Jessica's universal refrigerator pickle juice

This can be used to make refrigerator pickles of just about any sort: cucumbers, cauliflower (shown), green beans, peppers ... Just add a tablespoon of pickling spices of your choice to the bottom of the jar, pack in the veggies, and ...

Ingredients
(makes enough for one quart of pickles)

1.5 cups water
3/4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons kosher or pickling salt

Combine ingredients in small saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Uncover, stir to dissolve sugar and salt and boil for two minutes. Pour over vegetables and pickling spice in canning jar.

Let cool, then close jar and store in refrigerator for at least one week before eating. Eat within two months, if you can manage to keep them that long. This recipe can be doubled or tripled or quadrupled. If you make too much, just keep it in the fridge until you want to make more pickles.

You can vary the the type of vinegar, as long as it's at least 5% acidity. You can up the amount of sugar if you like sweeter pickles. Vary the pickling spices*, either by buying a commercial blend or making your own (both Penzey's and McCormick's are both good).

For dill pickles, put one tablespoon of pickling spice and one dill flowerhead (or one teaspoon dill seed) to a quart jar, then pack jar with either whole canning cucumbers or cucumber slices. Pour pickle juice in and then try to wait a week before eating!

* for a very simple version, try...

5 peppercorns
4 allspice berries
1 tsp whole yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

for dill pickles, add a dill flowerhead or one teaspoon dill seed

"Let's pretend these are healthy" cookies

(Before I forget how I made these very yummy cookies...)

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup additions, such as dried cherries, dried coconut, walnuts, hulled sunflower seeds, and/or chocolate chips. I like a bit of all of them.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, blend together flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom.

With an electric mixer, blend together butter and sugar in a large bowl.

Add egg, honey, and vanilla. Blend thoroughly with the hand mixer.

Using a spoon, stir in the flour mixture. When it's almost all mixed together, add the additions.

With clean hands, roll dough into balls the size of a golfball or a little smaller. Place one to two inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a rack to cool.

Try to let them cool a bit before you eat them.

How to make yogurt

I remember my mom making yogurt when I was little, and I remember making it when I was in college, but I had a special yogurt maker and yogurt cups and yogurt starter and ... in short, it was a big, complicated deal to make.

However, since we've been trying to save money, I've discovered that it's actually really easy to make yogurt. You don't need a special yogurt maker, and the most specialized piece of equipment you need is a candy thermometer. Since I already have a thermometer I use for canning and to make candy, I didn't need anything special.

The supplies list may look long, but you very likely already have everything you need.

Supplies:

• large double boiler or two pans that fit inside one another (I use the two pan method)
• candy thermometer (thermometer that can attach to the side of your pan to measure the temperature of your milk)
• spoon for stirring milk
• tablespoon
• large bowl or measuring cup
• ladle
• containers to hold eight to nine cups of yogurt (I use four to five plastic one-cup containers, two one-pint glass canning jars, and one other container to hold the inevitable leftovers)
• plastic or glass containers to hold really hot water
• large cooler
• thermometer (optional)
• towel

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon milk (whole, 2%, skim, whatever)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk (optional)
• 6 tablespoons plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures

Short version:

• clean your containers
• heat up milk
• cool milk
  
• add yogurt to milk
• put in containers
• leave in warm environment for 6-8 hours
• yogurt!

Longer version:

First, clean all of your supplies really well. You don't have to sterilize stuff, but it does have to be really clean if it's going to come in contact with milk or the yogurt you're making.

Fill the bottom of the double boiler (or the bigger pot) up with some water. Put the top of the double boiler on or put the smaller pot in the bigger pot. Make sure the water won't slosh into the top part. Pour in the milk.

We love Snowville Creamery milk. Pastured cows, no antibiotics, non-homogenized. L-O-V-E. I usually use 2% milk, but skim was all they had this time. It really doesn't matter unless you care about the fat content. Use what you have and don't get too wound up about it.

Add in the nonfat dry milk if you're using it; it makes the yogurt thicker and higher in protein. Stir it well and put the thermometer on the pan that the milk's in. Make sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. I suggest sticking your stirring spoon against the bottom of the pan and lowering the thermometer until it touches the spoon. That way, you know you aren't against the bottom.

Turn the heat to medium high and heat the milk to 180° F. This will take about five minutes. Stir a few times to keep the heat distribution even, but there's no need to obsess over it; the water in the other pot will keep it from scalding. You're heating up the milk to kill any nasty bacteria. Even if your milk is pasteurized, I don't suggest skipping this step. At minimum, your milk needs to get to a nice bacteria-friendly 120° F for the next step

While the milk is heating, fill your plastic or glass bottles with very hot tap water and put them in the cooler to warm it up. Make sure you close the cooler lid. Put the thermometer in there if you have one handy.

