Sweet Puptato Bones - Sweet Potato Dog Treats

Hunter, my 60 lb Standard Poodle, has to put up with a lot of delicious smells coming from the kitchen that he never gets to sample.  Usually, he just lays by the back door and watches me cook and, subsequently, eat whatever it is that I am throwing together.  Occasionally, he will regale me with his interpretation of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (he's quite well read) while he's lounging by the door, but for the most part, he watches in silence.

There is one thing, though, that will bring on a litany of grunts, growls, barks and various other vocalizations that I didn't even know were possible by a canine.  Sweet Potatoes.  Anytime I am slicing, dicing, mincing, steaming, baking, boiling, mashing, or roasting them, Hunter goes absolutely berserk.  So, in answer to his apparent love affair with this tasty tuber, I have decided to load up some Gluten-Free dog treats with fresh Sweet Potato.  And use the tiny little dog bone cutter that I found at Kitchen Kaboodle on NW 23rd and Flanders, in Portland.

After all, who could possibly resist this sweet puppy face?

 I know I can't...  :)

 Sweet PupTato Bones

350g (3 cups) (12.3 oz) Oat Flour
215g (1 1/2 cups) (7.6 oz) Brown Rice Flour
3 TB Golden Flax Meal or 3 TB Almond Meal
1 tsp Salt
1 large Egg
118ml (1/2 cup) Olive Oil
236ml (1 cup) Whole Milk
72g (2.5 oz) finely grated Sweet Potato (about 1/2 of a medium sized one)  OR substitute finely shredded Carrot

I need to go on record as stating that I originally measured the ingredients by standard volume, then weighed these amounts to come up with the gram and ounce.  Upon triple checking on the King Aurthur site and Aqua Calc, I figured I had done something wrong.  My weights were significantly heavier than theirs. So I did it again.... And again.... And AGAIN.   I kept coming up with the same weights, give or take a couple of grams.  I was extremely frustrated, to say the least.

I do not know how the conversion amounts are figured on those sites for non-traditional flours. I spoon the flour into the cup and level it off with a knife, and this is what I come up with.  Maybe they are sifting (several times) first, before measuring which, to me, is something you only do with cake.  I'm just sayin'.  Because of this, I have written the recipe in grams, which is technically the most accurate.  

Combine Oat Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Flax Meal (or Almond Meal) and Salt in a bowl, whisking well.

Add the Egg, Olive Oil, and Milk to the bowl.

Grate the Sweet Potato (or Carrot) with a zester (the finer the better).

Throw in the grated sweet potato.

Stir until a soft dough forms.

Let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 225F degrees.
Divide the dough in 1/2.

Roll 1 piece out to 3/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.

Cut small shapes with a well floured (rice flour) cutter. (the dough will still stick a little bit)

Place each bone on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Gather scraps together, re-roll and cut until you have filled at least 2 baking sheet. (they bake for a LONG time, so your gonna wanna bake as many as possible at one time)

Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 90 minutes, turning and rotating the pans every 30 minutes to ensure they bake/dry out evenly.

Cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

Mangia!!  (Yes, they are safe for human consumption)
~~

Somethin' For Your Chow Chow To Chow On - Cheesy Vegetable Chews

First, I must apologize for being MIA over the last couple weeks.  Yeah, I posted about Consomme and Eggs in Aspic (Ouefs en Gelee) but that was not without it's difficulties.  My Mac crashed (dead hard drive) so I was forced to bring my old Titanium 500 back into service again.  Yeah right.  The thing is antique and the operating system (Panther) is positively ancient.  Thus, due to the overwhelming amount of Flash all over the net, it was impossible to navigate anywhere or "see" anything.  The two posts I DID succeed in releasing took 3 hours to type up cause I kept loosing my connection through the decrepit airport card.  On top of that, I had to re-learn how to use the old version of Gimp to edit my photos which took an additional couple of hours to process. (sigh) Don't get me started on trying to check Facebook or anything else for that matter. 

