Carole's Hot Bacon and Swiss Dip

You lucky duck!!

You are about to receive my sister's recipe for the best appetizer dip ever!! I recently took it to a get-together of James' tennis buddies and it, as always, was a big hit!

(If you are a health nut, exit this site immediately.)

Carole's Hot Bacon and Swiss Dip

1  8oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1  cup grated Swiss cheese

2 Tbs. chopped green onion

8  slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers

Soften cream cheese. Add mayo, Swiss, and onion. Mix well. Transfer to baking dish.

Top with bacon and cracker crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with Ritz crackers.

Joanna's Cookies

The women in my family are practical, and practical women know that you need some "go to" recipes that are fast, easy, and require only a few ingredients, but are delicious. I've given you the recipe for Leslie's cake, one of our staples; today I'm sharing Johanna's cookies.

Johanna's Cookies

Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix
1 bag Heath Bar Toffee Bits (chopped)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil

Mix all ingredients. Drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Cool completely.


Do you keep a picture of your favorite recipes in your phone? Oh, if you don't, you should start!!! That way when you are out running errands and remember that you have promised to bring 4 dozen cookies to church tomorrow, you've got your ingredient list right there with you!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

White Chocolate Bunt Cake

We were all in Dallas last weekend for my niece, Madeleine Boudreaux's, directing debut as a senior theater major at SMU. The play, This Sweet Affliction, was amazing and definitely the highlight of the weekend, but second runner up would have to be this white chocolate bunt cake that my sister, Jamie, made.

Now Jamie and her friend, Julie, call this the Nothing Bunt Cake after a bakery in Allen by the same name. Just mention the name of the place and Jamie's entire family swoons!! And heads up Rustonians, there's a Nothing Bunt Cake in Shreveport on Youree Drive.

The cake didn't last long enough for pictures, but I'm sure it looked just like the one in this picture. ;-)

In case you're not headed to Shreveport anytime soon, here's the recipe.....


Ingredients:

1 pkg. white cake mix
1 (5 oz.-ish) pkg. instant white chocolate pudding (can substitute vanilla)
1 c. sour cream
4 large eggs
1/2 c. water
1/2 c/ oil
1 1/2 c. white chocolate chips, chopped into smaller pieces
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese softened
1/2 c. butter softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Cake 1. Grease and flour bunt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix first six ingredients with a beater.
3. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour mixture into prepared bunt pan.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove from pan. Let cool for 20 minutes. Remove from pan.

Icing
1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. 
2.Mix in vanilla.
3. Gradually add powdered sugar, starting with 2 cups, and adding more until nice and thick.
4. Pipe icing onto cake in stripes.  (You can use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut open.)

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

 ~Ernestine Ulmer

Cauliflower Week

After the holidays, the broccoli and cauliflower were ready to harvest and  I experimented with several new recipes.  James still refers to that week as "Cauliflower Week", in definite derogatory terms, but he loved this dish. It really was so good, but what isn't with bechamel sauce!!!

Broccoli and Cauliflower Flan With Spinach Bechamel 

INGREDIENTS

1. • 2 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
   • 2 1/2 cups broccoli florets
2. • 2 6-ounce bags baby spinach leaves
3. • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
   • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
   • 2/3 cup whole milk
   • 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION

1. 1. Cook cauliflower and broccoli in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 2/3 cup cooking liquid. Transfer vegetables to large bowl. Cool.
   2. Rinse spinach, then toss in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just wilted. Drain and cool. Squeeze spinach dry; finely chop.
   3. Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk and reserved 2/3 cup vegetable cooking liquid. Whisk constantly over medium heat until sauce thickens and boils, about 3 minutes. Stir in spinach and cheese.
   4. Using fingers, coarsely crumble cauliflower and broccoli in bowl. Add spinach béchamel sauce; stir to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Butter 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Spread vegetable mixture in prepared dish. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)
   5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake flan until puffed and heated through, about 25 minutes if at room temperature and 35 minutes if chilled. Serve hot.

Thanks, Girls!

I mentioned earlier that we had a delicious frittata Christmas morning made with fresh eggs from the girls.  It really was yummy and I thought you might enjoy the recipe.

