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healthy dog treats

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

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).
Enjoy!

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December 13, 2018 0 comment

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

Holiday Recipes Pets

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

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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.
Spray a mini muffin cup pan with olive oil. Place each circle in a cup and press down to form a cup.
Combine the pumpkin puree and eggs in a small bowl and mix well. Put some of the puree/egg mix into each cup.
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

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

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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.
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