Frozen Natural Dog Treats

I don't know about you, but our dog, Shooter loves this weather!  He will swim and run until he passes out and we always keep an eye on him for an hour or so after we get back inside in case he overheats.  Over protective much? Probably.  However, to alleviate this we made some wonderfully tasting frozen summer time dog treats; all natural!  And, surprise surprise... he LOVES them!  Give these easy dog treats a try for your active pup and keep them cool and healthy all summer long!

 

We made three different flavors for Shooter; mainly because I had so many left over dog favored foods!  We had a few bananas that were too ripe to eat, and half a sweet potato left after we made fries last week.  Plus peanut butter... what dog doesn't love peanut butter?! 

 



Ingredients:

Peanut Butter

Sweet Potato

Banana

Low fat milk/almond milk/organic yogurt.... (your choice; I used what we had, low fat milk)

Dry oats

Honey

 

Cook Time:

20 mins

 

*Food processor is also helpful here

 

 

 

 

First, we made sweet potato treats.  Peel, cut and boil sweet potato.  Place into food processor with oats, milk and honey.  Test out the consistency and place into ice cube tray.  Freeze and enjoy! 

 

Keep going with any flavors your dog likes.  Like we said, Shooter loves peanut butter so we made a batch with peanut butter, oats, milk and honey.  Make sure to stay away from flavors that are bad dogs... i.e. chocolate, raisins, grapes, garlic. Also watch using the milk if you know your dog has an allergy to protein.  If that is the case, yogurt is a better option. 

 

The bananas were the same, use your bananas and add oats, honey and milk. 

 

When removing the treats from the trays, we found that it was easier to use a butter knife and cut the treats out.  Feed to your dog right away; they melt fast!!

 

 

 







Coconut Rose Sugar Scrub

Derek recently had surgery on his ACL and spent a week at home with me.  Needless to say, as you all know how whiney men can be when they are under the weather, I was in for a long week.  He was actually much better than I thought he would be, and after he went back to work he sent me some roses as a thank you <3

After a few days the roses started to wilt and I didn't want to just watch them die so I figured I would try to make a rose scented body scrub out of the petals!  Spring time is the perfect time to maybe give a little extra love to your skin as it is dried out from the winter.  This is a very simple recipe to follow and requires very few ingredients.  You can make one jar for every rose you have; in this case, (my cat ate one of my flowers lol) I have five roses to work with. 

You will need:
Rose petals
Half pint jars with lids
Coconut Oil
Sunflower Oil
Cane Sugar (In it's coarse, natural state)

You can really use any size jar you want, but what I found is that one rose is the perfect amount for a half pint size jar. 

You can also substitute the sunflower oil with almond oil or jojoba oil.  These oils are all wonderful for your skin and will absorb nicely as well and keep you moisturized.  After researching the properties and benefits of each oil, I found that I wanted to use sunflower oil because of its high vitamin E content. "The health benefits of consuming vitamin E, or using it on the skin, have been studied for years and can be beneficial to your body in a variety of ways. This vitamin is crucial in the prevention of damage to sensitive skin cells by ultraviolet light, or UVA, from the sun. Additionally, studies have shown that vitamin E may prevent scarring, smooth the appearance of existing wrinkles and generally improve the appearance and health of your skin."

So here we go!  There are no measurements needed in this spring time scrub; all you need to do is fill each ingredient into 1/3 of the jar. 

Step 1: Start with your coconut oil. 
Coconut oil is sold by the olive oils at your local grocery store.  It is an oil, but at room temperature has the consistency of butter. 

Step 2: Place rose petals on top of the coconut oil.
By placing the rose petals between the layers of oil it gives the petals room to be absorbed by the oils and create the amazing rose scent.

Step 3: Fill the remaining 3rd of the jar with your cane sugar. Leaving about 1/4" at the top of the jar.

Step 4: Slowly pour sunflower oil on the sugar and let it absorb.
The oil will sit at the top for a few seconds and will absorb down into the sugar.  Pour oil onto the sugar until the sugar no longer looks dry.  This may take up to 3 Tablespoons of oil.

Step 5: Screw lid into place!

You are ready to use the scrub at any time; just be sure when you open it to mix the ingredients together with a spoon.

Enjoy!!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Welcome!! 

I've always wanted to perfect a gnocchi recipe and I think we did it here! This is a very SWEET gnocchi with cinnamon and maple syrup!  This recipe takes some time, but is actually really fun as a  change in your cooking.  I hardly ever make anything like this, and it was a welcome change in the kitchen!  Also, Derek hates gnocchi, so I thought it would be a good time to try it while I was at home cooking with Jess!

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cup fine while wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup maple syrup
10-15 sage leaves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork and cook for 50-55 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are cooked through.  Let them cool  and remove from their skin.  Mash in a large bowl until smooth.  Add the ricotta cheese, along with the cinnamon, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix thoroughly.  Then, add the flour and combine until ingredients form into a soft dough.  NOTE: The dough should not be a sticky mess.  You may need to add more flour to the batter if it is too sticky.  Wrap dough in a paper towl and refrigerate for an hour. 