Roasted Vegetable Queso Frittata

Recipe by Jessica Merchant

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS
Vegetables:
1⁄2 red onion, diced
1⁄2 green bell pepper, chopped
1⁄2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen sweet corn kernels
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped

Queso:
2⁄3 cup heavy cream
12 ounces white cheddar cheese, freshly grated

Frittata:
8 large eggs
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION
For the vegetables, preheat the oven to 450ºF. Add the onions, peppers, corn, and broccoli to a large bowl and toss them with 11⁄2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the salt, and pepper. Add the mushrooms to another bowl and toss with the remaining olive oil. Add all of the vegetables to a nonstick baking sheet. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, tossing once during the cooking time.

While the vegetables are roasting, make the queso. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it bubbles along the edges. Add the cheese and stir constantly until it is all melted. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. If the cheese firms up too much before you need to use it, simply warm it over low heat and stir until it becomes melty again.

For the frittata, add the eggs, garlic, cream, salt, and pepper to a large bowl and whisk. Add the vegetables to a 10-inch ovenproof skillet and mix them with a few spoonfuls of the queso sauce. Pour the eggs over the top of the vegetables and then spoon the remaining queso over the top. Bake the frittata until the eggs are set and the top is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the frittata cool in the skillet for 10 minutes before slicing.

Homemade Fig Newtons

I've said on this blog before that I have the best neighbors!!  Mr. Robins is especially good to us.  He invites us to pick thorn less blackberries in early summer, brings a shoe box full of figs in late summer, and delivers a big bag of persimmons in the fall. 

We usually reciprocate with okra that his wife loves, but this year I didn't plant okra, opting for zinnias instead.  I have felt guilty all summer :(  I try to bake something out of his produce to take to them as a "Thank You".  Persimmon rum cake was a big hit, but I have had a run of bad luck that started last fall with our infamous persimmon beer.  

My sister was here when this year's box of figs was delivered and I decided to try and redeem myself by making homemade fig newtons with Jamie's help. We found the recipe on Pinterest:  http://foodblog-com.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-06-13T07:19:00-07:00&max-results=4&start=40&by-date=false

We boiled down our figs and added sugar and cinnamon.

Rolled out our dough.

Added our filling, rolled the dough around it, then turned the roll seam side down on parchment paper.

After baking, we cut them into newtons!

 It was an easy recipe and they turned out perfectly, BUT the recipe called for dried figs and we were substituting fresh figs.  We had to estimate how many fresh figs equaled the amount of dried figs the recipe called for and our fresh figs were softer than dried figs.  Dried figs are much sweeter than fresh, so we had to adjust the amount of sugar.

All this to say that they tasted OK, but probably would have been delicious with dried figs. They were healthier though -no preservatives - and that was a plus.  I wasn't enamoured with them enough to share with the neighbors. I guess I could have taken them a few newtons and a persimmon beer to wash them down, but I'm afraid they would have thought, "If this is what she is doing with our wonderful produce, let's stop sharing it with her!" 

I'll have to bake them a Leslie's Cake to make up for it !!! (see post from 7/27/15)

Here's the recipe for anyone who wants to bake them correctly :)

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Ingredients

for the fig filling:
1 1/2 pounds dried Calimyrna figs
1 cup water
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/4 dark rum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
for the cookie dough:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

for the filling: Use kitchen scissors to snip the stems from the figs, and snip each fig into 5 or 6 pieces. In a large sauce pan, combine the figs, water, apricot preserves, rum, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir to mix well. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to low and let the filling simmer until thickened, but not extremely thick, about 10 minutes. Cool the filling and purée it in a food processor with a metal blade. You can refrigerate both the filling a dough for a couple of days if you’re preparing in advance.

 for the cookie dough: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times to mix. Add the butter and pulse repeatedly until the butter is finely mixed in, but the mixture is still cool and powdery. Add the eggs and vanilla and pulse repeatedly until the dough forms a ball. Invert the bowl onto a floured work surface and carefully remove the blade. Briefly knead the dough 2-3 times to make it smooth. 

Divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each into a rope about 12″ long. Place 1 rope on a floured work surface and press and roll it to make a rectangle of dough about 4′ wide and 12″ long. Pipe or spoon about 1/6 of the filling down the middle of the dough, spreading it about 2″ wide with a small offset spatula. Use a pastry brush to paint the exposed dough with water, then lift up the dough all around to enclose the filling within a tube of dough. Pinch the seam closed where the 2 edges of the dough meet. Turn the filled piece of dough over so that the seam is on the bottom and transfer it to one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing 3 filled dough cylinders on each pan. Gently flatten the cylinders of dough with the palm of your hand. 

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 350℉. Bake the cookies until the dough is set and golden, 15-20 minutes. About halfway through the baking, place the pan from the lower rack on the upper and vice versa, turning the pans back to front at the same time.

 Cool the cookies on the pans. When they are cool, trim the edges and use a sharp knife to cut them into 2 1/2″ lengths.

Leslie's Cake

My mom has such a great circle of friends!  One of them is Pam, a talented artist and should-be comedian.  Smiles and laughter are her gift to everyone.  Pam's daughter-in-law is Leslie, the origin of today's recipe.  Leslie is a busy lady, raising three boys and working as a pharmacist, so this recipe is fast, easy, delicious, and one of our favorites! It probably goes by another name, but for us it has always been called...

Leslie's Cake

Ingredients:

1 Duncan Hines butter recipe Golden Cake Mix

1 box instant chocolate pudding

8 oz. sour cream

1 cup oil

1/2 cup water

4 eggs (beaten)

1 package chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients.

2. Mix together wet ingredients.

3. Stir together dry and wet ingredients.

4. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Pour into prepared bunt pan.

6. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

***Baking tip!!  (This is so funny - me giving anyone baking tips because cooking's really not my thing. I mean I like to cook and do, but I am not a cook in the sense that many people are. Anyway, here is the tip.)

Baking always turns out better if your eggs are room temperature.  It takes a long time for eggs to get to room temperature if you just put them out on the counter.  The chance of me remembering to put my eggs out hours in advance before I start cooking is nil, so putting eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes will bring them to room temperature! Ta-da!!! You're Welcome :)

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Too Many Cukes!

It's that time of year when you realize you planted too many cucumbers!!!  Again!!!

The answer?  Pickles!!!

I like the ease of refrigerator bread and butter pickles. James comes in from work, pops open the lid, and eats them right out of the jar with a fork. At least, I think he uses a fork!!

 Here's the recipe I use.

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

yield: About 4 cups of pickles

prep time: 3 hours

cook time: 5 minutes

total time: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS:

5½ cups (about 1½ pounds) thinly sliced pickling cucumbers
1½ tablespoons kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
½ teaspoon celery seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill 1½ hours. Move cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well, and return cucumbers to bowl. Add onion to the bowl and toss with the cucumbers.

2. Combine the granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and ground turmeric in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

(Recipe adapted from RecipeGirl)

Tomato Time

All this rain has been great for our garden!  Our soil is sandy and we sit at the top of a hill so all the excess rain runs off.  The tomato plants have used the rain to grow big, juicy tomatoes although it did take longer than usual this year for them to turn red.

With the tomato harvest rolling in, I thought I would reprint our tomato pie recipe.  We had our first one the other night and it was delicious!!

Tomato Pie

Ingredients:

1 Pillsbury ready made pie shell (you know...they come two to a long red box)
mustard (brown, French,Di'jon, yellow....whatever you like)
 homegrown tomatoes (I don't know how many you'll need because I don't know how big your tomatoes are! I use 3 if they are large.) *My mom take the skins (peels) off her tomatoes; I only do if we're having company.
Vadalia onion, chopped
bacon, cooked (I'm ashamed to tell you how much I use, so use as much as you feel comfortable with)
basil, chopped (I use about 6 large leaves from the garden, but I'm sure you could use dried)
2 cups yellow and white cheese, grated (some reserved)
1/4 - 1/3 cup mayo  (I don't know how you feel about mayo!)
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Slice tomatoes, sprinkle with salt (to draw out some of the liquid) and pepper, then set aside to drain.
2. Caramelize onions in olive oil or butter (or both...this way it will be healthy and taste good too)
2. Spray pie pan with Pam and lay in the pie crust.
3. Spread mustard over bottom of crust. (I can't tell you how much to use because I don't know how much you like mustard...1 Tbsp.?.....2Tbsp.?)
4. Mix mayo, onions, and most of cheese.
5. Now make your first layer. Cover the bottom of the pie shell with cheese mixture. Add some tomatoes, bacon, and basil.
6. Repeat so you have another layer.
7. Top with reserved cheese.

