opie will be so small, I decided to cut each mini loaf in half, wrap each half in saran wrap, then put all of the individually wrapped pieces in a large Ziplock bag to freeze. On the bag I wrote the type of bread, the flavor, and the date I made it in Sharpie. Momma's says that the bread will stay frozen for a year, and is good for up to a week in the fridge, so my plan is to thaw just one piece at a time so that it is always fresh for Opie! I have read Parrotlets really love this stuff, so I will let you know how it goes!