Cooking for Our Pets- New

My husband baked my Molasses Spice Crinkle Cookies on Wednesday night. Yes, you read this right, my husband baked the cookies not me.

His company, FCS Financial (used to be Farm Credit Services of America) held a Holiday Cookie Contest on Thursday and Charlie wanted to enter my cookies. I laid out all the ingredients for him on the kitchen counter and he went to town measuring, creaming the butter and sugar, and blending the batter. He hand rolled each ball of dough carefully, to be sure that every cookie was of the exact size and uniformity. He set the timer each batch and carefully watched over the cookies for the last minute or so to be sure he got them out in the nick of time.

I was VERY impressed! Each cookie was pulled out of the oven at the proper time, he didn’t burn a single cookie and all the cookies were uniform.

I did help him on the presentation part of his cookie entry. I tied together three bundles of cinnamon sticks with raffia for him to lay around the plate of cookies and I also printed off the recipe on decorative paper which I then tied raffia on the corner of one side of the recipe card.

He took the cookies to work on Thursday and then I got a call Thursday afternoon from my husband.

“You won’t believe this,” he said. “I got 1st place.”

He was right, I thought he was teasing me. “No, seriously. I really got 1st place. I guess all your good cooking has rubbed off on me,” he said.

So, I am VERY proud of my husband. I told him I may have to hang up my baking mitts.

Congrats to all the winners of the FCS Holiday Cookie Contest.

I’ve been receiving a lot of emails from some of you that want to make Christmas presents for your four-legged friends. Maybe some special homemade dog treats?
It’s be awhile since I did a post on “Cooking for Our Pets,” so here is a new recipe your dogs are sure to enjoy. My two friends, Rudy and Lizzy, will agree that this recipe is perfect for the holidays.

Christmas Mint Cookies
from Dog Treats From Your Kitchen

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bisquick
1/2 cup mint chopped leaves
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons margarine
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor, process until well mixed
2. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness.
3. Cut with holiday shaped cookie cutters, place on non-stick cookie pan.
4. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
5. Cool and store in air-tight container.

Cooking for Our Pets Again

As you may have seen before on my blog I like to include recipes for dog treats also! My pets our my kids right now and they get just as pampered as any human would.

Here are two new recipes that are sure to be a hit with you four-legged friends.

Peanut Butter Puppy Poppers

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375'F. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk, then add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Bake for 20 minutes on a greased baking sheet until lightly brown. Cool on a rack, then store in an airtight container. This is the original recipe, but I have found the cookies burn easily.

Darlene's Favorite Dog "Cookie"

My favorite dog "cookie" (low-fat, low-calorie, about 20 calories per 4" cookie).
2 cups rye flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 cup cornmeal

Mix well. I usually add about 1/4 tsp either vanilla or mint flavor.
Roll out to 1/4" thick. Cut into shapes (I usually use about a 3-4" bone-shape cutter). Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cooking for Our Pets III

This is a photo of Rudy the night we picked him up...what a sweet face.

I know I recently posted an addition to "Cooking for Our Pets," but I just had to share this recipe. My pup Rudy just loves this...This is rich, so please only feed it once or twice a week.

I will be taking a little break from blogging starting today. I'll be traveling to KY with my husband to pick up our new little female puppy. We will also be taking a mini-vacation, but I'll have lots of new recipes next week to share.

Rudy's Pet Frosting

1/2 stick of butter
1/4 c dry cat or dog food
1/2 c sugar
1-2 T milk or water
1 T flour if needed for thickening

Put everything in a food processor and mix well until desired thickness. Spread on pet's favorite cake or cookies. This is for occasion treating only. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Cooking for Our Pets II

This is the second edition to cooking for our pets. As you know I'm adding to our family with another little puppy. The following is a great dog treat of bad breath. Rudy doesn't usually have bad breath, but every once in awhile he needs one of these yummy treats. Not that I've ever ate one. Just wanted to clear that up. You can also make a lot of these and freeze them that always have them on hand.

Bad Breath Banishers
2 cups brown rice flour
1 Tablespoon activated charcoal (find this at drugstores, not the briquets!)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2/3 cup lowfat milk

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Combine flour and charcoal. Add all the other ingredients. Drop teaspoonfuls on oiled sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake 15-20 minutes. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

Cooking for Our Pets

I know this is a little strange that I usually post recipes for human consumption, but we can't forget our little friends... I bought my little Rudy from some great breeders and they have posted these great dog treat recipes on their site: Pocket Puppy. If you like to spoil your pup, these will do it.

Moosie's Mom's Liver Brownies

3 cups Oatmeal
1 cup Flour
1 lb Liver
2 eggs

Process oatmeal in a food processor (or blender) until it is a "medium" consistency. Add the flour to the oatmeal and set aside. In food processor, place liver in small amounts and process until it is "liquid" consistency (it will resemble thick fudge). Add the two eggs to the liver and mix well. Then add the dry ingredients to the liver...stir very well. Spread on a non-stick cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan) and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. When cool, cut (or break) into small "bars".

Tips
When all mixed together this is a very sticky goo. To help spread it in the pan, I place a plastic bag on my hand and spray it with cooking spray to minimize sticking.
Shutting off the oven and leaving the pan sit in there until the oven cools helps dry out the bars.
We use a pizza wheel to cut the bars into squares.
Store treats in the refrigerator.
We double the recipe and freeze some of the treats until we need them.