Cookies for My Four-Legged Friends

Dog treats are expensive!  At least the good ones are and you can bet Taco and Claire aren't huge fans of the cheap stuff.  Shocking huh?  Turns out they ARE huge fans of the ones I made them last night.  These were quick and easy and made a ton of healthy little cookies for my babies. Here's the recipe:

Parmesan Pleasers, adapted from Real Food for Dogs: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Canine Gastronome
2 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. powdered milk
1 egg
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 c. water

Preheat your oven to 350 F.   Toss all your ingredients except the water into your mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium low to combine.  Slowly add just enough water to make a thick dough.  I needed a 1/2 cup but you may need more or less.  Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and roll to desired thickness.  These aren't going to rise so make them as thick as you'd like them to turn out.  I made chihuahua size cookies by rolling them to just a bit over a 1/4 inch and cutting them out with a shot glass.  For a bigger dog (shout out to Henley!) you probably want to do more like 1/2 inch thickness and cut them with a juice glass.  My chihuahua size cookies baked on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 7 minutes and then I turned off the heat and left them in the oven to crisp up for about 20 more minutes.  For larger cookies, bake about 15 minutes.

Happy Dog!

Puppy Love

Our two little Chihuahuas don’t get left out of all the cooking going on around here.  We make the dogs food too and have ever since we first got Taco.  The poor guy had horrible stomach problems when we first brought him home and he refused all dry food.  We ended up buying a few books on doggie nutrition and figured we’d give making his food ourselves a try.  This is one my favorite doggie guides: Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide

It's not hard to make the dog's food, it takes about a half hour, and he loves it…and so does Claire (Chihuahua #2).  We usually make enough to last about a month at one time.  Over the years we’ve done several variations and most are a huge hit. (Like pasta with meat sauce!) The food they are currently eating is a mix of ground meat, rice, mixed vegetables, and gravy.  We use ground turkey most of the time, but any ground meat will do.  There aren’t a ton of rules to making dog food, but there are a few guidelines.

 

Common Foods Dogs should Never eat:

Onions

Chocolate 

Coffee

Tea

Alcohol (duh!)

Macadamia nuts

Grapes or raisins

Tomato leaves and stems (keep this in mind especially if you are growing tomatoes in your garden!)

Avocados

Also keep in mind that dogs need more protein and healthy fats than we do.  A vegetarian diet is not generally recommended for dogs and neither is a low-carb diet.  Running your intended diet by your vet is a good idea if you intend to feed them this way all the time. 

Taco’s Favorite Dog Chow

2 lbs ground turkey

2 c.  chicken gravy

32 oz. frozen mixed veggies (green beans, corn, carrots, lima beans)

2 c. cooked white rice

Brown the meat, feel free to season it with some poultry seasoning but go light on the salt. While the meat is browning, cook the rice.  We use a rice cooker so I just dump everything in and hit the ON button.  Cook your frozen veggies according to the instructions on the bag.  Mix up your gravy (or pop open a can!).  Once all the ingredients are cooked everything just gets mixed together in a very large bowl and the food is ready to go.  Let it cool a bit and put it into freezer containers large enough to hold no more than three days worth of food.  Not only will you will find this so much cheaper than buying canned dog food, your dogs will love it.   And you’ll love knowing that your dogs are eating something with ingredients you understand.   

We’re making dog biscuits for our favorite puppies next week so come back soon!