Oscar's Soft Batch Doggie Cookies

    Have you ever met the real Oscar Fido? If you have ever stopped by the blogs that I write along with my daughter you probably have been introduced to the story Oscar...but have you ever met the real Oscar. He's old...16 in dog years...forever and a day in human years. His eyesight is going...he is just as likely to stand in front of the closet door when he needs to go out as he is to stand in front of the door to the outside. Did I mention that he can't stand up very well and that it's hard for him to walk...most of the time I just carry him up and down the porch steps. He spends part of his day sleeping and the rest of his day making messes in the floor. He is pitiful and it is heartbreaking...I have had him since he was a grumpy cantankerous puppy. (Thus his name...Oscar) Yet...despite all of these things that are failing him, he still manages to stand (albeit it barely) at the gate to his doggie nursing home (AKA: my laundry room) and kick and head butt the gate to get our attention.  He does all of these things because the one thing that has not failed him is his nose...and his stomach. THE DOG LOVES TO EAT. So what do you do when you have an old, blind, arthritic dog who loves food more than anything in the world....

You make him soft batch doggie cookies of course! They are simple to make and Quirky and I love making them for Oscar. When we start whipping up a batch of these treats, Oscar comes out of his arthritic coma and whines,cries, and does what Quirky calls "Dog Fu". He kicks the gate until he is falling over and won't hush until they are done and we finally give him one. To put it mildly...HE LOVES THEM. So what is our recipe?

Oscar's Soft Batch Doggie Cookies

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup chicken broth

     Blend together flour and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl. Work the cup of peanut butter into the flour with your hands. Its messy and its fun. This is the part that Quirky likes. Slowly begin pouring the chicken broth into the mixture continue to mix until well blended and you have a thick dough. It will be the consistency of playdoh. Then you can either roll it out and cut out shapes or roll out balls and flatten them with the bottom of glass. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 375F.  What are you waiting for...go grab those kids and get baking!

                                                                                                                                                

The Ghost of Christmas Past

     Stay tuned for 5 minutes of programming after these 15 commercials...don't worry it will only take you 2 hours to watch this 20 minute show. BUY! BUY! BUY! It moves, it talks, and it'll even make your bed! You have to have these...you are so lame if you don't. What do you mean you don't have your own phone...every 6 year old should have one...go insist on one today! Open all night....prices just increased for the holidays!!! BUY! BUY! BUY! Go tell your parents now...time is wasting!!! OK so maybe I am exaggerating just a bit...but have you noticed the increase of commercials geared toward children? I have...but this year I am not getting fooled. Why not? Well I have the ghost of Christmas Past to...

Almost Instant Oatmeal Muffins

     What should you do if you have five packs of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal that everybody seems to be avoiding? I mean they are just sitting there...waiting...I mean wasting.


Make muffins of course! So how did we do it?

You will need:

5 packs of Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal
1 tsp of baking powder
1 egg (well beaten)
1 large banana mashed to pieces until resembles baby food
About 1/2 cup of flour (**see note below**)
Orange Juice

     Mix all dry ingredients together until well blended. Next add mashed banana and beaten egg mix well. Mixture will still be a little dry. Slowly add orange juice until mixture is moist and the consistency of a thick batter. Drop by the spoonfuls into a mini muffin pan. I baked mine on 400*F for about 8-10 minutes.

     Now how easy was that? Well considering I wasn't sure what I was going to make at first and I really didn't have a recipe...just a vague idea in my head...pretty easy. I have to confess I did look on the Internet...I even pinned a bunch of recipes to try later. The problem was that the ingredient lists are usually a mile long and have things on the list that I never have in the house...and oh yeah I ran out of milk two days ago.
OK, so I am not out to a good start. I almost gave up at this point, but I recouped...put my thoughts together and started pulling out ingredients. Mixed all ingredients with trepidation...what if this tastes like something that has been stuck on the bottom of someones shoe for awhile. Put in oven anyway...wait what seems like forever (not really). Delicious smells drift from oven...heave sigh of relief. Few minutes later...try to explain to Quirky that she can't eat them all in one night. The fact that she loves them...well let's just say its a major mommy ego boost.

     So don't just sit there...go grab your kids and get cooking! If you come up with a great spur of the moment recipe with your kids Quirky and I would love to hear about it.

** For the flour I actually used a packet of crumble mixture that I had leftover from a box muffin mix that I didn't use...it was just sitting around waiting to be used.**