Once the milk hits 180° F, turn the heat off. It's OK if it gets hotter as long as it doesn't boil. If it gets lower than 180° F, turn the heat back on for a minute or two. You want to leave it at about 180° F for five to eight minutes.

After five to eight minutes, you'll want to cool the milk down to about 120° F. I fill the sink with an inch or two of cold water and leave it there for five minutes or so while the water slowly drains out of our leaky drainer. Keep the thermometer in.

While you wait, spoon six tablespoons of the plain yogurt into the measuring cup or bowl. You can use commercially-made yogurt as long as it has live bacteria in it, or after you've made your own, just use the last of the previous batch, if you remember to leave some.

When the milk hits 120° F, ladle out about a cup into the measuring cup with the yogurt in it. Stir it really well. There's no need to whisk it, but it should be really well-mixed. Then remove the rest of the milk from the water (if you do that), and stir the milk-yogurt mixture into the milk.

Fill your containers. I usually use five or six 1-cup containers that I fill about 7/8 full. That leaves enough room for dried fruit and such later. I also usually fill a few bigger containers so I can make yogurt cheese or frozen yogurt.

Put the filled containers in the cooler with the hot water bottles. Try not to let the dog help too much. If you have a thermometer, put it on top of the containers, then cover it with a towel. Then, close the lid and LEAVE IT ALONE.

OK, you can check it after three hours and make sure the temperature is between 120° F and 110° F. That should feel very warm when you stick your hand in if you don't have a thermometer. If it's a little cool, you can either leave it in for an extra hour or two or you can do what I do and refill the bottles with hot water.

After six to eight hours, take out your yogurt. The longer you leave it it sourer and thicker it will be. I usually leave it for seven hours. I've left it as long as ten hours when I was unexpectedly invaded by family members and the yogurt didn't kill me. But you probably shouldn't leave it much more than that or nasty things could happen.

Stick your yogurt in the fridge. Add flavorings to it when you're ready to eat it. I like honey and dried cranberries. Jeff likes to add vanilla and honey. Sometimes I add ground flax seed if I'm feeling really healthy.

Enjoy your yogurt. Try to remember to save some for the next batch. :)

I find I need to make yogurt every two weeks. This makes plenty for us for breakfast and for yogurt cheese in lieu of cream cheese. YMMV.

Enjoy.

Southwestern squash soup

Recipe to use up squash and some ancho chilies.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup tequila (optional)
2 cups cooked mashed orange-fleshed winter squash*
2 reconstituted, drained, seeded, and diced dried ancho chilies
4 cups vegetable broth
2 diced garlic cloves
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp salt
1 cup corn (optional)
1 cup milk

1. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onions until translucent.
2. Add tequila and raise heat, stirring constantly, until tequila cooks off.
3. Add squash, chilies, broth, garlic, oregano, cumin, parsley, and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 20 minutes.
4. Puree soup with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender. Add corn and milk and cook over low heat for ten minutes.
5. Serve.

*Any kind will work, even canned pumpkin, but fresh roasted is best.

Mango chutney

I made mango chutney last weekend, and even fresh out of the preserving pot, it was tasty! I significantly changed the recipe I used (because I didn't have everything), so I wanted to write down what I did so I didn't forget...

Mango Chutney Recipe
(makes about 4-5 cups)

6 cups chopped just-ripe mango (about 4 mangos)
1.5 cups peeled, chopped apple (about 3 or 4, depending on the size)
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup Turbinado sugar
1 cup diced red, orange, and/or yellow sweet pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup sultanas or mixed raisins
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup non-crystalized candied ginger (found at Trader Joe's)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp. dried hot pepper flakes (I used Aleppo pepper because it's what we had)

(mango chutney before)

1. Prepare your preserving jars and lids.
   
2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a large preserving pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Be sure to use a large, tall pot since it will start to spit near the end.
3. Simmer, stirring frequently for 45-60 minutes, until the mixture is thick and reduced to about a third of its original volume. I take a bar stool and sit next to the stove, stirring, and read a book. Squish up the apples when they get soft enough if they don't break up by themselves. Near the end, when it's spitting the most, you'll need to stir it constantly so it doesn't burn.
4. Spoon it into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. I like widemouth pint jars, but anything but really big jars will work. Put anything that won't fill a jar into the fridge and make some curry to go with it. Yum! Put on the lids and seal.
   
5. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
6. Try to wait at last a couple weeks before you try it!
   

(mango chutney after)

Sweetish Refrigerator Pickles

I call these "sweetish"one, because it sound like "Swedish" and that amuses me, and two, because I don't like sweet pickles, but I do like these. These pickles are super-easy to make and take a whole 15 minutes. Plus four days in the fridge that you have to try to keep your hands off of them.

Ingredients
1 quart pickling cucumbers or 1/2-3/4 English cucumber, thinly sliced
3/4 cup thinly sliced white onion
1.5 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar*
1/2 tsp. mustard seed
1/2 tsp. sea salt
4 whole peppercorns
2 whole allspice berries
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

Directions
1. Thoroughly wash a 1 quart/1 litre container and allow it to air dry.
2. Layer onion and cucumber in container, starting and ending with onion. You may have a little too much cucumber. Eat the leftovers.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute, then let cool.
4. When cool, pour the vinegar over the cucumber and onions.
5. Refrigerate. Try to keep from eating it for at least four days, but if you can't stand it it, you can try them after 24 hours. They'll keep in the fridge for a month, if they last that long.


*You can use regular sugar and it will taste just fine.

Slowcooker applesauce

With the price of food going up, I've been making an effort to cut costs where I can without sacrificing quality. Sometimes, though, that means putting in a bit of work, like peeling a cutting half-peck of apples to make applesauce.

That's really the only hard work, though. The rest of it's done by the slowcooker.

Ingredients:

1/2 peck* apples, any kind
1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Peel, core, and chop apples. I suggest an apple slicer to speed things up.
2. Combine apples and water in slowcooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
3. When the apples are soft, mash them with the back of a spoon, or for smoother applesauce, run through a food processor, blender, or use an immersion blender.
4. Allow to cool completely, then spoon into small containers and freeze.

This makes about 5-6 cups of applesauce. You can also add sugar or honey if your apples are tart. I usually don't, but sometimes I'll add some when I'm eating it.

*A half peck is one of those little bags with the handles that you often see apples and other tree fruit in.

Grill-roasted beets

Ingredients:

• beets, any variety, any amount
• balsamic vinegar, regular or white
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Heat grill to 400-500 degrees.
2. Top and tail the beets, then chop them into 1 inch cubes or so.

3. Make a double layer of aluminum foil and put beets in the center. Pull up the edges of the foil to make a bowl.
4. Add vinegar and oil, about a quarter cup of each, more or less depending on how many beets you have. Add salt & pepper to taste.
5.Pull up foil around beets and crimp well to close. Turn the packet over quickly a few times to coat the beets with vinegar and oil.

6. Place packet on grill over direct heat for about 20 minutes.
7. Move packet to top grill shelf, still over direct heat, for another 20 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

Skinny artichoke dip

I wanted some hot artichoke dip to have during the Super Bowl, but I didn't want the artery-clogging fattiness of the usual cheese-and-mayo-laden recipe. So, I made my own. It was damned tasty, and I'm posting it to share and so I don't forget it. And Jeff asked me to make it a keeper, too. Always a good sign. :)

1 can artichoke hearts, well drained
1/2 cup silken tofu
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cloves minced garlic
freshly ground salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend all of the ingredients. Spread into a small casserole dish and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes until hot. Serve with crackers or veggies.

Yum!

Two bean sweet potato chili

I threw this together this morning and let it cook all day in the slow cooker. It was really good - perfect for the first real fall day we've had - so I wanted to write it down before I forgot what I put in it.

Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked black beans
1.5 cups cooked cannelli beans
1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/2 cubes
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
3 Tbsp. chili powder

Directions
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with grated cheddar and/or sour cream.

Yum!

Super-quick gazpacho

Don't let the chopping fool you. This only takes about 10 minutes to make. And since it's best made ahead, you can do it whenever you have a few spare minutes.

Ingredients
1/3 cup chopped red, yellow or orange pepper (not green)
2/3 cup sliced spring onion, white and green parts (about 3 onions)
1 cup chopped peeled & seeded cucumber
1 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
24 oz. tomato-based veggie juice (like V-8)
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
Salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and let flavors blend for at least 1 hour before serving.
2. Serve plain or with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and garnished with chives.

I like a chunky gazpacho, but if you like yours smooth, blend the veggies and cilantro in the food processor with about 1/4 cup of juice and then add to the rest of the ingredients.

If you want, you can use half cilantro and half flat-leaf parsley.

