My possum won't eat vegetables!

Help! My possum won't eat vegetables!!!

Let me start out by saying these are ideas geared towards older possums who are past the Stage 4 diet in size. For younger babies, please stick to the Stage 1-4 diet protocols!

Veggie Egg Bites:

You can make these using whole eggs or just egg whites. I use egg whites because I actually started making these for our little dog Annie and I have to watch her potassium intake. You can make these in a standard sized muffin pan or a pan that make those bite-sized mini muffins. They freeze pretty nicely to for later use.

Use a non-stick muffin pan and coat with a tiny bit of olive oil.

Basically, all you do is mince up enough vegetables to fill each muffin tin 2/3 of the way up.

Then pour in just enough whisked whole eggs or egg whites, to cover the vegetables, leaving some space for it to expand. Give each one a little stir so that the eggs are mixed in well.

For mini muffins, bake at 350 degrees for appx 15 minutes

For standard sized muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

This image shows the finished project, however for possums who really dislike vegetables, I advise you to really minced those vegetables up much smaller than what you see here. They are less likely (hopefully) to spit them out that way.

Frittata:

Just another egg-based dish. Whisk your egg(s) and set aside.

Mince up your vegetables into teeny tiny pieces.

Toss the vegetables in with your egg mixture, pour it all in a pan and cook it up like a pancake.

Be aware of portions! Too much protein is not good for your possum. Feed the appropriate amount of this for the size of your possum and refrigerate or freeze the rest to use on other days.

Smoothies:

Smoothies can be another creative way to get vegetables into your possum and there is no exact way in which you have to make them. Here is just 1 example:

½ cup almond milk-based yogurt
2 oz unsweetened apple juice
1 cup mixed greens
2 blueberries
1/8th tsp cinnamon
¼ inch fresh turmeric root (optional)
1 raw mushroom
½ tsp nutritional yeast

Blend together on high until everything is completely broken down and throughouly mixed. Turmeric is a wonderful thing to get your possums to accept, but it has somewhat of a strong taste…..experiment with it, and start out small.

Here is Lucy, thoroughly enjoying her vegetable smoothie.

Green Powder:

This is something I generally make myself using all the many edible weeds, flowers and other plants we grow in our yard, but it’s a lot of work so if you don’t want to tackle that, there are products you can buy already pre-made. You can make a smoothie using a tsp of this powder instead of mincing up vegetables, its not quite the same thing nutritionally, but it will be getting plant-based food into your possum. You can also incorporate it into their meals by adding just a light sprinkling of it into their food and mixing it in really well.

Compassionate Circle Green Mush: https://compassioncircle.com/product/green-mush-10-oz-powder/

If you want to take this task on yourself and make your own for future use, these are some of the plants we grow, purchase, collect and dry and then I grind it into a fine powder:

Laura's Magic Green Powder:

Orchard and timothy hay
Hibiscus leaves and flowers
Rose; flowers and the hips
Violets and pansies
Marigold
Alyssum
Nasturtium
Blossoms off the squash, peas, and other vegetables we grow
Sage blossoms
Bee balm
Chamomile
Clover
Echinacea
Dandelion
Plantain
Wheat grass
Chickweed
Raspberry leaf
Spirulina (store bought) I use appx ½ tsp
Chlorella (store bought) I use appx ½ tsp
Collards
Turnip greens
Kale
Bell peppers
Zucchini
Mushrooms

Make sure all your plants are completely bone dry, then store them in an air tight container until you have everything you need to make a batch of green powder. If you have a dehydrator, it will speed the process considerably. You can also use your oven on a very low setting as well.

The ingredients I use the most of are collards, turnip greens, kale, various other greens and the actual vegetables. All the flowers, weeds and herbs take up the rest of it and the hays take up the smallest portion. Hay is a great source of fiber, but I don’t add a lot and you can leave it out altogether if you want. I always have it on hand here because of all the animals we have that eat it.

Make sure any weeds or flowers etc that you source are chemical free. Our yard is 100% organic so we pick everything here. Any vegetables or greens we purchase to add in are organic.

You do not have to use everything I have listed above, not everyone has all of this growing in their yards, but use what you can, purchase whatever else you need, dry/dehydrate it all and when you have everything ready, I sort of crumble everything up with my hands first and then toss it in small amounts into our blender and blend it until it turns into a fine powder. TIP: Do NOT take off the blender lid until the dust has settled or it will make a mess and you don’t want to inhale all that dust. I sometimes drag my blender outside to make this.

Once its all made, store it in an air tight container or Ziploc bag in a dark cabinet. I like to fill up a pepper shaker with some as well to make it easy to sprinkle onto their food.

Cooking Vegetables Creatively

Roasted Vegetables: Roasting vegetables can take them to a whole other level and you just never know if your possum will accept them this way until you try it. I make huge pans of these for my husband and I and he will eat certain vegetables like Brussel Sprouts, and cauliflower that he wouldn’t even touch before.

