Best Dog Treats Ever – Asparagus Jerky!

Posted on by vpdairies

Hey Peg!

I just made the cheapest, tasty dog treats ever. Rufus loves them and they are made from scraps!

You know how crazy I am about pet food. It has to nutritious, tasty and, for Mom, cheap. Well, I found it. Asparagus Jerky! Let me ‘splain.

Remember how Pete’s cancer at 5 and death at 10 put me on a mission to keep Poncho healthy? I spent 2 years making his food from venison, brown rice and asparagus or broccoli.  I found that Poncho loved, loved, loved asparagus. He only “liked” broccoli. Anyway, it was a lot of work and it was hard to make sure that I had time. I stopped doing it, but I never stopped 1 thing. I still saved the stem ends of the asparagus to treat him when I was cooking. Don’t know if it made a difference, cancer got him too. But, he stayed with me for almost 17 years.

The other day, I was making dinner, breaking off the ends of the asparagus, and setting them aside for Rufus. I don’t like to give him more than 1 or 2 as treats per day (who wants to risk the “runs”?), so there are always more ends than he needs. Then it struck me; why not make jerky?! Why not cut them into smaller pieces and dry them in the NuWave oven. I even used the whitish, really tough stalks ends. No oil or flavorings. He loves them!

Now instead of him getting into the garbage, I’m feeding him the garbage and he thinks it’s great!

Here’s how I made Asparagus Jerky:

I put some parchment paper on the grill of the NuWave. I didn’t use any oil or spray because I wasn’t planning on adding any flavor later.

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I broke off the ends to the asparagus we’d had for dinner and cut the pieces down to about 1 inch.

I set the NuWave to 175 degrees. Since I know you don’t have a NuWave, use the same temperature for your conventional oven.

Then, I spread the end pieces out on the grate.

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Finally, I set the timer for 1 ½ hours and walked away.

When they’re done, they will be really shriveled and not pretty.

I let them cook down before placing them in a paper bag. I learned the hard way not to place them in a plastic container because they got soggy-ish. The paper bag lets them continue to dry out without getting moldy.

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I know they don’t look like much, but every time Rufus goes out and does his business, he gets one of these. He loves his “Sparaguses”!

Stone Trivets

Posted on by vpdairies

I was bored. I hate it when I’m bored because I usually do stupid things like eat too much. And since I’m trying to lose some weight, I like to make sure I’m not bored.

So, I started looking for something interesting to do that wouldn’t cost me too much, as it was in between paydays. I had no idea what I wanted to do or what I had the materials to do. I don’t have a lot of supplies here in Arizona yet but I look through those that I had. It was sparse.

So then I started looking around on Pinterest. I kept seeing these trivets made with small rocks or stones. The posts I saw had the small rocks hot glued to felt. I liked the idea of the stone trivets but really thought the felt would just be too floppy.

I had purchased a set of four cork tiles a while back. I had thoughts of making my own corkboard but just never got around to it. And now I’ve found one I really liked on Amazon, and purchased it. I decided the cork would be a good base for the trivets. I also knew that a great place to get the stones I needed was at the Dollar Store.

I made a quick trip to the Dollar Store on Saturday and picked up a couple of bags (along with a few other things I couldn’t seem to live without). Does anyone else have that problem? You go in to the store for something specific and come out with a couple of bags of stuff. And half the time, I forget the item I actually went in for.

So today, I gathered up my supplies and started to work. I thought about using one of my luncheon plates or soup bowls as the pattern for the trivets. However, the soup bowls were too small and the luncheon plates weren’t round. Exactly how did I not remember my plates are square? But I did find the top to the canister I keep my tea in and figured it was just the perfect size. This is actually supposed to be the flour canister but I drink a LOT of tea. My flour I keep in plastic bags so I can store more in a smaller space, while not having to worry about bugs getting in it.

I traced around the outside of the lid to form the circle.

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After cutting it out, I placed the rocks around trying to get the most coverage and an fairly even top.

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After cutting it out, I placed the rocks around trying to get the most coverage and a fairly even top.

Then I started gluing them down. And let me tell you, it is not as easy as you would think it should  be to try to glue them down in the same place where I’d placed them while the designing it. The rocks kept scooting around and slipping. In the end, I just did the best I could at putting them back where I thought they went.

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And here is what it looked like at the end. Now, I’m really glad I used cork for the base, because even though you can see it, it looks like it goes with the rocks.

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For a first try, this isn’t bad. But there seems to be too much space between the stones. I wish I had some very, very small rocks to put in-between the bigger ones, or sand, or just something.