Bake at 400* until done. I don't really know how long this takes, maybe 30 - 45 min.
Let sit before slicing.

I hope this works out well for you!  As you can see, I am not a recipe writer!

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

Buckle??

Katherine and I got together a couple of weeks ago for a girl's weekend.  We met in Covington and  stayed at a great little airbnb spot right in the middle of the old downtown area.  I was able to wander around from shop to shop and antique store to antique store while I waited for Katherine to arrive.  Our restaurant was within walking distance as well.  After dinner we sat out on the balcony of our room overlooking the inviting, shady backyard and shared pictures from her honeymoon and our recent family trip.  It's always wonderful to be together.

The following morning we walked down to the Covington Farmer's Market.  It was a fabulous market with fresh vegetables, garden flowers and herbs, delicious baked goods, fresh squeezed juices, as well as fresh mushrooms and kombuchas,  We stocked up on a variety of items.  

Then we headed out for the main event, picking blueberries.  We drove north to Blue Harvest Farms.  We picked 18.5 pounds of blueberries in under an hour!  Now this wasn't our first rodeo; Katherine and I are blueberry pickers from way back!  

Berry picking from back in the day!!

At dinner the night before, our restaurant had blueberry buckle on the dessert menu.  I have had blueberry cobbler, blueberry pie (Katherine makes a delicious one), blueberry crumble, and blueberry scones, but a buckle?? 

I came home and found this recipe at Laura's Sweet Spot (http://laurassweetspot.com/2012/06/14/blueberry-buckle/). 

 We thought it was pretty good.  If you feel like broadening your horizons, here's the recipe for you to try...

Blueberry Buckle

Ingredients

• Streusel:
• ½ cup (2.5 oz) all purpose flour
• ⅓ cup packed (3/5 oz) light brown sugar
• 2 Tb granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 4 Tb unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces and softened
• Cake:
• 1½ cups (7.5 oz) all purpose flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 10 Tb unsalted butter, softened
• ⅔ cup (4⅔ oz) granulated sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp grated lemon zest
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 20 oz (4 cups) blueberries

Instructions

1. For the Streusel: Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt on low speed until well combined and no large brown sugar clumps remain, about 45 seconds. Add butter; beat on low speed until mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about 2½ minutes. Transfer to bowl; set aside.
2. For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour a 9″ round cake pan.
3. Whisk flour and baking powder together in bowl; set aside. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, sugar, salt, and zest on med-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer on medium speed, add eggs 1 at a time; beat until partially incorporated, scrape down bowl, and continue to beat until fully incorporated (mixture will appear broken). With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat until flour is almost fully incorporated, about 20 seconds. Stir batter with rubber spatula, scraping bowl, until no flour pockets remain and batter is homogeneous; batter will be very heavy and thick. Gently fold in blueberries until evenly distributed.
4. Transfer batter to pan. Spread batter evenly to pan edges and smooth surface. Squeeze portion of streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Repeat with remaining streusel.
5. Bake until cake is deep golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Happy Picking and Eating!!!!

Shelli

A mother's treasure is her daughter.  

~Catherine Pulsifer,

Sons-in-law and Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts at Couchon Butcher, NOLA

My son-in-law, Collin, is a wonderful cook.  In fact, that is our first memory of Collin. It was two Christmases ago and he and Katherine had only been dating a few months.  They drove up to Ruston for us to meet Collin and share the holidays.

 I was serving seafood crepes for Christmas Eve dinner. Katherine had told me that Collin liked to cook so I put him in charge of the sauce.  We were visiting and cooking and having a great time. James was grating cheese, but no one had told him how much to grate so he just kept on grating until he had finished the whole block. When Collin was ready for it, I dumped in the whole amount  not thinking that we only needed half of what was grated. Ooops...

Well the sauce seized up into basically a big ball of cheese. It was a dire situation!  But Collin began adding a bit of this and a bit of that and soon there was the prettiest sauce simmering in the pot.  In the end, the crepes were delicious, Christmas Eve dinner was saved, and Collin had made a place for himself in family lore.

