OSCAR ATE MY MUFFIN

Wicked Wonderful Autumn (Part 2)

Summer is a season of cool fruits, cold salads, and those weird cousins of soup that never touch a stove. We crave chilled meals to counter the heat on our skin, and combat what feels like constant dehydration... but when a bite returns to the air and our bodies start the game change to warming up without the help fo the sun, it's no surprise that our bellies snap out of their produce-nourished summer cleanse and start grumbling for BTU-fueling CARBS. Like bears getting ready for a long winter nap, a dietary autumn shift towards rib-sticking comfort food just feels right... why fight it??

A month or so ago, on a long September weekend spent in a chilly farmhouse, a best friend started whipping together Sunday breakfast before the Saturday dinner dishes had yet been cleared. Her preparation was ninja-swift and went largely unnoticed, but by morning everyone in the house was prompted from bed by the unmistakable - and impossible to ignore - smell of WAFFLES.

To Oscar's horror, I am not a huge fan of breakfast batter cakes, but... as evidenced by this post - these waffles were seriously something else. Their secret? Yeast in the batter, and 8 hours of quiet resting (and rising) before cooking. If you're in possession of a waffle iron and you haven't yet tried overnight waffles - it's time, my friends, IT'S TIME.

The original recipe followed above was from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, and it's delightful enough - I'm not the first to post it online (though I might be the first to illustrate it). And so, without further adieu, here's the "how-to" for Wait For It (overnight) Waffles!


STEP 1: Before going to bed, combine the dry ingredients and stir in the milk, then the butter and vanilla. The mixture will be loose. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight at room temperature.

STEP 2: Brush the waffle iron lightly with oil and preheat it. Separate the eggs and stir the yolks into the batter. Beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir them gently into the batter.

STEP 3: Pour batter onto the waffle iron and bake until the waffle is done, usually 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your iron. Serve immediately or keep warm for a few minutes in a low oven.

Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: 8 hours or more, largely unattended

Spring Projects in Print!

Remember those exciting print projects I mentioned in an earlier post? It is my great pleasure to unveil the following two dog-related features that officially hit newsstands and mailboxes this May: An illustrated recipe spread (art and text by yours truly) in none other than glorious The Bark* magazine; and an illustrated essay in the premier breed magazine for the Rhodesian Ridgeback world - The Ridgeback Register!** Both of these projects were absolute joys to complete, and I send a heartfelt thanks to Bark editor, Cameron Woo, and Ridgeback Register editor, Denise Flaim, for the opportunities.

*Why YES - that IS Oscar Dog in The Bark spread, inching off the picnic blanket and salivating over the Big Dog Burger and Liver Cracker Bun! I couldn't very well illustrate a recipe page without testing out these treats myself, so Oscar stepped up and volunteered his discerning palette for a few rounds of "canine test kitchen" - one such exercise easily became the focus of this year's birthday celebration...

**The Ridgeback Register is a subscription only publication, so you'll have to be "in the Rhodie know" to catch my work there - The Bark, however, has national distribution and can be found in most major bookstores or large newsstands, so if you're looking for a phenomenal collection of all things contemporary dog culture - hot-foot it to your nearest book seller!

Belated Big Dog Birthday Burgers

Let's see now... where did we leave off back in March, before that eggregious pause in dog-blogging activity... THAT'S right - we were just celebrating Oscar Dog's BIRTHDAY! Indeed, I put up a post on March 27th, to mark the occassion, but we hadn't yet had time to throw the party (and anyone following the life and times of Oscar knows that dog birthdays in this house mean baked-meat treats - and sometimes paper hats). Well, weeks later - I did get my canine culinary act together (I sadly neglected to incorporate a new hat... though Oscar appeared A-OK with that oversight) - and the feast for the Beast this year? A twist on a great classic: "Big Dog Birthday Burgers!"

*Oscar doesn't mess around: the burger buns in this dish are primarily for effect, and while they're laced with liver and plenty appealing to dog taste buds, you can see this canine foodie goes straight for the meat first... smart lad.

Meatloaf has long been a staple of mine when I want to cook something special for Oscar - it's incredibly simple to make, and packed full of healthy ingredients. I used our old standby recipe to create the "burger" here - I just shaped the meat mixture into individual rounds, instead of the large bricks typical of meatloaf. I posted an elaborate illustrated recipe for our meatloaf last year, so I'm going to simply link to that post for anyone interested (if you're shaping burgers instead of loaves, you'll want to bake them for about half the listed time).

