We’ve had our sweet pup for a year now. Its hard to believe how quickly time flies. We brought her home Febraury 13th last year. Macy was skin & bones. 40 lbs to be exact (click here if you want to see a pic of her skinny itty bitty self taken the day we brought her home). She’s now a happy, healthy 52lb boxer who loves her mama for making her homemade treats 
Yes, I did just call myself my dog’s mama. It can’t be helped; she’s like my child. She’s my first child even which only makes it worse Oh how spoiled she is! All those homemade treats has given her plenty of chances at perfecting the ‘More Please!’ look! If you’re anything like me, then you have a hard time resisting this adorable face!!
I love making dog treats. First of all, your test subject will eat just about anything! But I enjoy trying new combos of flavors and different types of grains, etc to see what she seems to like more! This time I knew I wanted to create a chewier treat than she normally has. She gets so excited over her normal treats that she practically swallows them whole in an attempt to hurry and get another! I wanted to slow her down, so I began experimenting molasses! It did the trick! She actually spit the treat back out at first like what is this?! Gave it another sniff and proceeded to scarf it down as quickly as she could but these definitely require at least some chewing! haha. They definitely seemed like another winner! She certainly had no complaints!
Banana Oat Dog Treats
2 medium bananas, mashed
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c rolled oats
1 tsp molasses
1 large egg
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well. Dough should be soft but easily rolled (depending upon banana size, you may need to add a little flour). Scoop a teaspoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place balls on baking sheet and press flat with fork, criss-crossing horizontally and vertically until cookies are uniform in thickness. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Let cool completely before giving to your dog.
Homemade bread. Its truly one of the most amazingly delicious foods that exists. I mean seriously, hot bread straight from the oven slathered with butter… its heaven. I’m sure I’m not the only impatient one when it comes to eating freshly baked bread (see photo below – can you see that steam?? haha.) I let the bread cool and took some more photos, but we’re keepin’ it real here. I have no patience to wait on delicious food. I was so ready to hurry and eat some fresh bread!
I first saw this recipe on Erin’s Food Files (p.s. – have you seen Erin’s blog? its great! go check it out). But as I frequently do, I went back to the original recipe from Gourmet and made some modifications of my own. This recipe will not disappoint. Its heavy and hearty and just all around delicious.The original recipe calls for a mix of wheat flour and all purpose. Like Erin, I’ve had great experiences using all wheat flour, so I also opted to use white wheat flour and omit the all purpose. If you’d like a lighter, airier bread. Go with the original recommendation of 3 cups wheat + 2 cups all purpose.
It will yield two loaves… don’t even think about cutting the recipe in half. You’ll eat them both! You can always freeze one loaf if you want, but since you’re putting in the effort to make bread anyway, you might as well get two loaves out of it! Definitely give this one a try!
Oatmeal Wheat Bread
2 cups milk
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking) plus additional for topping if desired
1/2 cup warm water (105-115°F)
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup mild honey
1 Tbsp molasses
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for buttering pans
5 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
Vegetable oil for oiling bowl
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (optional)
Special equipment: 2 (8- by 4-inch) loaf pans
Heat milk in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over low heat until hot but not boiling, then remove pan from heat and stir in oats. Let stand, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooled to warm.
Stir together water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon honey in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir yeast mixture, melted butter, molasses and remaining honey into cooled oatmeal.
Combine ingredients in stand mixer with wooden spoon, then knead with bread hook 5-7 minutes.Form dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel; let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Lightly butter loaf pans. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times to remove air. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a loaf, then place 1 loaf in each buttered pan, seam side down, tucking ends gently to fit. Cover loaf pans loosely with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. If desired, lightly brush tops of loaves with some of egg wash and sprinkle with oats. Bake until bread is golden and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes. (Remove 1 loaf from pan to test for doneness. Run a knife around edge of pan to loosen.) Remove bread from pans and transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
Bread keeps, wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature, 4 days.
Adapted from Gourmet, October 2005
I’ve already blogged about Roasted Tomato Salsa before. That recipe is still our favorite. But I wanted to give this recipe a try since its faster to whip up and we love us some good roasted salsa goodness. We really enjoyed this salsa when served on day 1, but the roasty goodness was actually too much for us the longer that it sat! Which is surprising because I expected the roasted flavor to not be as strong in the canned tomatoes than when I fresh roast tomatoes!
So I don’t usually blog about recipes that I think are just so-so, and overall that’s what I’d give this since we felt like it had to be consumed right away and I like making a big batch on the weekend to last us a week. BUT this recipe definitely has a place in our kitchen and thus why its on the blog. Its great to whip up if you’ve got company on the way! My usual go-to recipe takes too long to whip up if you’re in a time crunch (and when its not tomato season its good just not as good as it could be so canned roasted tomatoes gives you more flavor).
Quick Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa
1 to 2 fresh jalapeño chiles
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 15-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt
Roast the chiles and garlic. In a small ungreased skillet over medium heat, roast the chiles and garlic, turning regularly, until they are soft and blotchy brown, about 10 minutes for the chiles, 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool until handleable, then pull the stem(s) off the chile(s) and remove seeds if desired (we do!). Roughly chop jalapenos. Peel the skin off the garlic. Scoop into a food processor and pulse until quite finely chopped.
Finish the salsa. Add the tomatoes with their juice. Re-cover and pulse until you have a coarse puree. Scrape into a serving dish. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon. Ready to serve.
Source: Adapted from Rick Bayless
