It's a Dog's Life

If there's one thing I know for certain, it's that wearing a cone on your head sucks. 

Big time.

I had suspected this to be the case long before I had two dogs in that very state, but given their behaviours over the last week since their "fixings", I can only assume that it is hell (but not as bad as wearing reindeer antlers...search for dog-related posts in December if you're just tuning in now and therefore didn't have the pleasure of reading about that little trip).

Another certainty in life is that when you're feeling down, there's nothing like a homecooked "feel good" treat from a friend. I've often felt bad for our dogs in general because, well, they're dogs and they have to watch us do awesome people things. Like walking upright, drinking beer and eating fantastically great smelling food. And I make great smelling food.

I found a fantastic chicken recipe on a site I'd never visited before called Fine Cooking. It's called Classic French Chicken in White Wine and it is quite divine. It's got bacon in it, which of course makes it smell awesome, and considering that dogs have a far better sense of smell than us humans, I'm sure they appreciated it too.

I followed the recipe exactly, except that I didn't have prosciutto or country ham so I used bacon. The result is that the bacon probably took over the sauce a little more than it maybe should have, but you can't really complain about bacon so that was fine. As an accompaniment I made garlic mashed potatoes and swiss chard with mushrooms. I'd never cooked with swiss chard before, and I think I overdid it a bit (there should likely be some green left in the leaf), but sauteed in olive oil with a bit of finely chopped onion made it a very tasty side. We both really enjoyed this meal, and the puppies were miserable watching us eat it. This got me to thinking...

...why not let them enjoy the fruits of my labours in the kitchen by making them some doggie treats? I had been given dog-themed cookie cutters at Christmas along with a cookbook called You Bake 'Em Dog Biscuits Cookbook by Janine Adams. What better time to try a couple of the recipes? I'm not baking much these days, as it seems like everyone around here is trying to cut back on sweets (oh Happy New Year! I'm sure their sentiments will change by Valentine's Day). Additionally, making dog biscuits means that I can still get my weekly dose of baking without having to eat a lot of sugar myself! Perfect!

The first recipe I tried was the Peanut Butter Oat Biscuits. The recipe called for everything that I had lying around, unlike a lot of them (calling for things like liver and safflower oil) and the pups love peanut butter, so it seems like a no-brainer. The nice thing about cooking dog treats as opposed to people treats is that you don't have to worry as much about things like texture or flavour (to an extent, although given what I've seen my and the Rez dogs here eat, it would have to taste like shit to be inedible...oh no...wait...they eat that too).

The second treats I made were the ones I knew would make my little coneheads go crazy: Bacon-Cheese Biscuits. I was trying to get rid of a bit of old cheddar that seemed like it may start to go moldy any day, and we had opened a pack of bacon a few days ago and it needed to be finished. Another simple, straightforward recipe that smelled delicious! The dogs drooled over my creations, and even my partner remarked on how good it smelled when he got home. He was more than a little disappointed when I said that the smell was cookin' for the dogs! I think he really wanted to try one, but restrained himself.

Once the treats had cooled enough I offered them to Reina and Nanuq. They went ballistic! I don't know if the recipes are that good, or if they were simply stunned that I was offering them something fresh from the oven. Either way, their reactions made the effort well worth it. And even better, I would estimate that the ingredients for both batches likely cost no more than $5 (if even) and made 200 treats. The above jars I keep in the fridge, the rest are in the freezer for down the road. The only problem I foresee from this experience is that the pups may come to expect samples every time I bake now. Given that the my cookbook includes recipes for doggie cupcakes, they may be right. It's a dog's life, after all!