RECIPE: Pumpkin-Peanut Butter dog biscuits

A few months ago when Zuzu had a digestive upset (and believe me, I made that sound MUCH more pleasant than it actually was), the vet recommended a few tablespoons of plain canned pumpkin added to her diet for a few days, telling me that it's a sort of wonder-cure for gastro-intenstinal complaints in canines.

I thought this was very interesting and Googled around to find out why, coming up with nothing more informative than "pumpkin is a natural source of fiber" and "pumpkin adds needed nutritents to a dog's diet." It can stop diarrhea and aid constipation, so I'd say that makes it a pretty much all-purpose sort of veggie. Plus, dogs seem to think that it tastes really good, so I invented a new dog treat combining that flavor plus peanut butter, another canine favorite.

I can't give you a yield on this recipe because it will all depend on whether you use a cookie cutter -- and what size that cookie cutter is -- or a pizza cutter. You would make fewer treats, obviously, if you used a if you used a 6" sized bone-shaped cutter rather than a 1 1/4" mini dog bone cutter. With the pizza cutter, you can just quickly roll out the treat dough and then just run the cutter over them, making square-shaped treats as large or a small as you want them. I used Good Dog Express.com's mini heart shaped cutter, which is also available in several different and inexpensive sizes.

Dog biscuits are very quick to make and easy to bake: it is a much better deal than you get buying them at the grocery, and all done with ingredients you probably already have on the pantry shelves.

PUMPKIN-PEANUT BUTTER DOG BISCUITS

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups old-fashioned or quick oatmeal
1 small can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey

--> approximately 3/4 cup of cornmeal, to prevent sticking when rolling out the dough (I like to use the finely-ground cornmeal of the type used for making tortillas, rather than the coarser kind used for corn muffins.)

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Divide the dough in half. Shape half the dough into a ball with your hands. Sprinkle a rolling mat or counter top with corn meal and roll the ball of dough around in it. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to desired thickness, depending on whether you have a large dog with a large mouth or a small dog with a small mouth. (Since our dogs are small, I roll my dough out to about 1/2 inch; this dough does not "raise" while baking.)

When the dough is rolled out, cut the dough with your preferred type of cutter, making as many treats as you can. Re-form leftover dough into a ball and re-roll to make more treats. Transfer treats carefully with a metal spatula to a lightly-greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Remove from oven when finished and set aside.

While the first sheet is baking, repeat directions with second ball of dough. Bake second batch of treats. When finished baking turn off the oven; put all the dog biscuits plus the ones on the first tray back into the oven and allow them to dry out for two hours or so.

RECIPE: Homemade Turkey Treats (for dogs)

A few months ago, the girls and I were at the vet's office with one of the dogs and I happened to see several copies of a dog/cat/horse treat cookbook sitting on the counter with a sign that announced that the proceeds from the sale of the cookbooks would go to the East Central Indiana Therapeutic Riding Center (find them here on Facebook.) I cannot resist a cookbook, unless it is one that promises me 1001 Ways to Cook Brussels Sprouts, so I bought a copy. Before we got back home, I'd already told Meelyn to head over to Marsh -- there were some supplies I needed to get. And that evening, I made two different kinds of dog treats for the pups. The recipes were really easy, contained ingredients that I already had on hand in the fridge or the pantry (except for the little jars of Gerber baby food strained meat) and were much cheaper than the treats we buy at the store.

I made a few modifications to this recipe and changed the name, but I hope that if you have a dog, a cat, a horse or all three, the simplicity of this recipe will motivate you to buy your own copy at Amazon and check out the rest of the goods.

TURKEY TREATS

INGREDIENTS:
2 2/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
2 jars baby food turkey
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and knead for three minutes or so, until everything is mixed and clinging together. Using a bit of flour to keep things from sticking, roll the dough out one inch thick (for bigger treats) or 1/2 inch thick for smaller biscuits. You can use a bone-shaped cookie cutter if you're that kind of person -- I am -- or you can just use a pizza cutter to cut the treats however big you'd like to have them. [I used the pizza cutter to cut the biscuits in the picture above.]

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 20-25 minutes for thicker biscuits, maybe 18-22 minutes for thinner ones. Allow to cool before serving. Store treats in a plastic bag in the fridge - these aren't rock-hard dry treats, more like a chewy texture, and they'll mold if they're unrefrigerated. They have no preservatives in them to extend their shelf life, which can only be a good thing.

A word to the wise: Be prepared for people to make A LOT of fun of you for doing this, but phooey on them because your dogs will love these treats and they are really, really inexpensive to make.