I guess I should count myself lucky that the poor old thing worked at all at this point.  Luckily, and finally, I now have a new hard drive in my Aluminum 1.67 and life is good again.  Un-luckily, nothing on my old hard drive was salvage-able, so every photo I have taken is suddenly gone (Insert sound of flushing toilet).  But it is time to stop lamenting and get back to the main topic.

Dog Treats....... (though in a pinch, they are consumable by humans)

Just like humans, dogs need vegetables to stay healthy.  And while most dog foods DO contain some form of vegetable matter, it usually consists for the more questionable "vegetables" such as Potatoes, Corn or Peas; all of which are extremely high in starch.  While I realize that the FDA lumps all of these into the vegetable group, being why school lunches often include French Fries or Tater Tots (Insert eye roll), this is the same organization that deemed Nutrasweet to be safe for human consumption.

FDA charlatans aside, I figured it would be a good way to mix up the textures a little as well.  I have already made 2 hard and crunchy treats as well as crisp yet airy pumpkin treats, so I decided to mix it up a little further and go for a more chewy texture.  This was made infinitely easier by the inclusion of vegetables, though the cheese lent a proverbial hand as well.  :)   Some healthy Quick Oats and that hint of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese along with vitamin A rich Carrot and some vibrantly verdant Spinach and we have a winner. 

Cheesy Chicken Vegetable Chews

1 1/2 cup Barley Flour
1 cup Quick Oats
1/ 4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2/3 cup shredded Carrot
1/2 cup frozen Spinach, measured after thawing and squeezing out the water
1/2 -3/4 cup Chicken Stock

Combine Barley Flour, Quick Oats and Parmigiano-Reggiano in a bowl, whisk together well.

Add Spinach and shredded Carrot in a blender jar.

Add 1/3 cup of chicken stock and blend into a puree... Add up to an additional 1/4 cup of chicken stock if the mix is too dry to puree properly.

Add the Vegetable/Stock puree to the dry ingredients.

Stir until well combined and a soft sticky dough forms.

Grab a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon.

Spoon small balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Fill a small glass cold water and grab a fork.

Dip the fork in the water and then press a crosshatch pattern in the "cookies" just like you would for Peanut butter cookies.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks,

if you need them to last longer, store in the refrigerator.

I promise - my next post will be human food.... Gruyere scones to be exact.  I realize that over the last couple months about 50% of my posts have "gone to the dogs", but let me assure you, I am steering back towards Human consumables...  LOL

Mangia!!
~~

Dog Catcher in the Rye - PB Puppy Biscuits

I was torn about what to blog about this evening....  It's been one of those days.  Saturday and nothing pressing to do. So I spent most of the day in the kitchen making Streusel Scones, Cream of Bell Pepper Soup and Peanut Butter, Oatmeal & Rye Biscuits for Puppy.  Sounds like an odd dinner, No? LMAO

So after several coin tosses and a round of eeny meeny miney moe...  The Peanut Butter Biscuits won.

Dogs do not "taste" the same way we do.  In fact, they have 1/6th the amount of taste buds that humans have; about 1,700 as opposed to 9,000 in humans.  A dogs sense of smell, however, kind of makes up for the lack of taste buds.  Since, you cannot "smell" salt, nor can one "smell" sugar...  They are completely unnecessary ingredients when it comes to dog treats.  Since both of these can be detrimental to the health of your canine pal, it's best just to leave them out.

The key to a good dog treat is smell.  The more "aromatic" your dog treat, the more they will enjoy it.  Peanut Butter or Hazelnut Butter are excellent additions to these canine crunchables.  Does your dog not care for peanut butter?  That's OK, you can substitute 4 ounces of shredded Cheddar for the Peanut Butter and make Cheese Biscuits.  Neat-o Frito, huh?

Why am I so stuck on uncommon flours for my dog treats.  They tend to be whole grain flours instead of refined as wheat so often is, and they are either gluten-free or only contain minuscule amounts.  Gluten intolerance in dogs seems to be on the rise.  Otto, my previous companion, had gluten issues (it caused hot spots) so I am not taking any chances.

