Homemade Dog Treats

On the morning before my couch was delivered I knew I had to hang around the house and I was a little at lost ends so I decided to use my time to bake up some dog treats. I really love to bake but sometimes it is nice to be able to cook for someone else. I saw this originally on pinterest but since I wasn't sure that Lily would like them I halved the batch and have more than enough treats for a while.

Since these are such a hit at my house I am thinking of including these in my christmas gifts to friends and family that have dogs. I always love it when someone includes Lily, to me it means that they do love me and understand that my dog is part of my life. This does mean that if you get baked goods from me check to see if they are for you or for your dog.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients

1 c flour
1/2 c milk
1/2 c peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions
1- Mix the dry ingredients
2- Whisk the milk and peanut butter together... this takes a moment to start working but in the end it looks like really soupy peanut butter
3- Add the dry to the wet
4- Knead a few times on a floured surface, just until it isn't sticky
5- Roll out to 1/4" thick (I liked mine just a little thicker) and cut out cute shapes
6- Put cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet, bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. The large variation in the cooking time depends on the shape and size of the cookies
7- Cool on cookie racks
8- Feed them to your pup

She is thinking... give it to me

I think Lily really enjoyed these cookies, check out her cookie eating face. I really enjoyed making these for her it was relaxing to be able to bake. There are some moments when I really think that for my next career (many years from now) I would like to have a bakery. Or perhaps this is for the time when I get to work for pleasure and not to pay the bills.

She loves these treats

Let me know if you try these, I shared them with some dog owners at work who mentioned that their pups also loved their treats.

Taking the DART to work

I've got a story for ya Ags! (If this means nothing to you, don't fret but it is the moment at yell practice (Aggie pep rally) just prior to the start of an awesome probably funny story).

On Friday morning, I got up tossed Lily in the backseat of the car and took off for the car shop. My AC wasn't working and it was a little less than 1/2 mile home so I decided that it would be a great idea to drive there and jog back with the dog. This part of the morning was relatively uneventful so that was nice. I got home and got ready for work, I decided that I had always wanted to take the DART (Dallas's rail) to work so this was a pretty good chance to do that.

I finally get ready and I head out the door, rocking out to my christmas music. As I walk up to the station I see the train that I need go past... clearly I should have looked at the schedule because now I have to wait. I wait for the next train, about 20 minutes. This wasn't that bad at all, I mostly just sat there and waited and read the book I brought for just this purpose. Once the train arrived I hopped on and then rode into downtown Dallas, this took about 35 minutes.

On the DART reading and enjoying the lack of traffic

From this point on the story becomes something that would only happen to me. I walked downstairs to get on the bus that would take me to my office. This bus only comes once an hour after 10AM, clearly I am running just a bit late... I opt to wait 10 minutes for the next bus instead of the 15 minute walk though a really really creepy area of Dallas. The bus comes and I get on, I get out my book and I am just reading and waiting. As we go down the street that my office is on, I put the book down and wait for him to stop... yeah I had no idea that you have to push a button or pull a string to tell him to stop. So I watch several stops go by and finally I say "I thought there were stops on this road" to which the driver responds "there were three did you want to get off?"

As I stand to get off the bus quite a bit down the road I turn to the guys on the bus and say "clearly this was my first time on the bus, I am sure that I will get it right next time". I heard a few chuckles as I got off of the bus. I will admit that the 90 minute trip into the office is not what I had originally planned for the morning but it happens. It is nice to know that I can make it into work on the DART but I should maybe bring a friend next time.

Apple Dump Cake

Last week we had a thanksgiving potluck for the department at work and I waffled for a few minutes about what to make, in many science departments this is a more of a cultural experiment. People bring food items that represent their home country. As I am an American, I never really know what to make in some years I have brought jambalaya or some other southern dish. This year with the move and all of the chaos in my life I realized that I would need to make something quick and easy. On pinterest I have seen several different posts for a dump cake: mix together angle food cake and a can of any pie filling. I am not going to lie this sounds easy enough.

Apple Pie Dump Cake

Box of Angle Food Cake
Can of Apple Pie Filling

Directions
-Mix together, until the mixture looks like cake batter

I wasn't sure this was ever going to happen

-Pour into a bunt cake pan
-Follow the directions on the box, I cooked mine for about 40 minutes at 375 (I think)

The baked cake

I sliced my cake and served it without icing. I think it would be pretty good with a little whipped cream on the side or maybe a sprinkle of powdered sugar. I will admit this is not my favorite dish I have ever made but I will admit that it was somewhat fool proof, it did make a cake. I don't know that I loved the taste of the filling so my opinion of the cake is slightly skewed.

I think the cake was a hit at the potluck at least I think that most people ate the cake. Oh well I loved that this was an easy cake to make and pretty good. I have heard that this is also pretty good with blueberry pie filling.

Christmas Music

I have long been a fan of Christmas music; I wait patiently from Halloween on for the day at which it is acceptable to blare Christmas music 24-7. In some years I can make it until the Friday after Thanksgiving but there are some years that it just doesn’t work. Last year I was so frustrated by graduate school that I think I started listening to Christmas music in the early parts of November. This year I started listening to Christmas music in the car a week before thanksgiving.

I love the hopeful sound of the music and I love that for one month of the year so much of what we do revolves around the birth of Jesus Christ. For many, this may just be a month to get presents and be with family. In my family, our Christmas begins with a celebration of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that he came to die among us and for us. I love that for a few weeks it is acceptable for us as a nation to love the Lord.

