August 31, 2015

Our Marvelous Breakfast Routine with The Honest Kitchen's New Limited Ingredient Recipe


Since I feed a rotational diet, my brand loyalty can be a fickle thing, but The Honest Kitchen is one of my favorite companies around, and one I don't rotate from for The Ginger Sisters' breakfast. We change recipes by the box, but I don't switch brands for this meal. As the only human grade dog food on the market, I believe it's one of the very best.

I am always excited when they release a new product and was happy to learn that a new turkey formula was coming out, since turkey is one of my favorite proteins to feed. Marvel is part of the "Minimalist" line, and aside from vitamins and minerals, it truly contains only six whole food ingredients: turkey, parsnips, navy beans, coconut, pumpkin and parsley. My dogs don't have any known allergies or sensitivities, but these new formulas are great news for those that do. In addition to the existing limited ingredient chicken recipe, Thrive, they have also added a limited ingredient fish recipe, Brave. I just love their name choices and the hand-crafted look of the packaging.


My dad has been gone for the past few days - he is normally the one to feed Ruby and Boca their breakfast, giving me a little more time to sleep in - so I've been getting up early for pet diner duty. I actually love preparing their breakfast, even though it takes a little longer than their evening routine of kibble. They always have breakfast out of their beautiful Robusto bowls that we won from Kol's Notes, and I make my coffee at the same time. One of the first things I noticed about Marvel is that it is chunkier than other formulas - I could see the pieces of parsnip mixed in and the parsley imparted a nice green color. As with all of their formulas, it smells delicious - rich and savory, like something I would eat.


Marvel required much less water than I am used to, even less than the other grain-free varieties. (The whole-grain recipes tend to bulk up like oatmeal). I am accustomed to eyeballing it on the dehydrated mix-to- water ration but I was way off with this and had to add more food to get the consistency Ruby and Boca prefer. I will have to remember this in the future. I always add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to the girls' breakfast - Ruby loves the taste, it is great for their skin and coats and is said to have many other benefits. Boca also gets a holistic digestive supplement, and sometimes I top their morning meal with canned food or healthy leftovers like fruits or vegetables.


When I set their dishes down for their first taste of Marvel, I was surprised to see Boca sniff the food and walk away. Boca is not my picky dog. I'm not sure if it was the thinner consistency or the simpler smell, but she quickly returned to clean her plate, and didn't hesitate at all the next morning. Ruby, on the other hand, licked her bowl completely clean before Boca - another surprise since she is normally my picky eater! Ruby definitely found Marvel to her liking. It was fun to see her enjoy her breakfast so much. While it's not necessary to feed a limited ingredient diet to my girls, I'm glad to have one more option from The Honest Kitchen to add to our rotation.

If you'd like to give The Honest Kitchen a try, click here for a coupon for 50% off a 2lb box.

Disclaimer: I was provided a 4 lb box of The Honest Kitchen Marvel limited ingredient turkey recipe in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and I only publish reviews for products I feel comfortable using in the day to day life of my pets.

8 comments:

  1. We like their Honest Kitchen treats
    Lily & Edward

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  2. We got that one, too and I had the same problem with the water to THK ratio! The first time I made it, it was soup. LOL

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    1. I expected the parsnip pieces to soak up the water more, but they didn't. It really needs very little water. I have lots left to perfect!

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  3. I picked Brave, and the dogs seem to like it fair enough. I've noticed less gusto than with the other grain free varieties, but not much. Glad they've finally come out with something higher protein!

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  4. It's comforting to see others with the same experiences, especially the really low need for water. What fascinates me is that it's really similar in appearance to the base mix we use the most often, Kindly--but it absorbs the water really differently.
    One cheat I figured out for when I don't want to pay attention--if you mix it with a little bit of Keen, you can add more water without making soup. That's been our go-to frozen Kong stuffer for the past week or so.

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  5. I love their food names as well!

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