PB PBs 

(Peanut Butter Puppy Biscuits)

260 g (2 cups) Barley Flour
60 g (1/2 cup) Oat Flour
60 g (1/2 cup) Dark Rye Flour
235 ml (1 cup) Peanut Butter
1 Large Egg
60 ml (1/4 cup) Olive Oil
118 ml (1/2 cup) Water

Whisk the all three flours together in a large bowl.

Make a well in the center and add the remaining ingredients.

Mix with a spatula, or your hands until you have a somewhat cohesive, if mottled, dough.

Move dough to the counter and knead until smooth, if a little crumbly.

Wrap in plastic and allow to rest while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Roll on a rye floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut out biscuits (I made 1 pan of small 1/2 inch biscuits and 1 pan of larger 1 3/4  inch biscuits)

Place biscuits on parchment lined baking sheets. (you can place them very close, they do not spread)

Bake small biscuits for about 20 minutes and large biscuits for 35 minutes.

Cool on racks and let your puppy enjoy after a long afternoon of chasing your niece around the yard.

Good Dog!!
~~

It's the Great Pumpkin, Snoopy! - Pumpkin Puppy Puffs

It's time again for a puppy treat.  Mainly because I had to figure out something else that I could feed multiple treats in a day for obedience training. Nothing too major, he is only 3 months old after all.  But I am teaching him to wipe his paws on the door mat, and he is a good boy and allows me to file down his nails (he's still a little small for actual toenail clippers).  The other treats were just a bit too big, and if feed him more than 2 a day, they can cause some irregularity issues from the flax seeds.  Like I said, he is only a 3 month old puppy.  LOL

So keeping in the spirit of delicious treats that contain NO junk.  I present a little pumpkin "meringue" treat that can be piped as small as you like.  (I got 68 treats)  The Gelatin in this recipe serves two purposes.  Not only is it great for your dogs coat and nails (just like humans) but it helps to stabilize the "merignue" since it contains absolutely NO sugar.  The lemon juice is important for this reason as well.  Normally one can use Cream of Tarter to acidify the egg whites, allowing for a more stable meringue and greater height.  The only problem is that Cream of Tarter is a "Grape" product, from the wine industry... NEVER EVER feed Grapes, Raisins or Grape Seed oil to your dog.  They are all poisonous.

Why Pumpkin?  Well, pumpkin can stave of certain cancers, it's loaded with fiber and Beta-Carotene which promotes healthy eyes but also assists in fighting off infections. Pumpkin can foster "regularity" due to soluble fiber content.  It's also high in potassium to regular blood pressure. Pretty cool, huh?

I was a little bummed though, I really wanted to add ground Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to the mix, but all I had were salted ones.  So I left them out.  (sigh)  Oh well, next time.

Pumpkin Puppy Puffs

3 TB Water or Chicken Stock
1 pkg Knox Gelatin (2 1/4 tsp)
2 large Egg Whites
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
optional 3 TB Unsalted Roasted Pepitas, ground finely

Place Chicken Stock in a small ramekin, then sprinkle Gelatin over the Stock and allow it to bloom.

Separate eggs and save the yolks for something else; place the whites in a bowl.
After gelatin has bloomed sufficiently (about 5 minutes),

Place the ramekin in a small saucepan of simmering water.

Once the gelatin has melted and become clear, remove from the water bath and set aside to cool slightly.

Beat Egg Whites until foamy, then add the reserved 1 tsp of Lemon Juice. (Never use Cream of Tarter)

Continue beating the Egg Whites till they reach stiff peaks.

Fold in the Pumpkin Puree in 2 additions. (and the ground Pepitas if you are using them)

Grab a whisk and whisk in the cooled Gelatin. (I know this sounds counter productive, after carefully folding in the puree, but trust me; the Gelatin will begin to set as soon as it hits the Pumpkin meringue, so a whisk is fine)

Place the mixture in a pastry bag fitted with a Star or Rosette tip.

Pipe the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 225 degrees for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and continue to dry them out for an additional hour.

Store in an airtight container on the counter (no refrigerator for these or you'll have a container full of goo)

Mangia!!
~~