Halloween Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats

Halloween Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats

This Halloween I was looking for a festive and appropriate recipe, after all, with all the tricks my dogs play on me I guess they deserve a treat every so often. 

I found this recipe on http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/homemade-dog-treats/ that I loved because it had such a fall element to it by using pumpkin. Also I was just itching to use my Halloween cookie cutters and this gave me the perfect excuse. 

Ingredients:

15 ounces pumpkin puree

2 eggs

3 cups whole-wheat flour

3 tablespoons peanut butter

½ teaspoon cinnamon

*Note: This recipe makes a fair amount of treats. I decided to share them with a dog friend of ours since we were invited to a Halloween party the next day. These are wonderful for sharing and giving as gifts.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, use a whisk to mix together the pumpkin, eggs and peanut butter until smooth. Add cinnamon and flour and stir until a sticky dough forms.

On a floured cutting board roll out the dough to about a 1/2 inch thick and using festive cookie cutters cut out shapes until all the dough is gone. 

Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove to cooling racks to cool completely. 

Store these in the refrigerator and don't forget to give one to your favorite trick or treater this year :)

Quick & Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Quick & Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe is a good one to have on hand for those days when tummy troubles creep up on your poor furry friends. 

We've all been there and nothing helps warm the tummy like a nice bowl of homemade soup. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups boiling water

2 chicken broth bullion cubes

egg noodles

sliced carrots (chopped into small chunks)

Directions: 

First chop your carrots into small non-choking hazard pieces. 

Then throw them in a pot to boil with the noodles. Boil until tender.

Next drain the mixture and set aside to cool.

Boil water and add the bouillon cubes, stirring until they dissolve. 

Set aside until the broth cools enough to be just lukewarm.

Distribute the carrot / noodle mixture into bowls and pour the warm chicken broth over top. 

Serve lukewarm and watch those tails go crazy.

Valentine's Day Honey Bun Bites

I found this recipe at http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/08/26/homemade-treats-national-dog-day/ and it looked so good I just had to give it a try. 

It’s not only humans who should celebrate love on Valentine’s Day, especially when our furry friends shower us with it year round :)

Valentine’s Day Cinnamon Honey Bun Bites with Peanut Butter Drizzle

(about 24 mini buns)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup water

¼ cup canola oil (I used vegetable because that’s all I had)

1 large egg

2 tbsp. honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

peanut butter

*Note: The original recipe calls for cinnamon, walnuts/pecans and cream cheese drizzle but I decided to make a few changes to fit the needs of my dogs and what I’m comfortable feeding my pups. I believe that if you’re in doubt or uncomfortable with an ingredient it’s always safer to make a substitution. (I do give my dogs cinnamon in some of their treats but I forgot this step and cut out the cinnamon completely by accident. Whoops)

Preheat your oven to 350^o F and cover two cookie trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the water, oil and egg and stir until combined. Using your hands knead the mix into a dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured cutting board and roll out until you have a rectangular shape.

Drizzle the honey over the dough. 

(In the future I want to mix the cinnamon with the honey before drizzling to see if it makes a difference)

Okay this is the part I messed up on, had to redo and ended up with a sticky mess of honey covered everything. The dough should be laid out in front of you the two shorter sides should be on your left and right, while the two longer sides should be directly in front of you.

*Note: Due to the difficulty of rolling the dough I couldn't take any photos but here's some of me attempting to explain with a piece of paper.

Now take hold of the longer side closest to you and roll it tightly. I rolled about a centimeter of the dough then pinched it together to make that nice cinnamon bun center we all seem to love so much, then continued rolling.

When your dough is completely rolled and pressed together firmly so that it stays take a serrated knife and cut each bun about a half an inch thick.

Place buns on parchment paper covered cookie trays and in the oven for about 13- 15 minutes or until the bottoms begin to brown. Place buns on a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.

Fill a small Ziploc sandwich bag with a few scoops of peanut butter and microwave for 10 seconds or until it feels like liquid. Massage the peanut butter to one corner of the bag and snip the end of the corner off with scissors to make it easier to drizzle. Drizzle the melted peanut butter over each bun.

Place buns in the freezer for a few minutes to allow the peanut butter to set.

Remove and serve to the nearest furry friend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't be a chicken...eat one!

We've had a nice long break but now we're back and heating up the kitchen once again!

To celebrate the one year anniversary of Chef Lynn's move we decided to try a new recipe. Of course our furry companions couldn't be left out, they made the trip too after all! 

So we headed back to our basic standby dog treat idea center...a.k.a. Bullwrinkle.com 

(because BSDTIC is just too hard to remember, even though it rhymes) 

This website has just about everything a pet enthusiast could ask for including a vast amount of homemade dog treat recipes.

Chicken N Garlic Cheese Bites

(about 38 mini cookies)

*Note:* We chose to omit the garlic powder and added about 1/4 - 1/2 of a freshly boiled chicken breast

We also used more wheat flour and chicken broth than the original recipe called for to form a sturdier dough.