Sprinkle counter with flour and cut dough into four sections.  Roll each section out into long snakes, just under an inch thick.  Using a knife, cut the gnocchi into one inch pieces.  Boil a large pot of water and season generously with salt.  Add the snocchi in two batches and cook about 6-7 minutes.  Test one before removing batch to make sure they are sfot and cooked through. 

While they are boiling, add olive oil to a large sauce pan on medium heat.  Once oil is hot, add the sage leaves. Cook sage leaves for a couple of minutes, remove and set aside for later.  Add the maple syrup to the pan, and heat gently for a minute or so.  Once the gnocchi are cook, add them to the sauce.  Let them crisp up a little on both sides.  Do not overcook. You want the insides soft.  Remove from heat and sprinkle with cinnamon, maple syrup and the crunched sage leaves. 

Enjoy!
Recipe found on www.ahealthfoodie.com

Grandma Knows Best!

Welcome! 

As I spend the week up north with my family's dogs and my best friend I decided to see if my lovely grandma would like to come over and color some Easter eggs! I picked her up yesterday and we proceeded to color eggs with Jess and my sister Jamie.  I decided to be creative this year and we went ahead and tried coloring the eggs with a tea stain.  I think they would have worked but everyone was getting a little impatient and we ended up taking all the eggs out too early and just dripping food coloring on them.  Not what we were going for exactly, but they actually turned out pretty cute!!

While grandma was over she started snacking on the kale chips Jess and I made the other day, and she LOVED them.  We sent her home with the rest of them!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try your own kale chips!!

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale
salt
pepper
paprika
olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees, or the lowest setting your oven has. 

Wash kale and break off leafy parts and stems.  Place leafs on an ungreased baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  If it's too dry, it wil burn, but if you put too much oil on it, it will stay oily.  I would say all together you should use about a 1/4 a cup.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika.  Bake for 2 hours or until the kale gets crispy.  DO NOT turn up the oven.  Be patient! They burn easy. 

Enjoy!!

Lunch Amongst Friends

Along with our Lean Green Machine smoothies (see below)  we also made some "brinner" open faced sandwiches for Jessica before she had to head to work! 

South of the Border Open Faced Sandwich

Cooking Time: 25 mins
Serving Size: 8-10 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 Loaf French Bread, cut into 3/4" thick slices

1/2 Cup Olives Diced (your choice, we did green cause they are healthier)
1/2 Teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Lite Mayonnaise
1/3 Cup Nonfat Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Green Onions, Chopped
1 lb. Sliced Turkey
2 Medium Tomatoes, thinley sliced
2 Ripe Avocados, sliced
1 Cup Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bolw, combine olives, chili powder, cumin and salt; set aside 2 Tablespoons of this mixture.   Add the mayonnaise, sour cream and green onions to the remaining olive mixture. 

Place sliced bread on an ungreased baking sheet and spread 1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise mixture on each slice.  Top with slices of turkey and tomatoes.  Spread antoher Tablespoon of mixture on the tomato and top with avocados and cheese.  Sprinkle the reserved 2 Tablespoons of olive mixture.  Bake for 15 mins. 

Enjoy!!

Another Kind of Love!

Welcome! This week I am going up to the cities to watch my families pets while they are in Florida.  The best part?! I get to see my best friend while I am up there!  She will be spending the week with me at the house we will be making all kinds of fun and yummy things!

The first thing we wanted to try was a recipe she found on a friends website www.ahealthfoodie.com .  We are calling it the Lean Green Machine.  It is a green smoothie that is full of antioxidents and tastes so refreshing!

INGREDIENTS
5 cups organic spinach
3-4 inch piece organic cucumber
Handfull of organic flat-leaf italian parsley (optional)
1/2 organic green apple
1/2 organic pear
1 banana
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
2-3 cups of water

DIRECTIONS
Add spinach, cucumber, flat leaf parsley and water to a high speed blender. Blend together for 30 seconds. Add the apple, pear, banana and lemon. Blend for another minute. If the smoothie is too thick for you, add more water 1/2 cup at a time. You can keep this in a pitcher in the fridge as well!

Enjoy!!

Vegetarian Delite!

Mushroom Lasagna

Hello all!  So we have become quite the fan of Barefoot Contessa and decided to make  another of her recipes!! See bleow for a rich flavored mushroom lasagna!

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• Olive oil
• 3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles
• 4 cups 1% milk
• 10 T butter, divided
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 pounds your choice mushrooms
• 1 cup shredde Parmesan
• 1 cup shredded Mozzerella

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tablespoon salt and a splash of oil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.

For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside. melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring first with the wooden spoon and then with a whisk, for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Set aside off the heat.

Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems. Slice the caps 1/4-inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan. When the butter melts, add half the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices. If they become too dry, add a little more oil. Toss occasionally to make sure the mushrooms cook evenly. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set all the mushrooms aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of an 8 by 12 by 2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce, then 1/3 of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup grated fresh parmasan. Repeat 2 more times, layering noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and Parmesan. Top with a final layer of noodles and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Bake the lasanga for 35 minutes, or until the top is browned the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Enjoy! xo