Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

Wellllll... I had planned on posting a recipe for a four ingredient peanut butter cookie but I tried it and it didn't turn out as good as I thought they would. They were having a hard time sticking together when I rolled them into balls and they felt very oily. They aren't BAD, but they aren't that good, either. So! Instead I will post a recipe for peanut butter dog cookies.

I made these for my dog, Meaty, on his one year anniversary of being with us. He LOVED them! You can make them like a cookie or you can take the time and roll the dough out thinly and cut them into shapes so they are more like biscuits. I opted for the easy cookie way... He's a dog. He won't care if they are just round blobs instead of in the shape of bones or whatever. (Although I did make a single ninja-cookie.)

Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

2 cups whole wheat flour (Or another type of flour if your dog is sensitive to wheat.)

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup peanut butter (You can use chunky or creamy... I used creamy.)

1¼ cups hot water

additional flour for rolling (If making biscuits)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix in the peanut butter and hot water. You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough well.

Here's where we split for cookies and biscuits. To make cookies, roll into whatever sized balls you want and place on a lightly greased (or non-stick) cookie sheet. Press down on them to flatten them, or you can do what you do for human peanut butter cookies and use a fork to make crosshatch marks on them.

If making biscuits, roll the dough out until its about 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for about 40 minutes. The cookies/biscuits will get kind of hard, but that's the way they like em! (Well, I assume that's how they like them. I never really was able to talk to a dog to find out.) The longer they sit out, the harder they get. The recipe I followed suggested letting them cool overnight before eating, but ain't nobody got time for that! I just let the cookies cool completely before serving to Meaty.

Parmesan Pork Roast

Okay. Ready for my favorite recipe? One that has been requested, and gladly made, numerous times just in the past year? I'm telling you, you'll never want another kind of pork roast again. (Okay, maybe you will. But I doubt it... ;))

Parmesan Pork Roast

1 boneless pork roast (2 pounds)
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup corn syrup
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place roast in crock pot. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, corn syrup, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt. Pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or until thermometer reads 160°. I normally slice the roast and place it back in the crock pot for another 15 minutes to soak up the sauce.

You could thicken the sauce up before you serve it but I only did it that way once and we didn't like it as much. It seemed to take a lot of the flavoring away. In case you want to try it, here's how:


2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Remove roast from crock pot and keep warm. Skim the fat from the cooking juices and then pour into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Coming Soon!

Later today I plan on posting a recipe for Parmesan Pork Roast! This is one of my favorite things to make and I'm pretty sure is my boyfriends favorite recipe as well... He wants me to keep making this when I buy pork roast when I want to try new things! But its oh-so-good, how could I say no when he asks for it?? I can't wait to share it with everyone and I hope everyone likes it as much as we do!

Cube Steak

How about a recipe for meat this time, instead of dessert? This cube steak recipe is great and you can season it any way that your family prefers.. Just use this as a base. =] It's also a crock pot recipe so you can have it cooking all day while you are at work, doing housework, at the park, whatever you do!

This picture does not do this meal justice. It looks gross because the picture was taken with my cell phone... Not even a SMARTphone... Just a plain ol' dumb phone. But I'm telling you.. It was delicious!

This is a meal that my dad used to make. I got my love for cooking from him so of course I have to make things that I grew up eating! This one isn't hard to make, either.

Cube Steak

cube steak

1 (12oz) can tomato paste (You can use a smaller can; I had a lot of extra sauce. Depends on how many you're feeding!)

1 can water (use the tomato paste can)

garlic powder

oregano

dried thyme leaves

salt

Place cube steak in crock pot. Pour tomato paste and can of water on top. Season with garlic powder, oregano, thyme and a little bit of salt. I'm sorry, I don't really measure my spices. Make it how you would like it to taste! If you like garlic (like me!) add a lot of garlic powder. As its cooking you can add more seasoning to make it how you like. Add chopped onions if you like onions. I cooked mine on low for 8 hours. It does NOT need that long, but I love it when it just falls apart. I paired mine with homemade creamy mashed potatoes.

Banana Cream Icebox Cake

This. This right here is amazing. It is extremely easy to make and it only requires three ingredients. Just three!

Use your favorite kind of pudding!

You'll need graham crackers, a box of instant pudding and milk. I used evaporated milk because it was all I had on hand. I only made this using banana cream pudding but I'm positive it will taste great with whichever pudding is your favorite! Let me know if you tried something different and how it tasted!

First, you make the pudding according to the directions on the box. Mine says to beat pudding mix and 2 cups milk with a whisk for about two minutes. Set aside and allow to thicken.

Next, take an 8x8 pan and line the bottom with graham crackers. Break them in half to make them fit and cover the bottom.

Add a layer of your pudding. You should use about half of your pudding.

Then another layer of graham crackers...

Then the rest of the pudding for the next layer...

Then, finally, add a layer of crushed up graham crackers to the top. If you want, you can add a layer of whipped cream below the layer of crushed up graham crackers.

And now the hard part!  Cover and put in your refrigerator for about three hours, or until cold and set.

Okay, I lied. The hardest part is trying to not eat all of this in one sitting!

Icebox Cake

Graham crackers (I think I used 1, 1½ sleeves)
1 box instant pudding

2 cups milk

whipped cream (optional)

Prepare the instant pudding according to the directions on the package. (Beat pudding mix and 2 cups milk with a whisk for about two minutes.) Set aside and allow to thicken.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 pan with graham crackers. Break in half if needed in order to fit and cover the entire bottom. Cover the graham crackers with half the pudding and spread around to make sure its even. Add another layer of graham crackers, then add the rest of the pudding. (If you want, cover the top pudding layer with whipped cream.) Crush graham crackers and sprinkle evenly on top. Cover and place in refrigerator until cold and set, about 3 hours.