Cut up and toss your vegetables with a little olive oil and smoked paprika (you can even add a little cinnamon). Cover with foil and roast at 450 degrees for appx 20-25 minutes. Uncover and roast for another 15-20 minutes until done and they have taken on that delicious golden caramelized look. See if your possum likes them and enjoy the rest yourself.

Cooking times vary based on what you are roasting. We use a lot of butternut squash, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, bell peppers, carrots, fresh green beans, baby potatoes, turnips, beets, zucchini etc

Simmered vegetables: Try gently simmering an array of vegetables in some salt free chicken broth. You could even cook a nice batch of vegetables up in your crock pot with some chicken tossed in for extra flavor. Yummy for them and a good base for you to use the rest for homemade chicken vegetable soup. You can add salt to taste later for your own use.

Got an air fryer? You might try air frying some vegetables and see if they will eat them that way to. The crispy exterior it gives to vegetables might be all the persuasion they need.

Vegetable Patties: (seasoning has been removed from this recipe)

1 can chickpeas
1/2 cups chopped cabbage
1 cup chopped greens (collards, kale etc)
½ cups grated zucchini (Squeeze all the water out first)
1/2 cup grated bell pepper
1 cup cauliflower
1/3 cup frozen peas
4 tbsp flour
1 ½ TBSP olive oil + for frying (28+ grams)

Instructions:

Drain liquid completely from canned chickpeas and wash beans with fresh water couple of times.
Thaw frozen peas.
Place vegetables and chickpeas in a food processer, process until vegetables are minced. Ensure vegetables have some texture and not too smooth and mushy. Mince vegetables in batches and transfer them into a deep bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a deep skillet or pan over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is hot, combine minced chickpeas, and veggies. Sauté well and cook for 8-10 minutes until the moisture is absorbed. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent vegetables from sticking at the bottom of the pan.
Allow vegetable mixture to cool down to room temperature.
Scoop out a lime size mixture, place on palm and gently press with another palm to flatten the ball and make a round patties. smooth out the edges gently and keep them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place the baking sheet in fridge for about 30 minutes. This helps patties to hold the shape and prevent them from disintegrating while frying.
Meanwhile, make a flour slurry to coat the patties. Combine flour and water in a small bowl, mix until you get smooth and lump-free slurry. Keep the bowl aside.
Heat oil in a shallow pan over medium-low heat.
Dip each patty in a flour slurry and coat all sides and then place them on a pan.
Fry a batch of patties for 3-4 minutes, then flip and fry other side for another 3-4 minutes or until patties are evenly browned.
Repeat the process until you fry all patties.

Images of vegetable patties: Vegetable patties can be made using just about ANY vegetable. I often add in grated zucchini to ours. The chickpeas are what holds it all together but you can also use an egg as well.

TIP: Use minimum oil and choose a healthy one like olive oil to fry these up. You can also bake these using no oil at all!

Meatloaf: I recommend trying this for older possums, who are no longer in the baby diet stages.

Ingredients:

1 cup (128 grams) ground DARK meat chicken (Dark meat has far less phosphorous than white meat)
1 egg (acts as a binder)
3 cups minced vegetables (384 grams)

Grind up your vegetables and greens in a food processor until they are minced up into tiny little pieces. In a bowl, combine the meat and the vegetables, put it in a small baking dish, cover with foil, and bake it like a meatloaf. Offer a small slice of this to your possum at mealtime along with a couple bites of fruit and a little kibble.

Grind your vegetables up at least this small…..smaller if you can. The more its minced up, the harder it will be for your possum to spit those vegetables out!

Finished Product:

Here is an example of what this looks like when its baked. (I make and spread a cranberry puree on top of the meatloaf before baking): Be careful not to over feed too much protein to your possum!

Juicing:

The fiber we all get from eating fruits and vegetables is important, and if you can incorporate some of that in with juicing, that’s wonderful. I often leave much of the “pulp” in when I make homemade juices.

Consider experimenting with various juices, there are SO many recipes to be found online and you can juice just about any vegetable or fruit. The KEY here is to make juice that is 90-95% vegetable based, adding in only enough fruit to sweeten it enough to entice your possum to drink it.

Not all possums will like this, but its worth a try. Some appreciate a smoothie more than juice, but this is a lower calorie alternative you should at least consider.

Try juicing some kale, spinach, celery, a small chunk of carrot and cucumber, and add in a slice of apple to sweeten it up a bit. Since celery has a strong flavor, you can omit that if they don’t like it.

If you can sneak in some fresh turmeric root and or fresh ginger, that is a very healthy addition to. Experiment to see what they like, just remember not to go overboard on the fruit!

TIP: A spoonful of yogurt added in might entice them to drink this also!

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