This recipe is also a great way to sneak veggies into those who won't normally eat them. :)

Ginger Roasted Butternut Soup

This is a little time-consuming, but worth it! If you don't have vermouth, try a dry white wine instead or just leave it out entirely. But the vermouth really makes it good!

Ingredients

2 small butternut squashes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup diced onion
2 Tbsp dry vermouth
3 cups vegetable broth
1 Tbsp jarred minced ginger
2 Tbsp minced fresh chives, plus more for garnish
1 cup half & half
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400º. Cut squashes in half and remove seeds. Cut each half into quarters and put in large pan. Toss with olive oil, then roast until very soft, about an hour.
• Allow squash to cool, then remove skins and process squash in food processor until smooth.
• In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat and cook onions until they begin to become clear. Add the vermouth and lower the temperature to low, then cook until all the vermouth is gone.
• Add the butternut puree, vegetable broth and ginger and season to taste with the salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 30 minutes, preferably several hours.
• After at least 30 minutes, add chives and half & half and add more salt and pepper if needed. Cover and simmer for five minutes.
• Serve topped with chives and with a crusty bread.

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Singapore noodles

"A local place makes these, but they're really greasy. Mine aren't so much.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup diced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup diced red pepper
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup green beans, cut into 3/4" lengths
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet curry powder*
1/2 Tbsp hot curry powder*
4 cups rice thread noodles, softened according to package directions

1. In wok over medium-high heat, heat oil, then cook onion and garlic until onio begins to soften.
2. Add in pepper, carrots, and green beans and good until the veggies are crisp, but cooked.
3. Stir in bean sprouts, soy sauce, and curry powders and cook for two minutes.
4. Stir in noodles well and cook for two minutes.

*Or your favorite kind. It should have a hint of spiciness, but not be overwhelming.

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Spinach dip

As per Lee Ann's request, here's a super simple recipe for spinach dip that's also really good as a sandwich spread.

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese*
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Squeeze as much water out of the thawed spinach as you can. The drier, the better.
2. Put all ingredients together in a food processor to blend.
3. Season to taste and let the flavors blend for at least thirty minutes before serving.

I used fat-free versions of the cream cheese and ricotta and it was still very, very tasty. The spinach is so flavorful that you never miss the fat.

*The amount of ricotta you use will vary, depending on the wateriness of your spinach and ricotta, and your preferences for dip texture. Use up to a cup, but I wouldn't recommend less than a half cup.

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Asian faux-chicken salad

I adapted a recipe for Vietnamese chicken salad that I found in a book from the library. My version is highly tasty!

2 cups Morningstar Fams Chik'n Strips
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced celery
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Splenda or sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)

1. Thaw and chop chik'n strips into bite-sized peices.
2. Mix together the fau chicken, cabbage, celery, carrots, onion, cilantro and parsely in a bowl.
3. Mix together remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to make the dressing.
4. Pour dressing over the other ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for at least thirty minutes for the flavors to blend. Stir well before serving.
   

It's just as good without the faux chicken, too.

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Roasted red pepper dipping sauce

A tasty dipping sauce for just about anything. And it's good on veggies, too, and would probably be yummy on pasta, too!

Ingredients

2 jarred roasted red peppers, drained
2 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. canola oil
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Dice red peppers.
2. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.
4. Serve as-is or blend together in the food processor

Good hot, cold or room temperature.

(And for those of you who care, I've created an index to my recipes that have appeared on my blog over to the right there. If nothing else, it will save me time when I want my faux fish sticks recipe!)

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Inari

I love inari, with its sweet and salty and sour tastes all at once. Yum! And it's coming to work with me for the kick-off potluck for our work wellness program (I'm on the wellness committee - yippie). I have to write up the recipe for that, so I thought I'd post it here, too.

Inari is super-easy to make, and if you already have cooked the rice or have a rice cooker, the actual working time is about 10-15 minutes, depending on how gentle you need to be with your tofu pockets.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked warm medium grain rice*
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup shredded carrots, lightly steamed
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 can aburage**

Directions

1. Mix together everything but the aburage and let sit to cool and blend.
2. Gently rinse*** the aburage. Squeeze gently and place on kitchen towel to dry.
3. When the rice has cooled, gently pry open a peice of aburage and stuff it - gently! - about half full of the rice mixture. Fold in one long side, fold in the ends, then fold over the other long side. Place seam down on plate. Repeat with other peices of aburage.

Serves four. Serve immediately or no more than 24 hours later for best taste. Make it for dinner then have leftovers the next day for lunch - yum!

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*White is traditional, but I like it with a mixture of white and brown.
**See the photo at the top of the post for what a can is likely to look like.
***Not stictly required for canned aburage, but it's a little slippery to work with, otherwise.

