Thursday 18 November 2010

Treats for a Change

Into the oven ... Flip them over and brown on the other side.... Voila... Well, I am going to try and pass on a simple recipe that I have come up with after doing some research on making my own dog treats & food. It is so easy...really. Granted, PonyGirl is not a picky eater and is always hungry. I just want to know that what I am giving her is good. Okay, here it is and remember the proportions are NOT that important. It's the consistency that is key. Drier is better than wetter. (Dry is better than wet?). You will need: Pumpkin (I use plain, canned ) You can use: oats, milk powder, a wee bit of wholegrain wheat flour, ground almonds, ground peanuts, quinoa, some good oil, nutmeg, ginger, oat bran, ground coconut. You can use all of these ingredients or some of them. Combine all the dry ingredients that you have. My approximate measure is abut 1/4 cup for the oats, milk powder, wholegrain wheat flour, ground almonds, ground peanuts. A little less on everything else. And just a pinch of any spices. Add enough of the pumpkin and oil to the dry ingredients only enough to moisten the mixture and have it hold together. When the consistency is right (remember dry is better than wet in this case) coat your hands with a little flour and shape your treats. Here you can use your imagination and have fun. Place on a very lightly oiled baking sheet and bake in 375' oven for at least 20 minutes (or more) on each side until the treats are browned and crisp (like biscotti). Taste them...they are pretty darn good, baby. Addendum: you can also use shredded carrots and apples to vary the recipe although, remember, this will make the dough wetter, so cut back on the pumpkin or oil or add more dry ingredients. You can also top each treat with a blueberry for cuteness and dog seem to love them. I would love to hear any ideas and suggestions. Disclaimer: I am not a vet or a nutritionist, although I do play one on the internet. Hah! Good Luck.

6 comments:

Sparky's Mom said...

Ooooh, these look tasty! I liked to bake for Sparky too ... normally around the holidays :) I can't wait to try it again with El Pug.

Thanks for the recipe!! :)

Amanda White C.P.A.G.B. said...

Hello there,

I just found you message on my Nova Scotia Blog. Thrilled to hear that you discovered me randomly!
You'll find plenty of musings on a weekly basis there about our new life in NS. As for those bugs, well yes I got savaged by mosquitoes in the summer and black flies in May (but only in certain parts) I would say the black flies are much worse than the mosquitoes. I even managed to get a pretty harsh spider bite on my leg, but I never saw it...The spider that is. But also what you have to remember is that I am a keen photographer who ambles about all over the countryside and walks in long grass etc, if I hadn't done so much of that I think I would have remained relatively bite free. So how are you enjoying life in BC? I have been over that side too, very pretty! When you visit here again we will have to meet up and compare notes!

And you should also know you are the very first person to actually leave a comment on an article...I think my friends and family are blind, I think the whole comment thing escaped them, hence I set up a message board for them.

ingrid said...

mmmmm. very excited to try these!!
thank you!!

Eric said...

Oh crap... those were for the dogs... I thought they were special cookies for me! No wonder they were so stinkin' dry!! HaHaHa

Joey Boshart said...

Gee - You should have seen me explaining to Rick about the C for CHICA and the S for Syd.... Apparently he thought the horsies were for us. He was so disappointed. The girls absolutely.. L-O-V-E-D them!!! AND I loved the rest of the goodies!!! Thank you so mucho! We'll talk soon~~ Love you sissy xoxox

Eric said...

Yea... wait till you get your lil "Love" package!! teeheehee :)