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (we used a four cheese blend)

1 tablespoon soft butter 

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 - 1/2 boiled chicken breast

Set oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie trays with parchment paper. 

Boil and cut or shred chicken breast into miniscule non-choking hazard pieces.

Mix flour and cheese together. Place butter in a small microwave safe dish and warm for 10 - 15 seconds. Add softened butter and chicken breast. Slowly add broth until you form a stiff dough. You may not need all of the broth. Knead for a few minutes. 

Tear teaspoon sized chunks of dough apart and roll in your hands to form small balls. Place them in rows on the lined cookie trays.

Pour additional wheat flour into a separate, small bowl. Using a glass with a flat bottom, dip the glass in water and then into the wheat flour. This will help the flour stick to the bottom of the glass. 

Lightly press the bottom of the glass onto each cookie to flatten into a mini circle. 

Bake for 5 minutes then flip each cookie and return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes to brown evenly on both sides. 

Remove and let cool on wire racks. 

*Caution!* The cheese will be HOT you will be able to hear it sizzling when you remove the cookies from the oven. To avoid pain and injury DO NOT allow your pet to have a taste until the cookies have cooled completely.

Refrigerate to keep fresh.

Enjoy!

For us? Aw, you shouldn't have. 

Just kidding, we all know you should.

Because we own you.

A Sad Day

Today is a sad day. 

The rain has been trickling down like somber teardrops and I just now found out why. 

Marty, my short-term companion, is officially dead.

It’s not clear by the photo but poor Marty became the newest murder victim to an arachnid.

I initially came across Marty one particularly warm, early-September night, 

when she was sitting on our kitchen window. 

She wasn’t defensive or scared off by my camera flashes, instead she seemed almost interested. She continued to hang around the back of our house, to the point where it was normal to see her. 

Then one day she just wasn’t there…and more days followed without her presence.

It’s sad to see it end this way, especially when these are such unique insects, Marty in particular. However, her memory will live on, most of all, the incident where she ambushed me in the middle of the night and sat on my hand. Such an unpleasant incident at the time now seems like a great blessing, because I had the opportunity to meet her and ultimately I came to love those glassy bug eyes.

R.I.P. Marty

You will be missed

Hummingbird Feeder Success

We are proud to report that the hummingbird feeder is now visited by "regulars" :)

Fine feathered fowl...who are anything but foul to look at, can be seen at all hours of the day.

There are several things we've learned about them thus far:

1) They are territorial, well at least the males, and will happily chase each other away from the feeder.

2) They are plagued constantly by the evil-tempered Blue Jay who we witnessed chasing a small, fragile looking humming bird from tree branch to tree branch.

3) They've made our Weeping Cheery Tree into their "Home Tree", they nest in the protected center of the tree and can be seen fluttering around for brief seconds.

4) Just like people they have different personalities, while one is a major ham and poses for the camera another is extremely skittish and dodges out of sight whenever he sees us. 

Early Morning Hummingbird

Camera Curious Hummingbird

No matter how often we see these little guys, it's always an exciting experience :)

Enjoy!

Love 'Em Honey Bread

This book came to us as a gift and that's certainly the word we'd use for it. 

The recipes in here are what keep us best friends with our furry little companions, otherwise I don't think they'd like us so much.

Love 'Em Honey Bread

(about 6 loves or muffins or about 23 mini-muffins)

Muffin Mix

2 cups whole-wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

6-8 ounces sour cream or unflavored yogurt
     (we used CHOBANI Greek Plain Yogurt)

1/4 cup warm honey

Chicken Glaze

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 package unflavored gelatin 

For the Muffins

Set oven to 375 degrees, set out 2 cookie trays lined with mini-muffin cups.

In a large bowl, using a wire whisk, blend together flour and baking powder.

In a medium bowl, using a wire whisk, beat the eggs until thick and light-colored.

Beat in yogurt and honey.

Using a spatula or by hand, combine both mixtures until they form a dough.

Break off tablespoon-sized chunks of dough and roll them into balls with your hands.

Place each ball into a mini-muffin cup.

Bake for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean. 

Set aside on wire racks to cool.

For the Glaze

Mix 1 cup of boiling water with a chicken bouillon cube or packet of powder. Mix until dissolved. 

In a small bowl combine chicken broth and gelatin, stirring with a spoon until well mixed.

Place the cooled muffins back onto the cookie trays to avoid making a mess

...and believe us, we know all about messes...

With a brush or spoon, cover the top of each muffin with glaze.

Set aside to cool and to let the glaze form. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note: We've noticed that some dogs are sensitive to milk products, therefore we decided to use yogurt in place of sour cream so it would be easier on their little systems. Every dog is different though, become familiar with your own dog's system and use what works best for them.

Enjoy!

They certainly did, look at those tails go!

Yum :)