National Dog Biscuit Day

An international pandemic can certainly make a person do things they might not have done in precedented times. For instance, I only paid a tiny bit of attention to the National Day Calendar prior to last spring, but I check it out everyday now. I don't necessarily celebrate something each day because sometimes the things that are being recognized are a bit weird (like National Promposal Day - why is this even a thing?) and other times there are things we might have celebrated, but didn't have enough advance notice to prepare properly (National Pizza Day). Recently we decided to always look at the week ahead before going shopping so that we are not caught unawares again. 

We are always happy to celebrate with our dog Perry when appropriate. She enjoyed last Saturday's Love Your Pet day with some extra snuggling. Today, National Dog Biscuit Day, she enjoys a special treat prepared from the Throw Me a Bone Cookbook which apparently has made only one previous appearance on this blog when our only child was the guest blogger almost 10 years ago.

Today's entry is a variation on "Paw-mesan Tail Twisters". The ingredient list included

2 c. whole wheat flour

1/4 c. yellow cornmeal

1 egg

3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used considerably less, like way less of even half of that for our dog who was recently put on a low-fat diet).

I mixed all the ingredients, saving a bit of the grated cheese. When everything was well mixed I took out small bits of the dough and rolled into balls (rather than "logs" as the recipe said to do). I then rolled the balls in the remaining Parmesan and baked at 325 for 30 minutes.

Once the treats were cooled Perry gave it a taste test. After rolling her snack around on the floor for a minute or two she eagerly ate it up and gave it an enthusiastic "two dew claws up".

Zucchini Lime Drizzle Cake

I saved this recipe on Facebook over the summer during the prolific zucchini season. I had shredded and frozen some zucchini from the farmer's market in August and I bought the limes several weeks ago. I had hoped to make the cake last week, but we ended up making a not-entirely-unexpected trip to Virginia for the James' grandmother's funeral. I'm sure Grandma would have laughed at the fact that there is a rather unappetizing ad in the middle of the instructions!

I enjoyed baking this simple cake, and tasting the batter. It is a good thing I did, because I hardly got to eat any of the cake at all! I got to eat two pieces and James had one before Perry the Min Pin got into it! Talk about a bad dog! 

Any way, I used a bit less sugar than the recipe calls for (1/2 cup instead of 2/3). It turned out quite tart, and only a little sweet, which is how I prefer baked goods. Apparently it is how Perry likes it too.

Guest Blogger for "Throw Me a Bone"

In honor of our Min Pin, Perry, turning two (that's 14 in dog years!) our almost-14 year old daughter (that's in people years!) prepared this recipe from Throw Me a Bone, a cookbook for dog lovers!




 For Perry's birthday, I made "pawcakes". As you may be able to tell from the name, they are pancakes for dogs. They consist of flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, buttermilk (or in this case, substituted with milk and yogurt), milk, eggs, vegetable oil, and eggshells. The egg shells are ground up very small, almost into a grain-like substance. This is full of calcium. They were very easy to make, much like normal pancakes. After I was done making them,  I fed a spoonful of strawberry jam to Perry, to see if she liked it. She did. So, I took a small bit of jam, and microwaved it for a minute to make a syrup. I poured it on top, the candles were lit, and the dog ate her birthday cake.