Last Christmas, Collin was in charge of a vegetable dish and made the most wonderful brussels sprouts!  If you think you hate brussels sprouts, then you really must try them again cooked like this; it will make a convert out of you!  When we arrived in NOLA for the wedding, we had lunch at Couchon Butcher and they served brussels sprouts prepared just like Collin's.

I would give you Collin's recipe, but like most good chefs, I don't think he used a one.  I found this one by Ina Garten at the Food Network and had good results when I tried it.

Balsamic-Roasted Brussesl Sprouts

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half through the core
4 ounces pancetta, 1/4-inch-diced
1/4 cup good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon syrupy balsamic vinegar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the Brussels sprouts on a sheet pan, including some of the loose leaves, which get crispy when they're roasted. Add the pancetta, olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, toss with your hands, and spread out in a single layer. Roast the Brussels sprouts for 20 to 30 minutes, until they're tender and nicely browned and the pancetta is cooked. Toss once during roasting. Remove from the oven, drizzle immediately with the balsamic vinegar, and toss again. Taste for seasonings, and serve hot.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/balsamic-roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe.html?oc=linkback


Love ya'll,
Shelli

Bare Breasted Chicken

This morning, James and I were planning our day when I mentioned that I needed to post a recipe on the blog before we got going on any other project.  He asked which recipe, and when I told him that it was the chicken breast recipe I had cooked for him recently, he agreed that everyone would like it.

Then he asked, "What are you going to call it?"

"What, the chicken?" I responded.

"No, the blog post," he answered.

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it yet, something will come to me."

"You should try an experiment," he said.

He was referring to "Growing Branches" most often viewed post entitled "Muscadine Wet T-shirt Contest".   If you read tips about writing a successful blog, one of the top suggestions is to carefully craft your titles making sure to include keys words that will generate page views.  Well, that's just not what this blog is about.  I write a simple little blog about simple little things and appreciate our readers too much to manipulate you with bogus titles.  Every title I use is one that just seems to fit and with Muscadine Wet T-shirt Contest", I was teasing James about his fear of being the husband of a blogger - his life revealed to the world, some of which are his customers.

However, when he said, "Bare Breasted Chicken" I couldn't stop laughing and couldn't resist letting him have some fun.  He is looking forward to "manipulating the search engines prurient interests". (I had to look up prurient.)

So here is the delicious, easy recipe by Rachel Schultz at "A Household Almanac" (http://rachelschultz.com/2012/07/11/worlds-best-chicken/) that has been renamed here for the purpose of  James' experiment in statistics.

Bare Breasted Chicken

Serves 3-4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper

Fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, syrup, and vinegar.

Place chicken breasts into 9×13 lined baking dish. Season with salt & lots of pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Make sure each breast is coated. Put some more pepper on, if you please. No need to marinate. (I love that because I hate marinating/often forget to until it’s too late.)

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.

Season with fresh rosemary.

I'll let you know how it goes,

until then......

Love ya'll,

 Shelli

Dog Treats

I've been baking homemade treats for Fred and Ethel.

 

 

 There I've said it! 

When my sister, Jamie, heard this, her exact words were, "You're what?!!?!! I don't even know who you are anymore and I am not sure we can even be friends!!!"

My Dad, son of Dovie Wiggins who I talked about in an earlier post, probably thinks I've lost my mind too.  The only thing Grandma Wig would have baked for a dog is a "bitter pill" and if you don't know what that is then you need to see the play "Greater Tuna".

The fact that I am baking dog treats has more to do with being retired than being a "rabid" pet owner.  (Ha!)  The very best thing about being retired is that your pace of life slows down and you have time to do stuff like bake dog treats.

Anyway, for my readers who have dogs and want to give this a try no matter what their family members say about them, here is the recipe:

Homemade Dog Treats

 

2 jars baby food (Fred and Ethel especially like banana)

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup flour

 

Stir all ingredients into a dough.  Drop in 1 inch mounds onto greased cookie sheet.  Use finger to make a depression into each mound. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Fill each depression with peanut butter or cheese.

 

** When I use fruit flavored baby food, I fill the depression with peanut butter.  When I use meat flavored baby food, I fill the depression with cheese.  Gourmet!!

 

 

Love ya'll,

Shelli