Canine Gourmet

Jaina is a lot like her momma when it comes to whims. She'll be lounging on the couch and all of a sudden jump up and say, "I am going to go paint!" Then she'll spend the next few hours perfecting a masterpiece.

Well, the other day her masterpiece ended up being dog muffins. She had a desire to bake for Shaggy on a whim one afternoon so I told her she could, as long as she cleaned up.  Jaina promised she would.

She went online and looked up the recipe.

Buster's Homemade Birthday Pupcakes

• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1 mashed banana
• 1 c. shredded carrots
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 c. peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the oat flour and baking soda, then add in everything else. You can make this into one cake or individual pup cakes. I recommend the pup cakes because even this batch made 11 small pup cakes. That would be one large cake to feed one dog. If you do the pup cakes, use a muffin pan and bake for 15-20 minutes and let cool. If you decide to do the large cake bake it for 30-40 minutes. Just check with a toothpick for crumbles and no liquid in the center.

You can frost these with either more peanut butter, cottage cheese, or fat free cream cheese. Last year I did the fat free cream cheese mixed with 1 Tbsp of honey and put a milk bone on top as decoration. I don’t have any cottage or cream cheese so I think Buster will just have to enjoy a few of these with no frosting. I’m sure he won’t mind. I licked the bowl clean and it was tasty!!! I might have to eat one fresh out of the oven. I’ll let Buster enjoy a few and take the rest to work. I have a lot of dog lovers in my office.

 It drives me INSANE when Shaggy gets under my feet in the kitchen when I'm cooking. So, he is conditioned to stay far and clear from that room when I'm making stuff. But Jaina doesn't have the same rules and Shaggy could sense that the treats were for him.

 Although these are labeled as cupcakes, they really are more like muffins.

Shaggy absolutely loved them. So much, in fact, that he refuses to eat his regular dog food now. He just ate the last muffin this morning, so he will have a rude awakening tomorrow morning when his bowl has regular food in it!