In addition to the music I love the lights on the tree, the sound of fires roaring in the fireplace, and watching cheesy Christmas movies. I am so ready for the few days at home where I can hang out with the family and bake cookies. There is so much that I love about the Holiday season, I am sure that I will have many more posts about the music and the wonder of the holiday season.

I found this gem at Kirkland's a few days ago, I could I pass up a holiday letter?!?!

Now that thanksgiving is over and I am able to listen to Christmas music all of the time it is wonderful, I am enjoying the decking of the halls, the jingling bells, and silent nights. I admit that I love the pop artist holiday mixes they are just fabulous. Christina Aguilera has a christmas album that I really really love, it just pumps me up for the holidays. I am always looking to add music to my holiday collection, what is your favorite album?

Crab Crustini's

For thanksgiving I was in charge of appetizers: this was big for me. I found that there was lots of responsibility in this for me. The two things that I had to balance were the appetizers should be filling but not too filling. In my family we eat our lunch in the mid-afternoon so I knew that I would be hungry around lunchtime. I also realized that I could use the oven as long as the stuff went in with the turkey and before the rest of the sides. It took me a while to determine what I was going to make, in the end I decided on the spinach dip and these crab crustini's. The original link for the crab is here but I modified it quite a bit so now I will give you that.

Crab Crustini's

Ingredients
French bread, sliced thinly and all the same width if possible
2 cans of crab (I used one of lump and one of the other kind)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
Tony's chachere's or some other seafood seasoning of your choice
4 garlic cloves
2 green onions

Directions
1- Toast your bread slices in the oven, be sure to watch or they will burn in an instant (yes, this happened to me... twice). Allow them to cool.
2- Mix the cream cheese, crab, and Tony's
3- Add the garlic by using a garlic press, I find that this infuses the taste into the cream cheese
4- Slice the green onions and mix in
5- Spread a thin/medium layer of the crab mixture on the toast
6- Pop into the oven for 4-5 minutes under the broiler or until warm if the oven is being used for something else. This is another point that you want to really watch what is happening... burnt cheese is gross.

I hope that you enjoy these tasty little treats. My family really enjoyed them both cold and hot out of the oven. I will probably be bringing these to things that I need to bring appetizers too in the future. Let me know if you try them and make changes.

Thanksgiving Photos

The other day I posted about being thankful for so many things and I mentioned that I took some pics during my time at home. Looking at my phone made me realize that there aren't actually that many pics but I will share with you what I have and then I will include a few stories about the pics. 

Just two single girls hitting the road

 In this car ride Lily was a little nervous. I often think that she is still a little confused about Dallas and wonders when we are going to get back to St. Louis. However, once we got close to my parents home she was super excited because she knew where she was.

Entering the great home state

Apple pie... so yummy

I cut a fleur de lis for the vent in the pie

I love apple pie, I don't eat many of the thanksgiving pies, as I do not like pumpkin very much. So my father and I tend to whip up an apple pie most thanksgivings. We use granny smith apples and the recipe out of my mom's better homes and garden's cookbook (you know the one with the red patchwork pattern). I have tried several different versions and that is always the one that I prefer. Although to save time I do tend to buy pie crust at the holidays... too much to do. 

Crab Crustini Appetizers, more on these later

 I was in charge of appetizers for the big meal. I found these crab crustini's on pinterest. I modified the recipe a bit so I will be sure to share it with you so that you can bring something yummy to your next party. I also made a spinach dip, so good. I found this recipe on the back on the Knorr Spinach Dip Package (could also be called vegetable soup, I think).

Hitting the stores for a little black friday fun

My mom and I hit up several stores for black friday. I always love to go to target so that I can see what I just can live without. I found myself asking that anytime I looked at anything so it was hard to justify something when the question is "can I live without this?" Oh well, it was wonderful to get to spend time shopping with my mom, we found a few great deals.

It was a great time with the family and I love the sweet moments with the family. I can't wait to get home for a few more days at Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Being Thankful at Thanksgiving

As thanksgiving is this week and so many people have shared what they are thankful for, I thought that I would give you to the top 15 things that I am thankful for.

1. My parents
2.  My brothers and their wives and children
3. My entire extended family that I cannot seem to get enough of
4. My sweet dog, the Lil-monster
5. The USA, where we are free to practice our religion
6.  Being finally finished with grad school… I loved the moment that my diploma came in the mail was pretty awesome
7. My friends who think I am pretty special
8.  That I have a job that I enjoy, most of the time
9.   I am thankful for cell phones so that I can keep in touch with my friends from afar as well as my family that lives afar.
10. That I am able to have a Bible of my own in a language that I can read, write, and speak.
11.  My friends from college who have loved me for years and I am just now beginning to appreciate them fully
12. A new city to try new things in
13. Being Cancer Free!!!
14. That the apartment is starting to really come together
15. I am thankful that I am able to make my own choices and that I am able to find out exactly what it is I want to do with my life.

I had a wonderful few days off for thanksgiving I got a chance to go to my parents house and spend time with them doing different things and mainly just taking a few minutes out of our super busy lives to spend time together. I hadn't been to their house in several months, I was able to see my parents off and and when they came to Dallas but it was special to be at their house. Lily enjoyed her time in the HUGE yard that my parents have and she just loves playing with Delli, my mom's dog. 

I tried to take lots of pics that I will post soon, I know I am super far behind in all of the posts that I need to put up. This not having internet is making my life difficult. I am sure that I will have internet and TV soon so that I can watch my shows. It was wonderful to take a few days away from the office and be thankful that I have such a wonderful loving family and that here in the USA we are able to be who we are without consequences from the government. So I am thankful for you my few readers who I am sure enjoy the crazy ramblings of my mind... Happy Thanksgiving!!!