I love making treats for these guys. Why? Treats are expensive, for one thing. Also, it’s tough to find reasonably-priced, healthy options. I started whipping up healthy treats from stuff I already had around the house.
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Here are two of my favorite (and easiest) DIY dog treats:
Microwave Bites
Here’s what you need for these goodies:
- 3 jars of baby food (I used sweet potato this time around because of Cooper’s restrictions, but anything – especially the meat varieties – work)
- 1/2 cup of uncooked cream of wheat
- 1 tablespoon of ground flax (optional)
Stir the ingredients together and drop the mixture in bite-sized bits onto a microwave-safe plate. The size can be adjusted for the size of your dog. I like to make teeny-tiny drops so they can work as training treats. Microwave for 3 minutes. They should be firm, but since microwaves vary, you can increase in 30-second increments as needed. Refrigerate until they cool.
Roll-Out Peanut Butter Cookies
These are a smidge more complicated, but are still pretty simple and definitely very wholesome. Here’s what you need:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 tablespoon ground flax (optional again, but a great addition)
Preheat your oven to 375, and grease two cookie sheets. Using an electric mixer, beat together the milk and peanut butter until it’s really well combined. Slowly add the flour, baking power, and flax (if you’re super Martha-y, you might want to mix the dry ingredients together in advance, though I usually eliminate that extra step).
Roll out onto a floured surface, and use cookie cutters to create fun shapes. (These cookie cutters are on my wish list!) If you don’t have any on hand, the top of an empty glass jar works well. Place them a couple inches apart on the cookie sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Allow them to cool completely before balancing them on your dog’s nose.
Do you cook for your dogs? Any recipes, tips, or tricks to share?
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The only time so far I’ve coked specifically for Elka was when she was having her last hurrah growth spurt and we couldn’t feed her any more daily kibble than we were already, without dire bowel consequences. So I got liver and seared that for her (it was when an e-coli thing was happening so I didn’t trust the raw)
Those roll-out biscuits look fantastic, though! I’ve been looking for a recipe for the tuesday treat blog hop thinger; I might poach it for that (and give credit where credit is due, of course!)
Go right ahead, Jen! Let me know how they turn out!
I’ve always wanted to do this, but I can barely cook for myself. Though these seem pretty simple. I did want to try some dog ice-cream because we just got an ice-cream maker and I’ve been doing so much with it.
I am so not a cook either! These are definitely super simple. For the dog ice cream, the easiest recipe is: yogurt + frozen fruit like blueberries + a couple scoops of PB. Stir, pour into tiny cups or bowls, freeze! (We got ramekins as a wedding gift. Have never, ever used them for anything other than freezing dog ice cream!)
we ordered a food dehydrator and r gonna try drying various fruits/veggies to see what she might like. trying to find things that last longer too but arent gross like rawhides. we bought the sweet potato chews but our zoe doesnt like them. ill def wanna try ur first recipe.
I’ve heard great things about dehydrated snacks. Let us know how it goes!
great and easy recipes! I started baking treats for my dog last year… My dog (mochi) loves them and I love that I can make sure the treats are good for her health! I started a blog full of the treats that I made for her.
Erica, what is your blog? These simple recipes really make me want to try 🙂
With the very disturbing dog food recalls, it is very important to take charge of our pets health as well as ours. Nothing from China for my dogs, cheap is not the way to go! Home made dog treats help our pets and help our wallets, u might say it’s a WIN WIN!