The BUNS you see above however... those are a new concoction... A very basic (but dense!) baked good, they incorporate fresh liver - blended until mush in consistency. Yes indeed, liver smoothies are straight up gag-inducing, but trust me, your dog will adore you for adding this ingredient. So take a deep breath, open the kitchen window and follow the instructions below...


RECIPE: LIVER CRACKER BURGER BUNS

1. In a bowl, combine flour, wheat germ and parsley - set aside.

2. Briefly blend the liver in a food processor until smooth. I used chicken livers in this case, but any liver will likely do the trick, with varied amounts of blenderizing.

3. Add liver mush to dry ingredients, then mix in oil and water until a sticky, firm dough forms. I mixed the dough with my hands, dusting my fingers with a little flour when it came time to shape the buns.

4. On a greased cookie sheet, shape bun rounds - about 3" in diameter and 1/2" thick (make the bun top about 1" thick and mold it into the domed silhouette of a classic burger bun).

5. Brush bun tops with egg white and sprinkle sesame seeds over them.

6. Bake at 400˚ for 15-20 minutes. Buns should be slightly soft in the center when pressed. Cool before assembling with burgers and serving.

NOTE: This recipe makes enough dough for about 4 "normal sized" cracker rounds: 2 top/bottom bun pairings. These treats MUST be stored in the refrigerator if not consumed immediately, and they should be eaten within 2 days of baking.

Perfect Pumpkin Pup-Treats

When the season of giving thanks rolled into town this year, I couldn't resist the call of fresh pumpkins, suddenly plentiful at the grocery store: I love roasted pumpkin myself, but Oscar might be a bigger fan than even I. Since I had been interested for some time in making a batch of homemade, baked dog treats for the Beast, I thought now a fitting time to research recipes that utilized this most excellent flavor...

Anyone with a dog likely knows that canned pumpkin should be a staple in any properly outfitted canine pantry, due to it's "magical" digestive-regulating properties - I don't know how much of that benefit is transferred after baking into a cookie, but it certainly can't hurt. The original version of the treat recipe I based the following on was actually born of the resourcefullness by one skilled chef, in response to her black lab's upset tummy, and fickle taste buds. That original recipe can be found on the blog simmer till done - but because I can never leave well enough alone, I made a few minor adjustments:

Since I only had wheat flours in my pantry - and I know my dog tolerates wheat just fine - I swapped out the rice flour for whole wheat... and I added turmeric. Turmeric (colored by the yellow pigment, curcumin), it turns out, is a powerful supplement, with anti-inflammatory benefits, and the power to inhibit tumor growth, and naturally dissolve lipomas (fatty tumors) - this recipe would provide only fractions of a pinch within in each cookie, but I'm inclined to never underestimate the power of trace amounts... 

So, without further adieu - read on to learn how to make your own Perfect Pumpkin Pup-Treats... 

1. Mix together wet ingredients: 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (since they're in season, we actually roasted a little sugar pumpkin and made our own puree!) and 2 eggs.

2. Seperately stir together dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour (we used whole wheat, but any flour can be substituted - just be aware that different flours may require a touch more pumpkin puree to form a good dough), 1/4 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp dry milk and 1 tsp turmeric.

3. Blend dry mixture into wet mixture until ingredients are mostly incorporated, then turn out the dough and knead until smooth.

4. Roll out the dough: I rolled mine down to about 1/8 of an inch, and used a small, bone-shaped cutter, but the exact thickness and size of cookie shape is up to you. Less is more in this house... a larger, thicker cookie will simply need more baking time.

5. Use a cookie cutter to make your treat shapes! I love the wee bone shape... *poking the treats with a fork will minimize puffing up during baking*

6. Place cut-outs on a baking sheet - we put our cookies directly on an un-greased sheet and had no problem with sticking - and bake at 350˚ for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just starting to brown. If you make larger cookies than I did, they'll likely need more time... just watch them for browning.

7. Turn out cookies to cool on a rack or plate and make sure they're completely cool before sealing them up in an airtight container. At the size we worked with, this recipe made over 6 dozen little bone-shaped treats! Oscar, as you might imagine, was thrilled with this output but demanded quality control inspections at regular intervals...