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I had enough cork left over for another round trivet, so I went ahead and cut it out. However, I really wanted to use one of my plates as the pattern since I liked the shape – obviously since they are my plates. But once I cut it out, it really didn’t end up looking all that different from the round ones.

I ended up giving one of the round trivets to my neighbor. She loved it. I gave the other round one to my daughter. She wasn’t all that impressed. In fact, her comment to me was “Getting crafty there, Mom?” She is really not into home made things unless it is her organic face wash, body wash, and other beauty products. Her partner and his son both loved them. Marcus wanted it for himself. Bronwyn said he carried it around all night.

Treats for Cian

Posted on by vpdairies

Since my daughter is all grownup, my dog has become my baby. Cian is a 2-year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I love him to death and spoil him rotten.

I’ve been looking around for easy recipes so I could make him treats. I wanted him to have something that didn’t have a lot of crap in it and was good for him. Cian probably eats better than I do. I mean, the boy eats chicken & pea grain-free organic dog food from Costco (my favorite place to shop).

So I took to Pinterest to find something all natural and good for him. And to be honest, it wasn’t difficult at all. The difficulty was narrowing it down to one or two. I finally settled on this 3 Ingredient Chicken Dog Biscuit. I wanted something that wasn’t going to have a lot of ingredients and wouldn’t take much time.

I pulled together everything I needed. The recipe calls for 1 ¼ cup of flour that is anything but wheat. Wheat is one of the top five allergy provoking ingredients for dogs according to the American Kennel Club. So, I decided on a combination of brown rice and garbanzo bean flours.

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For the liquid, the recipe called for 3 tablespoons of oil (I used a canola, olive, grape oil blend) and a 1/3 cup of chicken broth.

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After I mixed it up and was ready to start rolling it and realized it was too dry. While dog biscuits are supposed to be a little drier, the dough was just too dry. I ended up adding another tablespoon or so of water and the dough was ready. I just purchased this really cool rolling pin that has these rings at the end that make it easier to get it to the thickness/thinness you want. And of course, I purchased it on Amazon, another one of my favorite places to shop.

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The next important decision was which of my doggy treat cookie cutters I should use. These are the cutest little things (again, an Amazon purchase). I wanted a biscuit that wasn’t too big so I decided go with the paw print.

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After rolling it out, I got all the little paws cut out and into the oven they went.

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Twenty minutes in the oven and they are ready for Cian. In fact, he has already had his first one. He likes them and I like knowing exactly what is in them.

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Now off to get the bread machine going and to start baking (not in the bread machine) the five (5) acorn squash my neighbor gave me.

Peanut Butter – Take 2

Posted on by vpdairies

As I’ve said before, I really love peanut butter. However, I decided to stop buying process peanut butter (goodbye Skippy) that contained way too much sugar and salt. Well, actually my daughter made that decision for me.

My first attempt at making peanut butter turned out pretty good. The flavor was excellent but the texture wasn’t what I was looking for. When I add the last ¼ cup of peanuts to make it chunky, it added chunks as well as peanut dust. So, it was grainy. Now, I don’t know if you’ve very had grainy peanut butter but it leaves a whole lot to be desired. I mean, I ate it but it was a little like eating really good tasting mud pie or sand from the sandbox.

I decided that it was time to try again and see if I could make some really great tasting, super-duper, chunky peanut butter. I also decided I would do a much better job timing how long it took to get the smooth consistency I wanted and taking pictures as I went along.

Again, I was totally surprised by how loud it was. It is really, really loud! Cian made his objections heard over the food processor. Lord have mercy!! I am really going to have to get ear plugs or something.

As you can see, it goes through a number of stages. I missed the photo of when it turned into a little dough ball. I didn’t remember it doing that the first time and just thought, “Crap! I’ve screwed it up. What did I do wrong?” But I figured I had nothing to lose by letting it run a little longer and, wa-lah, it loosened up again and started to look like peanut butter again, instead of a hot mess.

pb06 1 minute

pb09 2 1/2 minutes

pb12 Approximately 4 minutes

pb14 5 minutes

Then to get super chunky peanut but without the grainy texture, I decided to remove the smooth peanut butter from the food processor before making the chunks. I thought I would have to put the peanut chunks through a sieve to get rid of the dust. But I didn’t have to.

As you can see, all of the dust stuck to the residue left in the bowl. This left me with some nice chunks to add to my smooth mixture. To be on the safe side, I still poured them into the sieve. I really DID NOT want to have grainy peanut butter again.

pb16 The super-duper chunks.

pb18 Adding the chunks.

