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Daisy’s Favorite Freezer Dog Treats

written by Ali

Daisy’s favorite freezer dog treats are so simple and so guaranteed to please your four-leg companion. Daisy, our beloved mutt, is a big fan of the holiday season. She’s figured out that sooner or later, I’ll make homemade treats just for her. Post-Thanksgiving, it’s inevitable that we have a little bit of pumpkin puree leftover. I usually roast two or three small pie pumpkins and freeze the puree in one cup batches. This year, I pulled down one more batch than I needed for pie. I was a little too lazy to make Daisy’s favorite baked treats. I’d also recently bought the cutest silicon heart molds. It was the perfect combination for making super easy freezer dog treats.

These treats are so simple - they take just three ingredients: pumpkin puree, coconut oil, and peanut butter. I serve Daisy one of these each night in her Kong. She absolutely loves them!

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Daisy’s Favorite Freezer Dog Treats

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients until they form a smooth mix. Spoon into silicon heart or dog paw molds. Freeze for at least an hour. Store in the freezer (these melt very easily).
  2. Enjoy!
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December 13, 2018 0 comment
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Pets

A Taste Of Home: Preserved Pooch Treats For A Stay In The Kennels

written by Ali

When you signed up to become a dog owner, you made an agreement. You promised to give your pooch regular walks, and love them until death do you part. You also promised you would give up those vacations you love in the name of pet ownership.

But, no one can go without sun for long, and you may be thinking about your options for a little time away. The first thing to note is that this is no reason to feel guilty. Everyone deserves time away, and you’re no different. It’s also important to realize that, whether you’re passing them to a friend or turning to extended dog boarding for your pooch, you need to do what you can to ensure a pleasant stay. That means shopping around for the best options and, of course, packing plenty of home comforts.

Leaving your dog is never easy. But, knowing they have their favorite toy to hand will help you relax. It’ll also put your mind at ease to know they have a supply of their favorite homemade biscuits with them. Nothing beats a taste of home during time away, and these could comfort your dog during their stay. There’s just one issue; homemade treats don’t last as long as their shop bought counterparts. As such, you may be worrying about how to ensure their shelf-life for the duration of your vacation. Fear not, though, because we have some handy pointers to help you do just that.

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The power of preservatives

Preservatives are a dirty word. Isn’t avoiding these half the reason you make your dog treats? But, there are plenty of natural preservatives which can keep treats alive without harming your pooch. Though you may not realize it, certain spices and flavorings can take care of this. Adding citric acid, for instance, can work well. Spices like cinnamon and cloves would also work. All these options have the benefit of making those treats even tastier, so why not give them a go?

Consider storage

As with any baking, the life of your treats depends on storage. Handing these to staff in a plastic bag will see them stale before you know it. To make sure that doesn’t happen, invest in airtight containers for lasting freshness. Get this right, and you could see those treats lasting for a week or more. That could well be enough to cover the duration of your time away.

Freshness through freezing

If you’re staying away for longer than a week, ask the boarding staff whether they have a freezer on site. More often than not, they will. That means you could preserve those treats through freezing. All you’d need to do is let treats cool completely, and then store them in the freezer using containers. By placing sheets of baking paper between biscuits, you can even ensure they don’t stick. Thus, staff will be free to take one of these out each morning and treat your pooch with a taste of home later in the day.

 

September 26, 2018 0 comment
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Pets

These Homemade Dog Treats Will Get Any Tail Wagging

written by Ali

If you’re a dog owner, there’s a good chance that you’ve got dog treats tucked away in just about every corner of your house. Most dog owners often end up finding them in their pockets and plenty of other unexpected places. You simply can’t ever know when the time will come that your furry friend is going to deserve a treat, so it’s always a good idea to have some tucked away whenever you need them. The problem that a lot of dog owners find themselves running into is that they end up being unsure what treats to buy. After all, you want to give your pooch something tasty, but you also want to be sure that it’s good for them and doesn’t contain anything too unhealthy. Sure, there are plenty of options out there that you can choose from, but it can often be tricky to figure out which treats are right for your dog. Of course, if you want to avoid that problem altogether, then the best thing that you can do is to try making some treats for yourself! With that in mind, here are a few dog treats you can make at home that you can be sure your furry friend is going to love!

Basic biscuits

Nothing could be better and simpler for your pup than these delicious, easy to make dog biscuits. The great thing is that if you want you can add things like bacon bits, cheese or anything else that you like to suit your furry friend’s tastes!

Ingredients:

Two ½ cups flour or oats

One tsp. salt

One egg

One tsp. chicken or beef stock (granules or stock cubes work great)

½ cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and mix the ingredients together until they form a rough ball of dough. Then you can roll it out and cut it into whatever shapes you like. Place your shapes on a baking sheet and cook for around thirty minutes until you have a perfect batch of treats your pooch is going to go crazy for!

