Monthly Archives: June 2012

Canada Day Dog Treats

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I feel blessed to live in such an amazing country. There are far too many positive points to list – so I’ll keep it short and say that there’s nowhere I’d rather be. Winter, spring, summer & fall – from sea to shining sea – we love you, Canada, and as always, look forward to proudly displaying the maple leaf on July 1st!

I had my heart set on baking some red & white flag cookies, but I won’t use food colouring. In the end, I borrowed an idea from my talented television colleague Melissa Auger, and painted some of the biscuits with beet juice. I think you’ll agree that the results are nothing short of brilliant! Snaps once again for you, Melissa.

This biscuit recipe is a keeper all year round – just don’t bother with the cookie cutter. Here’s a little secret for you – I really don’t like using cutters – too much work! I bake treats twice a week, so I just use a knife to “cut” them into squares for The Boys before putting them into the oven. They break off easily into squares when they’re done.

Applesauce, chicken broth and cinnamon make for a nice, healthy dog biscuit. For this batch in the pictures, I used almost all Unbleached AP Flour, as I wanted my leaves to be white – but otherwise, the rest of the year I would use more whole wheat flour than white as we all know that it’s better for the dogs and ourselves.

These smell wonderfully warm like an apple pie. My husband really liked these too!

INGREDIENTS:

5 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup no sugar added applesauce
1 cup chicken stock (with no onions, preferably no-salt added)
1/4 cup canola oil
TSP baking powder
TSP cinnamon

1/3 cup of beet juice.
**My grocery store has it in the “natural” section. You could also make your own beet juice.

Begin by fork whisking together the canola oil, chicken stock and applesauce. Then, whisk in cinnamon, baking powder & flour and mix together until your dough “ball” forms. Gently knead to get it firmly together, wrap in parchment, and then put her in the fridge for at least an hour.

When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough to about a 1/4-1/2 thickness. Use your cookie cutter and start cutting away! (I bought myself a large leaf one at the bulk food store, they have small ones too) Bake them on the parchment paper for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven, take them off the pan, and let them cool down. Here comes the fun part – get out your pastry brush and a small bowl (I like my silicone one because it washes well, although it’s harder to use) and paint as many as you want red with the beet juice. You don’t need much at all -just do the entire cookie and two-three coats should cover it.

Pretty cool, eh?

Here is a picture from last year – my nieces at the cottage – it’s the little one’s birthday on Canada Day too!

I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist.  This recipe is not meant to replace a proper and balanced diet for your dog.  You should to speak to your own vet before trying new recipes or feeding any home cooked foods to your dog.

Ingrid’s Pupsicles

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I love getting photos of recipes that readers have tried and of course, pics of their pooches. Now, that’s a cute dog! Ingrid’s company provides dog walking services in the Toronto area. Her version of the Berry Good Pupsicles includes blackberries and bananas!! Check out Ingrid’s blog post and her company Leash & Paws:
Leash & Paws Pupsicles With mydogsbreakfast.com

Pulled Pork & Poitine – Fido & Wine – “The Luau”

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Hi guys,

I’m busy, busy, busy developing Canada Day treats and working to pay for my glamourous lifestyle (!) – so in the meantime, I thought I’d share a favourite Fido & Wine recipe with you – this one was helmed by the talented host herself, Laura Ducharme! For our Luau episode, we wanted to do a version of the Hawaiian treasure, Kalua Pua’a. Basically, a Hawaiian pork roast. Traditionally, it’s prepared in the Hawaiian “imu” or underground rock oven. Well, since we didn’t have one of those kicking around, a slow cooker was called to duty, and it did a bang up job.

Laura came up with a brilliant spin on another Hawaiian fave, Poi (mashed taro root). It was Canada meets Hawaii when hot Taro root fries were smothered in gravy and chunks of melty cheese curds – a different and delicious version of what some may consider our national dish, Poutine (fries smothered in gravy & cheese curds). She very cleverly named this taro version “Poi-tine”.

