Monday, April 22, 2013

Four Ingredient Dog Treats


In the last few months, Hewitt's apparent food allergy has intensified to the point where I've needed to change his food to a brand that doesn't contain dairy, soy, corn, wheat or animal by-products. It has really helped Hewitt's digestive system tremendously. However, his treats (which, is a word that in my house, must be spelled out because this is an English word that Hewitt knows) still had the yucky stuff that seemed to be upsetting his digestive system.

Now, I love my dog, a lot. But, I'm already paying about $20 for a 5lb bag of his new food, so the thought of shelling out a lot more money for "clean" dog treats wasn't very appealing. However, this new diet has made a huge difference so I figured I would try and make my own treats that contained mostly pure/whole/natural ingredients.

So, over the weekend I ventured into the world of dog treat making. I found a ton of dog treat recipes all over Pinterest, but each one I found had one or two ingredients that I knew wouldn't jive with my Hewitt's sensitive system. So, I did the next best thing and made up my own recipe using things that I know Hewitt can eat and tolerate. The only "wildcard" was whole wheat flour, but so far he seems to be fine.

4 Ingredient Dog Treats [Contains no soy, dairy, corn or animal by-products]
Yields: About 24 1.5 inch treats
Ingredients: 
1. 2 tbsp natural peanut butter (I use JIF Natural)
2. 2 scoops (using the scoop that comes in the canister or about 1/2 cup total) rolled oats
3. 1/2 cup natural, unsweetened applesauce
4. 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Make sure you use unsweetened, natural applesauce or check the labels to be certain it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup. 

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until they form a soft dough ball.
-Roll out dough onto floured surface with lightly floured rolling pin. (I used a little more whole wheat flour.)
-Cut out small sections of dough using a cookie cutter or slice with a pizza cutter into about 1.5 in. squares.
-Place on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until browned slightly.

Note: Next time, I might try baking a little longer so the treats will be more crispy. These are pretty soft. But the thinner the dough, the crispier the treats will be.

And the verdict? Well, li'l man loves them. But, I pretty much knew he would. It contains his favorite ingredient: peanut butter. Next time, I might even add a banana to the mix to try it.



~April

Linking up with Meg for Mingle Monday!

4 comments:

  1. First, he is freaking adorable. Second, pinning this.

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    Replies
    1. Awww, thanks!!! I show him your pug pics a lot and try to get him to be that cute. He refuses to cooperate though. :)

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  2. girrrrrrrrrrrrrrl.
    mylie's birthday is friday.
    i have a ton of cookie cutters i've never used.
    and i need to whip up a pintertest project before next week.

    you now know what i'm doing thursday night. :)

    LOVE it.

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    Replies
    1. YEEESSSS!!!! Can't wait to read about it. And tell M Happy Birthday! :)

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