I'm two, I'm two!

I'm a big boy now. I turn two today! Honestly, everyday is a happy day for me, but when Mommy and Daddy turn my chicken and oats into a birthday cake with yummy yogurt frosting, and dog treats (from lovely Scottie!) as candles, this has to be the happiest day for me! Mommy saved half the cake for my breakfast tomorrow - I can't wait!

Every year, they make me pose with the cake. Don't they know the aroma wafting into my nose is making me drooooool so badly? But I'm a good boy. I pose. Patiently.

Oh my. It's the first time I'm having yogurt, and it's just pawsome! More yogurt frosting next year paw-lease, Mommy!

And I overheard that I'm going on a long long walk with my friend Armani the Sheltie come this Saturday. Life is beautiful. I'm loving it!

My pawrents are most pleased with the cake, from the way I lapped it up and chomped it down. So here's the recipe. Enjoy, my friends! :)

Chicken Oatmeal Mini Dogcake

• 3 oz/90g minced cooked chicken

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1/8 tsp baking powder

• 1/8 cup raw rolled oats
  

• 1/8 cup canola oil

• 1/8 cup grated carrot

• Natural yogurt for icing
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease cake tin (Mommy used a 4.5 inch cake tin).
  

• Mince the cooked chicken. Blend the chicken, eggs and canola oil in a blender or food processor.
  

• Grate the carrot, and add it to the meat mixture. Stir until evenly mixed.
  

• In a mixing bowl, mix flour and baking powder and rolled oats.
  

• Gradually stir the blended mixture into the flour.
  

• Pour mixture into the greased cake tin.

• Bake for about 40 minutes.

• Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes.
  

• For icing, spread natural yogurt (or melted cream cheese) as desired, and decorate the cake with more grated carrot, fruit slices or even dog treats.

• The most important part of the recipe - Bake with love! :)

Dog Muffin Recipe: Banana and Oats 'Mutt-fin'

These banana and oats muffins will be so good, your dog(s) will beg you for it. Ours does his silly spins and pawing - he becomes completely obedient, like he's on a remote-control.

Sigh... You could call these 'mutt-fins' too, and your dog might go 'bananas' over it, haha...

We enjoyed it too, not just because it's rather tasty, it's real easy, simple and fast to prepare too. No hassle of cookie cutting or shaping. They're great for a quick breakfast, both dogs and humans.

These 'mutt-fins' would be perfect for those with a sweet-tooth.

In less than 5 minutes after it cooled down, the score for wolfing down the most muffin was: Humans 3, Latte 1. :p

Ingredients: (Makes 18 muffins)

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 medium mashed bananas
• 1 tbs vanilla essence (best to use natural essence.)
  

0. Preheat the oven.

1. Mix the flour, oats, ground cinnamon and baking powder in a big bowl.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
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3. Lay the paper cups in muffin tray, and scoop the mixture into the cups.

4. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 12 to 15 minutes. Stick a toothpick or dry spaghetti into the 'mutt-fin', it should come out clean if it's ready.http://latteandcookie.blogspot.com/5. Let cool and let your dog love it!

* Store in an airtight container in the fridge, thaw before treating, should keep well for about 3 to 4 days.
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Reference:
M. Beckloff & D. Dye. (2005) Cooking the Three Dog Bakery Way.
L. Fortunato (2007) The Everything Cooking For Dogs Book.

Dog Cookie Recipe: Cheesy Carrot Crunch Redux

We spiced up an old recipe and it turned out better, much more fragrant than version 1. This rebux recipe includes ground dried basil and flaxseed which gives an interesting additional 'mini-crunchiness' to the already crispy cookies.
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Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 small carrots (yields 1/2 cup after blending)
  
• 2 slices of breakfast cheese
• 1 tsp ground dried basil
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs brown flaxseed
• 1 1/2 tbs plain flour (for easier kneading)

1. Blend the carrots (coarse) and oats (fine). Pour into a mixing bowl and add the cheese, basil, olive oil and flaxseed.
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2. Add water by the tablespoon and start kneading into dough, I use about 1/3 cup water (The amount of water to use will depend on your local humidity). Adding the plain flour helped us achieve an easy-to-manage dough that was like putty. We tried making little bones but it was so time consuming,we stuck to the flat round biscuit shapes.
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3. Bake at 180˚C for 20 mins until golden brown. I recommend shapes that are relatively thin and flat as it takes a much shorter time, saves energy too : )
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4. As usual, let the cookies cool in oven and it'll be extra crispy and crunchy.
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Dog Cookie Recipe: Cheesy Carrot Crunch

These Cheesy Carrot Crunch are real crispy and packs a nice crunch - I couldn't resist chomping down a few, all in the name of testing.
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Tip: After you finish baking the entire batch, pour everything back into the tray and let it cool with the oven. This will help remove additional moisture from the cookies and keep them extra crisp.
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This recipe will yield around 40 to 50 cookie-sticks.
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Enjoy!
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Dog Stew: Potatoes & Oatmeal with Beef Broth

Our dog had diarrhea, and to help him heal, we stewed this oatmeal dog broth for him. We were switching food for Latte, mixing and gradually increasing the new kibble. However it seems the food doesn't agree with him, and we found soft stools. He was vomiting a little too, and didn't touch his food.
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We decided to cook him something all natural and good.
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He slurped the beef broth up - hope he gets better soon :-)
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Recipe
1/4 cup potatoes & oatmeal
1/4 cup beef cubes
1/4 cup water
*Portion should vary with size of dog, it should be equal to amount of kibble served.
*This recipe is not formulated as a replacement for dog food.
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1. Dice potatoes and beef into small cubes (about 3 to 4 mm). Make sure the potatoes are not green and remove all 'potato eyes'
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2. Bring to boil 1/4 cup water.
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3. Add potatoes to boiling water, cook for around 5 mins. Add oatmeal and cook for 2 mins.
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4. Stir in the beef cubes and cook until well-done. Serve! (Make sure it's lukewarm!)
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Dog Cookie Recipe: Classic Banana & Oatmeal Cookies

The natural sweetness of this cookie recipe comes from the bananas without other additives like molasses or sugar. Your dog will love the spice combination of cinnamon and vanilla - smells delicious in the oven. Had tried a few formula, and we quite like this version that comes cripsy out of the oven.
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The oats are high in fiber - makes our dog's poo poo firmer, this easier to pick up :p
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Ingredients:
(Makes 50 cookies)

• 1/2 cup banana
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp real vanilla essence (optional)

1. Blend the rolled oats in a mixer until fine to make oat flour.
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2. Mix everything in a bowl. Shape with teaspoons and lay out on a greaseproof sheet.
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3. Preheat the oven for 10 mins, bake each batch of cookies for 15 mins at 180˚C until golden brown. Enjoy! (We like to munch it with our dog.)
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