We made Pulled Pork Sliders with a side of Poitine for the two-legged set, and the dogs got a (cooled down) bowl of Poitine covered with not only the cheese and gravy – but also with the pulled pork!! DELICIOUSNESS!

Kahlua Pua’a:
INGREDIENTS
Pork Butt
Banana Leaf
Kitchen String
2 Cups of Broth or Water
Olive Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt
Fresh Rolls

Place pork on banana leaf. Season with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap pork in banana leaf and tie up with string. Place in the slow cooker, add broth. The pork will take about 6 hours to cook, it should fall apart. When pork is finished place on plate, unwrap, and use fork to shred the meat. Place meat on the roll and dress with gravy.

Gravy:
INGREDIENTS
Juices from Slow Cooker
1-4 TBS flour

Transfer juices from slow cooker to pot. Set burner to medium and whisk in flour to desired consistency.

Poitine:
INGREDIENTS
1 large Taro Root
200 grams of cheese curds
Gravy

Peel Taro root. Cut into half inch thick strips and blanch in cold water for appx. 1 hour. Dry them off well. Deep fry or bake in oven at 425 degrees until crispy and cooked through. Break fries into small pieces, then dress with gravy and cheese curds. Let cool before serving to dogs.

Fido & Wine airs on The Pet Network and ichannel in Canada.

Aloha!

* Please note that I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist, so it’s advisable to consult with your own authority when trying new foods, and also to ensure that your dog’s home cooked diet is balanced & includes all of the nutrients that are necessary for your dog’s health.

Berry Good Pupsicles

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Summer’s here, and on a hot day, a cold & creamy treat can turn a good day into a freakin’ fantastic one! I suspect our dogs feel exactly the same way.

Here’s a healthy, totally easy and ultra-fast summer treat you can make for dogs and for yourself. I’m one of The Unfortunates who can’t have any dairy at all – as I was photographing these I had to wipe my hands off on my pants, when all I really wanted to do was lick my fingers! The smell of the peanut butter and the frosty haze coming off of them was extremely tempting. I love this treat because it’s a great way to get your dog to eat some fruit, and yogurt in small doses can provide great benefits for them too. If your dog is the type who needs to be sweetened up to eat it – add some honey into the mix or drizzle the pupsicle with honey before serving.

You might have noticed that there’s no stick to make it like a popsicle – mine are the “pretend kind” – I used those rawhide sticks once, and just about lost my mind when Hank hoofed it down without chewing it. Too scary for me…but if you have a more delicate eater, you can simply add the “stick” into the centre of the cup before freezing it.

INGREDIENTS: (makes three-four pupsicles)
1 cup of plain yogurt
2 TBS peanut butter (preferably natural)
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup diced strawberries

In a mixing bowl, mix together the peanut butter and the yogurt. A spatula works well for this. Then, add in almost all of the blueberries and diced strawberries. Save a bit of each.

Take three plastic or styro cups and place the reserved berries at the bottom of each cup. Then, add the yogurt mixture on top, distributing evenly between the cups. The pupsicles in my picture appear larger than they actually are, by the way. I only filled small plastic cups about 2/3 of the way. This is a good size for a large dog. If you have a medium sized dog, you might distribute between 4 cups. If you have a smaller dog, use ice cube trays.

Freeze the pupsicles. When you remove from freezer to serve, let them thaw enough upside down to “drop” them out of the cups, or if you lack patience like me, run them under a bit of hot water to set them free.

If you’re really nice, like my friend Laura, you can make these in popsicle trays and hold them for your dog as he/she licks it like an ice cream cone. I’d lose a hand if I tried that with my one-bite wonders.

To my American friends – doesn’t this look like a great recipe to make for Independence Day? Canucks, stay tuned for my Canada Day treats coming up next!

Enjoy and have yourself a cold treat too!

xo/J

I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist.  This recipe is not meant to replace a proper and balanced diet for your dog.  You should to speak to your own vet before trying new recipes or feeding any home cooked foods to your dog.

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