I thought I was all done. I took a little taste and it became very clear I had forgotten something. I quickly stirred in a scant ¼ teaspoon of my super fine pink Himalayan salt and a scant ¼ teaspoon of stevia.

I now have great tasting super chunky peanut butter with the perfect texture! I’ve added the updated recipe below.

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I was already to make myself a PB&J (organic red raspberry preserves) and discovered I was out of bread. No peanut butter sandwich for me. I am greatly disappointed. I am going to have to postpone my pleasure until later.

Super Duper Homemade Chunky Peanut Butter

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup unsalted, roasted peanuts, separated
  • ¼ tsp finely ground salt, or to taste (I used pink Himalayan salt)
  • ¼ tsp stevia, or to taste

Directions

  1. Place 1 cup of peanuts in bowl of food processor.
  2. Grind peanuts until smooth. This could take approximately 5 minutes, so be patient.
  3. Add salt & stevia and pulse to combine.
  4. Remove peanut butter from food processor bowl.
  5. Add remaining ¼ cup of peanuts to food processor.
  6. Pulse until you receive the desired chunk size.
  7. Place peanut chunks in fine mesh sieve to separate peanut dust from chunks.
  8. Add chunks to smooth peanut butter and stir to combine.

 

 

I Love Peanut Butter

Posted on by vpdairies

I love peanut butter. I mean, really love it! And it has to be the extra chunky version.

I used to buy the package of two Skippy Extra Chunky at Costco every couple of months. And I’m the only one eating it! I almost consider that an addiction.

However, late last year I had a little run in with skin cancer. My daughter, who is very much into healthy eating and healthy living, decided that I needed to remove as many chemicals from my house and my food as possible. Unfortunately for my peanut butter addiction, she considers refined sugar to be one of those chemicals I needed to remove from my diet. (Depression ensues…)

There aren’t any grocery stores really close to me with a nut grinder so I can grind my own peanut butter. And the all-natural, organic, sugarless brands are just too expense for my budget.

I finally broke down and decided to try to make my own peanut butter. I read a lot of recipes and blog posts to see exactly what I could expect. It didn’t seem that hard. I mean, I have a decent food processor. I should be able to do this, right? And the answer is, Yes. This is a big step for me since I’ve always been the ‘buy frozen pierogis’ type of cook.

While my daughter and I were at Costco (the reason I couldn’t just buy the Skippy and not tell her), I decided I’d buy the peanuts there but they didn’t have any that weren’t already salted (and salt is also now on my banned list). So, I went to my second favorite retailer, Amazon. I found a 5-pound bad of unsalted peanuts. And with Prime, I received them in just two days.

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I put one cup of peanuts in the food processor bowl and turned the thing on. Man, it was loud. I mean, really, ‘I need ear protectors’ loud. Cian, my 18 month Pembroke Welsh corgi, had a fit. His barking just added to the noise level.

I should have taken more pictures, but I didn’t think about it until after I was done, of the entire process. I’ll do it next time.

After about a minute, I just had a bunch of chunks. At two minutes, I had chunks and peanut dust. It seemed to stay that way for a few minutes. I started to get worried that it would never turn into peanut butter.

But all of sudden, I noticed that it started to get stripes of a darker brown. The stripes got wider and wider…and then it happened! It turned into peanut butter!

The first time I checked it, it was really just too grainy. I decided to turn it back on. I mean, what did I have to lose? There was no way I was eating that grainy stuff.

In another minute or two, I checked it again, and it was really smooth. But as I said, I love the extra chunky peanut butter. I decided to add another quarter cup of peanuts and pulse them to get a few chunks. That didn’t work out very well. I not only got chunks but the dreaded grainy dust.

After tasting it, I added just a dash or two of pink sea salt and a quarter teaspoon of stevia as a sweetener.

This batch tastes pretty darn good. However, I think the next time I make peanut butter, I’ll made the chunks separately, shift out the dust, and then stir them into the smooth.

Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how that turns out.

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Homemade Peanut Butter

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup unsalted, roasted peanuts, separated
  • 2 dashes Sea salt, or to taste
  • ¼ tsp stevia, or to taste

 

Directions

  1. Place 1 cup of peanuts in bowl of food processor.
  2. Grind peanuts until smooth. This could take a few minutes, so be patient.
  3. Remove peanut butter from food processor bowl.
  4. Add remaining ¼ cup of peanuts to food processor.
  5. Pulse until you receive the desired chunk size.
  6. Place peanut chunks in fine mesh sieve to separate peanut dust from chunks.
  7. Add chunks to smooth peanut butter and stir to combine.