Perfect peanut butter and banana bites

There are few things in the world that dogs love more than the taste of peanut butter and the added sweetness of the banana in these treats is almost certain to make them extremely happy!

Ingredients

One banana

One cup of flour (oat flour works the best)

2/3 cup of rolled oats

1/2 cup of parsley (dried or fresh)

Three tablespoons of peanut butter

One egg, beaten

Preheat your oven to about 300 degrees. Mash the banana in a bowl and then add the remaining ingredients. Stir the ingredients until they’re fully combined. Roll about a tablespoon of the mixture at a time into a ball and place on a lined baking sheet. Then use a flat surface like a spatula to press the balls down into disks. Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes until they are crispy and golden brown, then leave them to cool on a rack. The nice thing about these treats is that not only are you going to be able to store them for quite a while, you can also make them in big batches and then freeze them so that your furry friend always has access to a healthy, tasty snack. Just make sure that you give yourself a decent amount of time to defrost them so that you don’t end up giving your dog something that’s still half frozen!

Simple leftovers

If you’re working on a budget and don’t want to spend a lot of money on treats or expensive ingredients, then here’s a super simple way to give your furry friend the treats they want without spending anything. Any meat, potatoes or vegetables that you might have can go into a 200-degree oven until they’re fully dried out, and they make a perfect snack for your dog. Of course, if they’re eating any food that isn’t specifically designed for them then they could end up with some seriously gross breath so getting some dog toothpaste might be a good idea. Not only that but make sure that you steer clear of grapes, raisins or onions since dogs systems really do not respond well to them.

Of course, if your first batch of treats don’t go down quite as well as you might have hoped, don’t worry! It might be that you weren’t able to get them quite right on your first attempt or it might simply be that your pup is feeling a little bit fussy. Luckily there are plenty of recipes to choose from, and you’re almost certain to find something that is certain to get your furry friend’s tail wagging.

 

January 17, 2018 0 comment
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Pets

Hide Your Dog’s Pills in these Simple No-bake Dog Treats

written by Ali

If you want to make sure that your dog stays healthy, you will probably have to persuade your dog to take some pills. The pills could be regular like antibiotics or painkillers or they might be preventatives like heartworm tablets. While some pills, like the ones sold on https://www.petcarerx.com, come in chewable forms, others are more difficult to persuade your dog to take as aren’t made to taste nice.

There are a few methods you can try to persuade your dog to take a pill, but often the best method is to disguise it as a treat. All dogs love getting homemade treats and if you give them regularly, they might not be put off by the odd pill in disguise.

This technique is actually really simple and will save you money too. All you need is a recipe for a no-bake treat and then, once you have made your mixture up, simply roll the pill into the treat so that it is completely invisible. Your dog will be so excited about getting their treat, they won’t even notice as the pill goes down.

Here are three simple no-bake recipes you can try with your dog.

Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Treats

This recipe is based on a recipe from www.17apart.com/

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oats

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup sweet potatoes, softened

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients together
  2. Roll a spoonful at a time into a ball shape
  3. Push a dog pill into the center and cover over
  4. Put all the balls on a tray and the put then tray in the fridge until they are firm

Peanut Butter Chicken Treats

This recipe is based on a recipe from www.barkpost.com

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour (or 1 cup of oats blitzed in a food processor)

3 tablespoons peanut butter

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup chicken stock (try to use low-sodium)

Small handful of parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients
  2. Roll a spoonful at a time into ball shapes
  3. Push a dog pill into the centre and cover over
  4. Put all the balls on a tray and then put the tray in the fridge until they are firm

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats

This recipe is based on a recipe from www.wideopenpets.com

Ingredients:

1 cup of pumpkin puree

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup milk

2 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup rolled oats for dredging

Method

  1. Beat the pumpkin puree, peanut butter and milk together until fully combined.
  2. Beat in the oats.
  3. Roll a spoonful of mixture at a time to form small balls
  4. Push a dog pill into the centre and cover over
  5. Roll each ball through the remaining oats to cover them
  6. Put all the balls on a tray and then put the tray in the fridge until they are firm

You can store all these treats in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

January 12, 2018 0 comment
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Holiday RecipesPets

Pumpkin Mini Pies for Dogs

written by Ali

Pumpkin mini pies for dogs are a healthy treat for your four legged best friend. As I was roasting kuri squash this weekend, it occurred to me that I could make a variation of my mini pumpkin pies for Daisy, our dog. While Daisy always gets a bit of turkey in her Kong toy at Thanksgiving, we avoid giving her any processed foods, like pumpkin pie. However, she absolutely loves pumpkin puree and it’s a key ingredient in the homemade dog biscuits I make her. It occurred to me that I could use the dog biscuit dough that I usually make with a modified pumpkin custard and make pumpkin mini pies for dogs.

As it turns out, these were a huge hit.

So now your canine companion can enjoy pumpkin pie right along with everyone else. I found that these slice in half nicely and fit pretty well in the Kong toy. It keeps Daisy about five minutes to dig them out. They are also treats that have motivated her to go play fetch outside in the wet grass, which is a major feat this time of year.

