Nutriberries Clone

[Mrs.Birdy]

1 cup dried fruits of your choice
2 tbsp. coconut
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
1/4 cup any seed mix of choice
1/4 cup. pellets of choice
2-3 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 lge. tbsp. honey or molasses

Blend or put in food processor the 1st 3 ingredients. Blend well. Add the rest of the ingredients...it will be sticky.

Roll into various sized balls of your preference and use wet hands to make it easier to roll.

Bake on greased cookie sheets at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.

Check them at 15 minutes to make sure they do not brown and just set.

When cool place in airtight jars


:D

[birdygirl]

Ohh!!!! Sophie would love these.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Birdygirl: Let me know if you make them and how sophie likes them. I am going to try them this weekend.

[dlaura]

Mrs. Birdy,
Thanks for the recipe - I plan to try them too. However, this weekend is just crazy, so probably will not be until the following weekend.

Let me know how your birds like them.

[Redstorm1721]

That sounds wonderful. I also will make some.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Well, I tried the nutriberries recipe this morning and they turned out great. Just follow the recipe exactly and do not over bake them. I baked for 20 mins. the first batch and they were too dry. The second batch I baked for 15 minutes and were just right.

They are partly chewy, crispy, and nutty. Marcel and Snickers liked them.

The budgies snubbed them as they do everything other than their seeds and pellets, but I will keep trying.

I GIVE THIS ONE A THUMBS UP !!!!

[Mrs.Birdy]

P.S. I used the molasses this time and Ocean Spray dried craisins (orange flavored dried cranberries) and a dried mix of apricots, prunes, pears, peaches, and raisins.

I chopped the dried fruit very fine in food processor. This helped distribute them in the mixture.

The molasses and peanut butter made them smell really appetizing.

Good luck!!!

[JSimko]

Has anyone ever tried these on themselves? I have. I know what the birds see in them. They are good.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Did you make these Jason? Did you find it fairly easy to do? What do you think?
I rolled them a little too large....will make them smaller next time.

That's what takes the most time....rolling them.

[JSimko]

No I haven't had the time. I will this weekend. The ones I tried were store bought.

[crazeemama]

Wow this look like something my granddaughter can help with! she just loves stuff ya gotta handle. Did you use the hulled seeds?

[crazeemama]

almost forgot. fyi the ocean spray craisins used to have a lot of additional sweetners in them. Might want to compare indgredients. I haven't used that brand for a number of years so maybe they have changed.
p.s. I have disbetes so i am consatantly reading labels - hope i am not getting t o be a thorn in everyones side.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Yikes....I never thought about the sugar in Craisins! I will eliminate them from the recipe and just use the natural dried fruit and raisins.

They haven't changed over the years....still says sweetened and sugar is the second ingredient...I am surprised I overlooked this one.

Anyway, you are not a thorn in MY side....I appreciate and use all the information I get from everyone here.

Thanks Crazeemama.

[crazeemama]

Nutritional info is sortof my hobby - sort ofan 'occupational hazard' as i would like to do all i can to keep my feet,etc! So it just carried over with the animals. Also do be surenon of your dried fruit contains sulpher dioxide either. It is used to keep the fruit from turning brown as it dries. But it isn't the greatest stuff either.
Sugars abound in food products AND in the pellets,etc. I thin k especially for birds with yeast infections, candida,etc. it pays to really check the added sugars.

[Amanda]

How many nutriberry balls did this recipe make, MrsBirdy? I was planning on baking a new batch of birdie bread for Rio (with veggies this time) but maybe I'll try this one instead. I know she loves peanut butter....so she'll probably like this recipe.

Rio was so funny the first time I gave her peanut butter. I put some peanut butter on an unsalted cracker. She looked at the cracker then turned her back. I guess she didn't know what the brown stuff was. When I checked on it a while later, I saw that she had eaten all around the peanut butter ... but didn't touch any of the cracker that had peanut butter on it. Later that day, when I checked again, it was all gone. Now, whenever I give her peanut butter, she can't wait to chow down! :D

[Mrs.Birdy]

Amanda:

When I rolled the nutriberries mixture, I got impatient and started to make them too large. However, when all was said and done, I turned out approx. 60-70 pieces.

Next time I will make them the size of store bought nutriberries (I would guess approx. 1/2 inch round) and this will make more and will be easier for the birds to hold onto.

By the way...the peanutty aroma is irresistible. Marcel flipped.

[Amanda]

Did you freeze some of the nutriberries or are they okay in the fridge?

[Mrs.Birdy]

I leave them in an air tight container in the fridge. I keep all my bird food in the fridge. I freeze the birdy bread and defrost pieces in the microwave.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Oh I'm so glad to hear that. It must be the combination of peanut butter and molasses (or honey) that drives them wild. It is all very nutritious for them too.

My Marcel is wild about them too.

[Amanda]

MrsBirdy, I just made a batch of nutriberries tonight but instead of using the dried fruits, I used dried veggies instead. I'm determined to feed Rio some veggies ... :)

My fids are asleep now (10:53 pm) so I'll have to wait till morning to give them the nutriberries. They smell so delicious ... I'm tempted to try them. :D

[Mrs.Birdy]

Amanda: I hope they like them. Let me know.

[Amanda]

MrsBirdy, Bijou & Rio loved the nutriberry clones! Finally, I got Rio to eat some veggies ... :D

THANK YOU !!!!!!

[Mrs.Birdy]

Great, I hope they continue to enjoy them. Good luck.

[Amanda]

MrsBirdy, can I copy this recipe and post it in my BH Pi website? I have posted some recipes there ... but only after I've made them and am sure that my birds approve of them ... :D

Since your nutriberries clone was such a big hit with Rio & Bijou, I want to add them to the website ...

[Mrs.Birdy]

No problem, you may post the recipe.

:)

[birdygirl]

I will have to try this recipie!! I bet Sophie will love it....

[JSimko]

Same here. I wonder if Tweety will try it.

[Jenny]

The other day I found a bag of dried fruit in my pantry which I had forgotten about, so I thought I'd try making the nutriberries. Only problem is that half way through it, I realized that I didn't have molasses or seed! So, they ended up being quite different from your recipe, but here's what I put in them:
(I didn't measure anything, so these are approximations)
1/3 c rolled oats, 1 cup diced dried fruit (oranges, pineapple, cranberries, grapes, apple, passion fruit), the seeds from one spray of millet, 3 tbls corn syrup, 1 1/2 c crushed pellets, 1/2 cup refried organic pinto beans, one large grated carrot, and 1/4 c peanut butter. I'm sure I'm forgetting something...! Anyway, I rolled them all into nutriberry sized balls, baked at 350 for 5 minutes, and it made about 50. And, most important of all, my birds love them!!! I've been putting them in the carousel toys for my birds as snacks and it's so fun watching them eating them!

[dlaura]

Great improvisation Jenny!

[Jenny]

Thanks! And I just realized what ingredient I forgot to mention- about 1/3 c cornmeal, though you could leave it out and it probably wouldn't make a difference!

[dlaura]

Another good economical recipe!

[dlaura]

Much less expensive then store bought ones.

[Magnum]

I like this recipe.. ;) I may be able to sneak some cauliflower in it too... :p