Last week I talked about the joys and sorrows (well, that might be overstating it a bit!) back to school brings along with it. For me the best part of the kids being in school is the 5 minutes of me time it offers. I get to go to yoga, grocery shop at a relaxed pace rather than as if I’m in the pits at Daytona and finally have a chance to tackle all those diy/craft projects I’ve found on Pinterst but never had the time to attempt. Yup, those were my grand plans for this school year so you know what I did next… adopted a 13 week old puppy! No I’m not kidding, she’s a little terrier mix we named Trixie.
To be honest, I was the least on board with the dog thing out of the entire family. The kids didn’t care what breed, they just wanted a dog. My husband said if it would make the kids happy then it was fine by him, but in reality he wanted one just as much as they did. I on the other hand was perfectly content with our low maintenance cat, the caterpillar we’re hoping will turn into a butterfly and the occasional carnival prize fish. I was however out numbered and therefore relented. But… I made it clear that if we got a dog I WOULD NOT be the sole caretaker for the pup, that the kids would have to take some responsibility and that we’d all have to make concessions. That’s right, I laid down the law— Yeah, one guess how well that’s working out. I will say that the kids have been doing their best to tire out the little pup in the backyard and my husband has been taking her out in the morning and putting her to bed each night, but Trixie girl caught on pretty quickly that I was the momma of this pack and now it appears that I have another child to worry over, watch out for and nurture. And what do I do for all my children? Well, cook for them of course!
When we first adopted our cat I tried to feed her only the finest food. She however refused to eat anything but cheap crappy cat food. Sigh… And so we buy her cheap crappy cat food, who am I to question a cat and her low-brow taste buds. Trixie on the other hand seems to enjoy the finer things in life. Expensive “all-natural” kibble; “Sure!” Toys in every imaginable shape and size; “Yes please!” And homemade dog biscuits; “Absolutely, I’ll take two!”
When the idea to whip up a batch of dog biscuits stuck me, the first place that I thought to search for a recipe was at crazy pet lover and style maven Martha Stewart. And sure enough, she had one. Actually she had several recipes as well as instructions for dog toys, dog beds, dog coats, dog dishes, dog feeding stations and the list goes on. And while Trixie doesn’t know who Martha is, she does know what tastes good. And these biscuits apparently taste good, so good in fact that she is almost willing to stop peeing on the rug. Almost…
Homemade Dog Biscuits
I bought a bone shaped cookie cutter for these, but you could just as easily use a pizza cutter and make them into squares instead.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brewer’s yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup chicken stock, plus more for brushing
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, and salt; set aside.
- Pour oil into a large bowl. Add half the stock and half the flour mixture and stir. Add the remaining flour and stock and mix thoroughly until a dough forms.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Using a dog-bone-shaped cookie cutter (or pizza cutter) cut out the biscuits.
- Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake the biscuits 10 minutes. Brush the tops with the stock; rotate the baking sheet and bake 10 minutes more. Turn off oven. Leaving door closed, let the dog biscuits stand in oven to dry completely, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
*adapted from martha stewart
beets and blue cheese 