We hope your 4-pawed friends and family enjoy this handmade treat as much as Oscar does - and if the mixing and kneading and stamping and baking leaves you inspired to make more goodies for the pups, we have just the direction to point you in: Our good friends Pretty Fluffy and Chic Sprinkles (fellow lady dog-bloggers extraordinaire!) have just released a terrific new ebook titled "52 Weeks of Treats"! Dozens of inventive recipes (Sweet Potato Pretsels, Hearty Beef Bites... Puppylato!) and tips are combined with lovely photographs - all available for download! We're excited to give some of these tasty treats a spin in our kitchen... just in time for holiday gifting...

Deliciously Cool Red, White & Blue

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... 

Meatloaf-cake Fit for a King

Oscar eats a 100% home-prepared RAW diet, but there are occassions when I cook for him. That's right, I'm that crazy person who bakes my dog a birthday cake... though I assure you there are at least a few other crazy people out there because I've been asked what goes into this meat-cake masterpiece, and how to make it. In response to inquiry, and for a little fun, I'd like to make this the first in a series of illustrated recipe posts (the first, and decidedly the most complicated - next up will be something like "Sliced Cantaloupe"... no joke, one of Oscar's all-time faves).

Meatloaf may have an intimidating number of ingredients, but the delicious thing about it is how versatile and forgiving it is - especially when you're making it for a dog. In honesty, I don't even really follow a recipe when I make this - it's different every time, but my trusty Joy of Cooking is always close at hand for basic reference. What's most important *to eyeball* is the ratio of meat to all the other ingredients (meat should make up 1/2 to 2/3 of mixture), and the amount of egg needed to bind it all up into a pleasing loaf shape (start one egg at a time till you're happy with the consistency). Please use the below quantities as a guide, substituting ingredients* if you like, or amounts as you see fit. I know fruit is a hair untraditional, but Oscar quite likes a good apple slice or blueberry, and to be honest, I think it makes a tasty addition. If you're feeling especially lazy, baking a straight-up ball of ground beef will probably make your dog just as happy as spending an extra arm and a leg to whip up this bad boy (it certainly won't garner the same photographic effect, however...). With that said, here we go...

*Keep in mind that there are some foods that are either not healthy, or downright dangerous to dogs - consult this list if you're not already familiar with them. Some dogs have specific sensitivities or allergies as well, so know your pup before chucking in flavors she doesn't tolerate or hasn't had before.


1 Mix in a big bowl: about 2lbs of ground meat (I typically mix ground beef, ground turkey, and a little ground lamb), 1 carrot - shredded, 1 pear or apple - shredded (discard the core), 1c rough chopped spinach, 1/2c chopped parsely, 1c dry quick-cook oats, and 2 or 3 eggs (you want the mixture to just hold together, without being too wet). *No seasoning!

2. Form your mixture into 2 or 3 loaves and place in a baking dish (you'll want a dish, not a cookie sheet, as there will be a fair amount of juice released during cooking). Bake at 350˚ for an hour to an hour and 1/4, or until loaves are firm, neatly browned, and pulling away from the edges of the baking dish.

3. Cool and cut a few slices from one of the loaves.

4. Boil potatos: Chop 2 potatos into 1/2" cubes - no need to peel them, but make sure there is NO green on them. Cook until tender (15 to 20 min) and drain.

5. Smash potatos with a potato masher or food processor.

6. Assemble your pup-cake*! Place one slice of meatloaf on a plate, "frost" with 1/2" or so of potato mash, place another meat slice on top, then frost again with potatos (choose your slice thickness and general size of dish based on your dog's size and weight). As a finishing touch, since salmon oil is a staple of Oscar's regular RAW diet, I'll drizzle a bit of that on top - and it never hurts to cut number's out of bacon for garnish... because that's how we roll...


*This recipe is intended for a special occassion meal - it does NOT contain all the nutirients necessary for optimum canine health, and so shouldn't become your dog's new stand alone-diet (it can be a staring point, but you'll need to finesse the recipe and include more). If you're interested in feeding your dog a home-prepared or home-cooked diet, there are plentiful great resources on the web. Stay tuned for future posts on this subject, but check out this excellent site to get your research started.