Monday, March 19, 2012

Green St. Patrick's Day Treats

Well, far too swiftly, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone!! Having Irish in my blood, I excitedly anticipate March 17th. Every year!! I circle St. Patrick's Day on calendars. We watch "The Quiet Man" as a family. I own this bright green cheap plastic children's bracelet, and wear it on my right wrist each year. I love that piece of "jewelry"!! Seriously.... It is bold, and makes a statement of Look at me!! Well.... Why leave canines out on all the fun? Everybody is Irish for one day!! Are dogs an exception to that? I do not think so!! On Friday, March 16th, my youngest brother--known to Rose as Uncle Michael--and I baked a batch of home-made "grass-stained green" dog biscuits!! Which, our "food lovin'" Beagle cross would rate: Four 'paws' way, way up!! Here is our recipe:

Sit, Pat, Tricks Day
YOUR DOG WILL THINK HE FOUND HIS POT OF GOLD!
2 cups fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, puree spinach and oil. Add milk.
(I almost forgot to add the milk.... I mistakenly thought that it should be poured into our flour and cornmeal. Oops. No problem, though!!) In a large bowl, combine flour and cornmeal. Add spinach mixture to flour mixture. (By the way.... Our spinach mixture looked disgusting!!) Knead for 2-3 minutes. (As usual when we bake these recipes, there was loose flour on the bottom of our bowl. So I found a large spoon and mashed my dough down several times until its flour was firmly mixed in. I counted that as "kneading"!!) Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutter. (I searched everywhere for shamrock cookie cutters, to no avail. Sigh.... So we used the cookbook's bone!!) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 1 dozen. (We baked 12 bones exactly for 30 minutes!!)
Bake bones on the middle oven rack. If your dough is sticky, apply a light layer of flour to your hands, the rolling surface and rolling pin. Because of variations in oven temperatures, monitor the cooking time for your batch of "Doggy Bones". Bake bones until the bottoms of the biscuits become medium brown, and adjust remaining baking times accordingly. If bones do not become "bone hard", bake bones for an additional five minutes or leave them in the oven as it cools. Store "Doggy Bones" in an airtight container. For extended supply, double your batch and freeze them!


I discovered a rather devious way to sneak spinach into Rose's diet!! Because my mongrel dislikes this plant!! And lettuce, for that matter!! When allowed a spinach leaf, Rose will hold it in her mouth. For several brief seconds. Then she will spit it out onto the floor. Next, Rose rolls in her spinach leaf. Then, she walks away!! "Snubbed", just like that!! The same treatment applies for lettuce!! Silly girl.... Rose did not follow me around our minuscule kitchen this time. No. She kept her distance in the great room!! However, once I pulled Rose's steaming-hot "grass-stained green" treats out of our oven, she wanted them!! Sorry girl.... They need to cool first!! My obvious reasons? I do not need to burn Rose's mouth!! Be patient.... That is a difficult concept--waiting--for a dog!! So I walked her up and down our cul-de-sac to pass time!! Once we returned, Rose was allowed a "grass-stained green" biscuit.... At last!! She greedily snatched it out of my hand. Ran into our great room, while still holding the treat. Dropped it. Then rolled, rolled, rolled, as though her biscuit were raccoon scat!! Finally, unlike the spinach, she ate it!! This is, apparently, Rose's crazy way of "expressing" her approval!! She's weird sometimes....


Happy St. Patrick's Day, Rose!!

10 comments:

Charlene and Storm said...

LOL!!! that is wierd, never known a dog to roll on a treat before eating it. Brilliant post, i will have to get some spinach for storm to try and see what he thinks. so far ive tried bananas, carrots and green beans which he hates and he LOVES brocolli and apples. And i made him some chicken stew with rice and lentils in it the other day to make his food a bit more scrummy, he was extremely impressed xxx

lifewithmydogs said...

They sound very unique!!! (Beautifully Unique, actually) :P

Mary Lou said...

charlene and Storm....
Thank-you for the comment!!
Rose loves bananas!! I fed my mongrel a "taste" back in September when her birthday treats were being made!! And Rose's favorite vegetable of all are carrots!! She also loves broccoli.... Rose will roll in that before eating it, as well!! Plus, whenever I snack on apple, she expects a thin slice!! I have yet to try green beans, though.... ;op
Keep feeding Stormy veggies.... Not only are they healthful, but I read that when owners allow their dogs veggies, they will enjoy them for life!! ;-D

Mary Lou said...

lifewithmydogs....
Thank-you for the comment.... It made me laugh!! ;-D
Yeah.... "Sit, Pat, Tricks Day" were, thus far, our second batch of home-baked dog treats that were colorful!! We made a blueberry recipe back in June. And they were.... You guessed it.... Blue!! ;-}
Beautifully Unique.... ;-]

Rama's Mama said...

Rama escaped getting dressed up in green for St. Patrick's Day. I'll catch up next yr, lol. Cool recipe! Glad Rose approved of it and finally ate it! :-)

Mary Lou said...

Rama's Mama....
Thank-you for the comment!!
You dress Rama up in green on St. Patrick's Day? Cool!! I imagine that with Rama's dark brown/black markings, green would be her color!! ;op

Stacey said...

catching up on blog posts now so sorry for my late comment :-)

Thanks so much for this recipe - even though st paddy's day has been and gone I'm definitely going to treat my girls to some :-)

Mary Lou said...

Stacey....
Thank-you for the comment!!
Welcome back!! I understand about getting behind with reading and commenting on people's blogs.... It happens!! Hugs.... ;-}
Happy baking!! ;op

Kolchak Puggle said...

Those sound great! Koly & Fe *love* Spinach. It's funny, our bragle x, Kol does the same thing when he gets a treat he really really loves!

We host the Tasty Tesday blog hop for all sorts of Tasty Dog Treat Recipes, Reviews and Giveaways. I hope you'll join in the fun one Tuesday soon!

Mary Lou said...

Kolchak Puggle....
Thank-you for the comment!!
"Tasty Tuesday blog hop".... That sounds like fun!! I have never participated in any blog hops before.... Now would be a good time to start!! ;op
Thanks for the invite!! ;)