Cooking for Dogs Zucchini Boats

Maybe I just have strange dogs, but both Kolchak and Felix love herbs.

We have a little herb garden on our deck and it’s pretty common to find one of our dogs out there, helping themselves to a bite of two or fresh parsley or chewing on a basil leaf. Since many of my favourite spices and seasonings are not dog friendly and onion should never, ever be given to dogs as it is extremely dangerous, I find myself turning more and more to herbs to make our meals fresh and tasty.

I am a huge fan of Mediterranean food.




Zucchini Boat



These Greek-inspired zucchini boats are one of my absolute favourite things to eat. The combination of zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes and feta makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The dogs always think they should get to taste anything I’m eating, so it’s a great bonus that the herbs used to flavour these zucchini boats are 100% dog-friendly.


recipe for Zucchini Boats


Here’s what you need:
2 medium zucchinis
1 cup ground or finely diced chicken breast*
1 cup low fat feta cheese
¼ cup julienne sundried tomatoes
1 tsp. Basil & Oregano Paste** ~or~ 1 tsp. fresh basil & oregano
Optional: diced olives
*You can substitute your favourite meat or even tofu
** If you’re going to be lazy like I was and use store-bought paste, make sure you carefully read the label to ensure there is no onion in the paste



Preheat the oven to 375F.

Over high heat, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Place the whole zucchinis in the pot to partially cook, about 4 minutes. Remove from water and rinse under cold water to cool and stop the zucchini from cooking further. Slice in half and scoop out the zucchini innards. Finely chop the innards and set them aside.
In a separate pan, sauté the chicken over medium heat until browned.

Combine chicken, zucchini innards, sun dried tomato, ½ cup feta & egg, mixing well. Spoon into zucchini boats, filling them as full as you can. Sprinkle remaining feta over top. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, until feta has baked golden brown.

They start to smell tasty, even before they come out of the oven.

My dogs placed themselves right in front of the oven, waiting patiently and hoping for a couple bites. Since these aren’t a balanced meal, I didn’t let the dogs have a whole boat. Just a few bites each which was the perfect snack over their regular dinner. Served with some tasty Greek rice, a little hummus or tzatziki and some pita, these zucchini boats could make for a great meal for the humans of the house though.

Have you tried zucchini boats before? What’s your favourite thing to stuff them with?






Cooking for dogs

Cooking for Dogs




Meet our Cooking for Dogs Contributor Jodi and her dogs Kolchak and Felix

Jodi is a canine nutrition and small animal naturopathy student hailing from beautiful Vancouver, BC. (That’s in Canada, eh?) She loves to experiment in the kitchen, creating tasty (and healthy) treats for her two dogs, Felix & Kolchak and the rest of her family. Jodi’s blog, Kol’s Notes follows the antics of the irrepressible Kolchak as he celebrates good food, good friends and the good life.

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Comments

  1. Benny & Lily says

    mom said forget us, she wants to eat it
    Benny & Lily

    • Kolchak, Felix & Jodi says

      LOL, to be fair, I ate most of these and Koly and Fe only got a bite or two each. I was being a bit of a food hog this week.

  2. Wow! What a great sounding recipe. I can’t wait to make it and see how my Rosie Posie likes it.

    • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

      I hope she likes it! I hope you’ll pop over to Kol’s Notes or our Kol’s Notes Facebook page and let us know what she thinks :0)

  3. Mellissa Hanks says

    lol my husband would love this. My dogs on the other hand not veggie fans.

    • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

      Even with chicken and cheese on it?! LOL, they don’t know what they’re missing! I’m so lucky that my dogs actually adore fresh veggies.

  4. I am glad you mentioned the “No Onion” in the paste. I wasn’t sure what was okay to use and wasn’t. What do onions do to dogs? How do we decide what they can and cannot eat that we eat?

    • Onions cause anemia in both people and dogs. While a small amount is generally fine for most people a small amount can cause anemia which can lead to death in very small dogs. Raw onions should never be give to dogs for any reason.

      Chocolate is also a huge no no the more pure the chocolate the worse it is for a dog and the more deadly it has the potential to be.

      Raisins and grapes can also be highly toxic to dogs and should never be given to a dog in any form.

  5. That actually sound yummy even though I don’t have dogs 🙂

    • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

      I’ve been making these since before I had dogs as well. They’re a favourite~

  6. Bre Dale says

    Yummmmm! I love zuchini and my husband grows it so I would love to try this recipe! Thanks.

  7. Looks delicious to me!

  8. This looks pretty yummy!

  9. Sabrina Radke says

    No puppy friends here but this lookd like something my husband and boys would like!

  10. tum! this looks delicious 🙂

  11. I missed breakfast and now am super hungry! These look amazing and fairly easy to make too. Can I say I’m impressed you cook things like this for your dogs. I never would have thought to do that for the family dog as I was growing up. – Katy

    • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

      Thank you! I am a big believer that small amounts of HEALTHY people food are actually good for our dogs. Many people don’t realize it, but most kibble only has enough nutrients to keep them healthy because the manufacturers add a whole bunch of vitamins on after it’s cooked. Healthy, fresh food treats help to add some tasty nutritious extras to their diet.

      All that being said, a lot of my recipes are people food, first and foremost. If it wasn’t tasty enough for me to eat too I don’t know that I’d make it just for the dogs.

  12. this looks absolutely delicious! thank you for sharing it with us!

  13. of course i mean delicious for my dog! hah. thought perhaps my comment sounded a little like i meant otherwise. my dog is a pain but he would love this! (plus it does look a little too good for dogs hee)

    • Our recipes are meant to be something the entire family can enjoy and they are all human grade ingredients with no actual dog kibble in it so feel free to indulge!

      • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

        LOL Manda, *actually* all of our recipes here on cooking with dogs are meant to be eaten by pups AND their people! We want to show people how easy it is to share safe and healthy food with your dogs.

        I absolutely made enough for me to share this snack with them. Try it – it’s pretty darn good (if I do say so myself).

  14. I’m so making this for ME! I’m sure the dog will get the left overs but it looks wonderful!

  15. I can’t help but think the dog and I may fight over this dish looks delish

    • Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says

      I’m pretty sure my dog Kolchak considered wrestling me for the last bite.

  16. OMG – it is really cool

  17. Pampered pooches =)

  18. We don’t have any pets (allergies) but this sounds really good.
    It was also interesting to learn that dogs can;t have onion. Learn something new every day

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