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Home (dog food) cooking

So, in our eternal quest to get and keep the Kaylee-girl healthy (and lower the vet bills!), I decided to start cooking her a homemade diet, reasoning that the fewer preservatives the better, and anything I make should be more easily digested than hard kibble.

I did some research and finally found a really good book at my library, Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide by David Bastin, Grant Nixon & Jennifer Ashton. Except for some of the propaganda in the front, it's an incredibly well-researched book. It lays out recipes by dog weight, as well as nutrient needs, so it's very easy to use. It also gives lots of options for substitutions, which is great to add a little variety to Kay's diet.

Since I'm looking for an easily-digestible diet, I stuck to the basic diet, with some variations. The recipe I use for Kaylee (a forty-pound dog) is:

Protein (pick one):

4.25 cups white-meat turkey
4 cups white-meat chicken
12 scrambled or hard-boiled eggs
4 cups 1% cottage cheese (no additional salt)

Grain (pick one):

3 cups rice
3 cups barley
4 cups oatmeal

Plus:

2.25 cups fruit & veg mix*
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp iodized salt
1/2 tsp potassium chloride
2 tsp bonemeal
4 tsp each multivitamin & multimineral**

She's supposed to get one fourth of that at each meal, but it took her too long to eat and she would get frstrated and give up. So now she gets one eighth at each meal and gets a half cup of Nature's Recipe Easy-to-Digest Lamb Meal, Rice & Barley kibble, too. I'd prefer not to feed her the kibble at all, but since the homemade stuff is soft, it just takes her a long time to snarf it out of the bowl, and she doesn't finish it.

We tried salmon as a protein, but not only was that expensive, it was a little too oily for Kaylee's digestive system to handle. So that's out. We're sticking to the poultry and eggs for now. I try to keep at least two different types of meals in the freezer so I can rotate what she's eating to make sure she's getting all her nutrients.

As for cost, it really hasn't been all that expensive. Poultry goes on sale all the time, and three split chicken breasts provide 4 cups of chicken, and a 7-pound bone-in turkey breast provides at least 4.25 cups of turkey. And a dozen eggs, even free-range, are pretty cheap. If it can help keep her healthy, then it's sure as hell cheaper than the vet bills!

I wish I could do this for the other dogs, too (they do get about a tablespoon hidden under their kibble at each meal, just to placate them), but it's pretty time consuming, even for Kaylee, and they'd probably eat even more, since they're both bigger than her. If I didn't work, I'd probably do it - Kaylee seems to be doing really well on it! (Knock on wood!!!)

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NOTE: I am not a dog nutrition expert by any means, and I won't answer questions that you may have about dog nutrition. Go ask your vet or at the very least, go read the book referenced above. This diet is good for Kaylee, but probably won't be right for your dog. Talk to your vet, like I talked to mine, before you start your dog on a homecooked diet.

*Made by cooking and then processing the more easily digested fruits and veggies. I use frozen stuff, mostly, since it's cheaper. Kaylee usually gets 4-5 different veggies, including green beans, yellow wax beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, apples and strawberries.

**I've forgotten what brand of multivitamin/multimineral I use, but I found it at Whole Foods. It's a liquid and it's in two separate bottles. I'll try to remember to look at the bottle sometime soon. It's called Nature's Answer.

Technorati Tags: dogs, recipes, dog food

Banana Cookies for Pups

Now that the weather is cooling down, I can bake cookies for the pups again without overheating the house. Here's a new recipe that's very pupular. ;)

2 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup water
1 egg, whisked
2 Tbs. molassas
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups whole wheat flour

1. Mix all ingredients together. The dough will be very stiff and dry. You will probably need to use your hands.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4" thick.
3. With a fork, prick the dough all over with a fork (this keeps the dough from getting too puffy).
   
4. Using a pizza cutter or a very sharp knife, cut the dough into 1" peices (I like diamond shapes).
5. Put close, but not touching on parchment-covered cookie sheets.
6. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
7. Remove from the oven and cool completely on cookie sheets (while you're waiting and the oven is on, bake some Pumpkin Dog Cookies or Happy Pup Muffins).
8. When the cookies are completely cool, reduce the oven to 300° and bake for another 30 minutes.
9. Remove from oven, and when cool, feed a few to the pups, then store the rest in an airtight container.

Quick Kaylee update: She seems to feel better for the moment. The lump is gone, she's eating, and she's beating the crap out of Cordy on a fairly regular basis. Hopefully, she'll feel better for more than a few days this time!