This July 4th was a toasty one. Oscar was flat on his side on the coolest part of the concrete studio floor for most of the sunshine hours - it was only our evening trek up a grassy hill to watch fireworks (and possibly the wee cottontail that decided to dart in front of us along the way) that got his ears perked and engine going. For a breed developed on the velds of Africa, this Rhodesian Ridgeback is a real slug when the mercury rises. Lucky for the Beast, I have just the treat to make a hot day more bearable... For the second of our illustrated recipe series, I wanted to share one of Oscar's very favorite sweltering summer-day snacks: Frozen Yogurt & Fruit Cubes.
I like to use ice cube trays in fun shapes, to make things more... fun (you know, for me), and the rubbery, silicone versions are a little easier to pop the treats out of, but standard trays work just fine. In honor of July 4th, I went matchy-matchy with the birthday colors of the good ol' U.S. of A. and used raspberries and blueberries for this batch, though any little fruit bites could be substituted (just NO grapes!). Remember to keep the yogurt plain (flavored varieties have uneccessary sugar and calories), and go with lo/no-fat if you've got a dog of average metabolism. The probiotics in any live-culture dairy are a healthy supplement to any canine's diet, and 2 or 3 of these frosty squares a day, for a medium-sized dog, should (at least temporarily) lift the spirit of even the most heat-sapped hound...
What a fantastic idea Oscar & Natalya! I'll have to locate some of those silicone trays and get some of these going for my guys! Unfortunately the squirrels polished off my blueberries but my raspberry bushes look to have quite a year!
Posted by: Holly Buttura | July 06, 2012 at 09:20 AM
And so easy, right?! It takes all of 2 minutes to throw this stuff into the freezer... I bet your pups will LOVE fresh raspberries from your own bushes!
Posted by: Natalya | July 09, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Hey Natalya & Oscar - made some of these cool treats yesterday with my raspberries. They were a hit!! (of course they don't look as pretty as Natalya's illustration but I don't think Apollo or Athena cared!)
Posted by: Holly Buttura | July 23, 2012 at 03:47 PM
Awesome Holly! There isn't much NOT to love about frozen yogurt and fresh berries - and I bet your home grown fruit was a major improvement over my store-bought stuff! :)
Posted by: Natalya | July 23, 2012 at 03:56 PM