Sunday, September 14, 2008

Good Dog Treats

Wow, I really feel like a stranger around here. Life has gotten in the way of blogging lately...

For instance, it was shocking to discover a lump the size of a lemon on Jolie's side. The vet operated the next day, and she got her stitches out two days ago. It scared me so much I took myself in for a mammogram. It wasn't so bad.
The girls put their heart into making some treats for our Good Dog.



GOOD DOG TREATS

1/2 cup cornmeal
7 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup water
1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet







Preheat the oven to 35o* F.
Mix all the ingredients together well. They each made their own batch, and we shared the extra treats with some good dog friends, Suki & Mattie.

If the mixture is too tough to stir, encourage them to use their hands to knead the dough. Dog treats are the perfect recipe to let the kids fully experiment.



My kids are always jones'n to work with knives. Only certain meals warrant a butter knife at the place setting, and cutting up the spaghetti by yourself is about as big as it usually gets.


The point is, Abi was thrilled to divide the dough into 4 parts.






Roll out the dough, doing only one section at a time to keep it manageable for little hands. It should be about 1/4 inch thickness before busting out the cookie cutters.

Bake 40 minutes.






Making homemade dog treats is a great way for kids to practice their culinary skills. I let them take the leading role every step of the way giving them skills with a no risk recipe. The treats always turn out, and not one has gone to waste. We talked about Jolie's surgery, stitches, life and death, and it felt good to celebrate our dog together.





Abi likes to assist Jolie's special talent of













balancing treats on her nose!



Let the kids do the cooking for a special dog in your life!










This is our favorite way to get around town. It's hard not to feel smug passing parked cars with the breeze in your hair and then parking right by the entrance. Segue: See our Obama sticker on the side? Art did the music score for the upcoming film, "Third Term," which explains the connection between McCain and Bush. This is a food blog, not a political one, so I'll leave it at that, and ask that anyone interested can check out the
trailer and watch for parts of the documentary to air on TV soon, in selected theaters and on DVD.

19 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Vicki!! I've missed your posts!! Glad to see you back in the blogging world :0)

Thank goodness Jolie is okay how!! And hooray for baking her special dog treats :0)

Catherine Weber said...

Oh Jolie! Glad to hear she is bouncing back to her charming, treat-balancing ways. :)

I LOVE that you cook with your girls! As an early childhood educator and a food nerd, cooking with kids feels very important to me. Props to you and your awesome family!

(Welcome back, by the way!)

veganmomma said...

Looking forward to watching that documentary...thanks for posting.

Glad to hear your dog is recovering and it sounds like your kids are doing well. What an awesome idea to have them bake dog treats! We don't have any pets, but I know my daughter would get a kick out of making those for the dogs in the neighborhood.

Amey said...

oh JOLIE!
please give her a hug and a snug and a treat for me. She is such a sweet, sweet girl.

I love the pictures of your little girls baking up treats for Jolie. Such love!

It's great to see a post from you Vicki.

:) Amey

julie hasson said...

You've been so missed Vicki! I'm so glad your dog is doing better. What a scary thing to have happen.

Thanks for the dog biscuit recipe. It looks like one that my dog will love.

Your girls are the cutest!

Theresa said...

Oh no, lots of hugs and treats to Jolie, I hope she is better soon!

Very cute photos of kiddies making dog treats, and I love your political bikes!

Jennie said...

Glad that Jolie is feeling better! I love making dog treats for my dogs. I'm always looking for different recipes. One question...what's kitchen bouquet?

Thanks!

aTxVegn said...

There is nothing more adorable than your girls working in the kitchen! I'm glad Jolie is on the mend.

Carrie™ said...

The girls are becoming quite the expert bakers. I sometimes make Simon dog cookies. I've put one of mine and one of the store bought ones down for him side by side and he grabs mine first. it makes me happy that he prefers the ones I made for him. I KNOW exactly what's in those.
I'm so glad that Jolie is looking her ol' self in the photos. It can be so upsetting when your pet is ill. I'm most impressed with her cookie-on-the-nose trick. I tried that with Simon. Ah....yea...didn't work so well. ;o) See you on the Scrabble board. We can battle it out in Kashmir. hehe

Maria Rose said...

I love making my pooch vegan dog treats. She hovers around the kitchen when she realizes I am cooking for her. Plus, giving away the extras has been a great way to meet neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back! I love the dog treats. You have some sweet little ladies!

turquoise cro said...

awwWWWWWWWWW! JOLIE!!! BOW_WOW!!! that means hurry and GET WELL! Phew! Olivia in those pics looks sooOOOooO grown up! How SWEET the lil gals LOOK! What TREASURES they are!!! sigh mmmmmmMMMMM! I'd eat one of those biscuits myself! YOU KNOW I WOULD!!! WOOF!!! and I'd LOVE to see that Art DVD!!! ((((Vicki)))))) so tight she gasps for air and then we burst out giggleing!!! tee hee

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Aww, how fun! I need to make these for my good dog! (I'm glad yours is OK!)

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Hi everybody!! Thank you for coming by as I try to get my groove back! I love you all.

Jennie: Kitchen Bouquet is a seasoning sauce usually used for meats, gravies, and stews. It's ingredients include caramel coloring, mixed vegetable stock, salt and parsley. A little goes a long way.

Chris said...

I have started riding my bike to work, I work less than half a mile away and feel so much better riding my bike.

Glad your doggie is better. We have two dogs that are vegeterain. One we got as a pup and started out that way. The other actually prefers the vegetarian food over his meat food so we cut it out.

We will have to part way on the political ideas/issues...

Destiny's Kitchen said...

I'm glad that Jolie is doing well. Your girls are very sweet to make her homemade treats!

Becka Robinson said...

Oh how precious! I CANNOT WAIT to have kids and have them bake with me! Oh this makes me want my family right now! :)

Emily said...

awwww I'm always trying to get my dog to balance a treat on her nose! she just looks confused though, and I can tell she's thinking, "can I please eat now??"

Anonymous said...

As you can tell, I'm a little behind myself. Hugs to Jolie. She looks adorable in that first photo. Your girls did such a great job. When I have my niece next I think we'll bake up a bunch of dog treats. She'd really like that.