These are very easy to make and there is enough dough leftover to freeze to make dog biscuits later. Be sure to use pumpkin puree rather than pumpkin pie filling. If you are inclined, it’s super easy to whole roast a pie pumpkin or red kuri squash by cooking it for an hour or so in an oven at 350 degrees. I do highly suggest cutting a few slits in the pumpkin so it doesn’t explode in the oven. Once cooled, it’s easy enough to cut the squash in half, pull out the seeds, and puree the flesh.

We are pretty careful about keeping Daisy on a mostly gluten free diet, so I use brown rice flour for all of her home made treats.

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Pumpkin Mini Pies for Dogs

Ingredients

    For the crust
  • 3 cups brown rice flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1/4 coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • For the pumpkin custard
  • 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine all ingredients for the crust and knead them into a smooth dough. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into small circles about the size of a mini-muffin cup.
  3. Spray a mini muffin cup pan with olive oil. Place each circle in a cup and press down to form a cup.
  4. Combine the pumpkin puree and eggs in a small bowl and mix well. Put some of the puree/egg mix into each cup.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and slightly crisp on the edges. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week or freeze for longer storage. Your dog will enjoy these!
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November 21, 2017 0 comment
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Pets

Daisy’s Favorite Dog Biscuits

written by Ali

If you’ve been around Fix Me a Little Lunch for awhile, you’ve probably seen me mention my dog, Daisy, as well as know that I make Daisy’s favorite dog biscuits every year around her birthday. Daisy is a lab/doodle mix who has been a beacon of furry doggy happiness in our life for going on two years now. She’s my sixty pound snuggle-bunny, who still totally believes that she’s a lap dog. She’s also the most chill dog I’ve ever met when it comes to road trips, which is a good thing, since last year we made a dozen trips with her around Oregon between my job search and then our subsequent move and effort to sell the house we left behind.

So every now and then, I decide it’s time to make dog treats, since she positively loves them (thus, the name Daisy’s favorite dog biscuits). We happened to have some leftover bacon the other day, so I included just a bit of it crumbed up. She was ecstatic, of course. The best part about making Daisy’s treats is that I can get them just the right size to go into her Kong toy. Layering dog food, dog biscuits, and a little peanut butter makes the perfect Kong and keeps her busy for awhile.

I use my set of copper dog biscuit cutters - I absolutely adore these for two reasons: they come in three sizes and they have their own storage container, which means they are easy to keep track of.

 

I was surprised I was able to get this next picture. Daisy isn’t known for restraint when it comes to her treats, but she waited just long enough for me to take her picture. You can tell how much she adores these biscuits.

Using a medium sized biscuit cutter, these make around 36 dog biscuits.

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Daisy’s Favorite Dog Biscuits

Ingredients

  • 3 cups brown rice flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1/4 coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons crumbled cooked bacon

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine all ingredients and knead them into a smooth dough. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into dog biscuit shapes using cookie cutters. Line up the dog biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet. There's no need to put much space between them.
  3. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and slightly crisp. Store in an airtight container for a week or freeze for longer storage. Your dog will enjoy these!
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January 11, 2017 6 comments
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PetsUncategorized

Daisy’s Birthday Dog Biscuits

written by Ali

A year ago, I had to make the awful decision to help my canine companion of 10 years across the rainbow bridge. It was a heart-wrenching decision, and I was thoroughly convinced I would never find another dog. About two months after my dog’s passing, I was feeling sorry for myself and telling Clay that there were no puppies left – I’d never, ever have puppy-love in my life again. That night, perusing the classifieds online, I ran across an ad for Mastador/Golden-Doodle puppies. We went to visit the puppies a week later, and a tiny white and golden pup decided she kind of liked us. A month later, she came home with us, and I spent spring break alternatively fretting about housebreaking and sleeping on the couch, and sometimes the floor, with Daisy.

Sunday is Daisy’s first birthday. She has an incredibly sweet personality and has blended well into life with our four cats and with us. I thought it fitting to make her some gluten-free biscuits for the big day. The happy birthday message was written with dog-friendly icing. It’s a combo of peanut butter and plain yogurt, which she got to have as icing on a Kong ball filled with homemade dog biscuits and dog food.

Daisy’s Dog Biscuits

Makes 30 biscuits

3 cups brown rice flour
2 eggs
½ cup pureed pumpkin
¼ cup peanut butter
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix. Once the ingredients are mixed together (it will form a very shaggy dough), use your hands to knead a bit. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface (our dog is fairly gluten intolerant, so I used the rice flour to roll out the dough). Roll the dough to about an 1/8th of an inch to a ¼ inch thick. Cut out using cookie cutters. Place the shaped biscuits onto a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Biscuits store well in an airtight container or can be frozen.

 

January 21, 2016 0 comment
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