this is how we spend our weekends

I recently wrote about how much we love playing in our backyard.  And we do!  But we also spend a lot of time finding ways to entertain ourselves when stuck indoors.  Any parent of young children know that thinking up ways to keep your little ones occupied is imperative for your own sanity.  Otherwise you might discover them literally climbing the walls, perched on top of your fireplace mantle testing their ability to fly (that’s not just me, right?)  So in an effort to avoid unnecessary trips to the ER, I end up embarking on such projects as this: making our own dogs treats.  Martha Stewart I am not, nor ever hoped to be… which clearly goes to show how far I will go to keep my child and my home in one piece.

This actually turned out to be a great activity for a two and a half year old who loves to be involved in the kitchen and I recommend it to fellow parents next time you need to kill a few hours while stuck indoors on a rainy day.  It involves mashing a baked sweet potato, and adding some chicken broth, a finely grated green apple, chopped fresh mint (I was really hoping this would do something for my dog’s breath… the jury is still out on that one) and whole wheat pastry flour.   The mashing alone held his attention for quite awhile:

And, probably the most fun part: kneading the dough.  C loved this although I’m not sure he kneaded as much as “patted,” causing little poufs of flour to rise up and make him cough:

I usually tend to have a little more foresight when doing things but in this case, I hadn’t thought to read past what ingredients we needed for this recipe… it turns out doggie-treat-shaped cookie cutters and a rolling pin were also on the list.  Ha.  Anyone who knows me will not be surprised in the slightest to find out that I don’t own a rolling pin, let alone cookie cutters (and dog treat shaped ones at that!)  I am not a baker.  So we had to improvise and I reminded myself that my dog, who often licks concrete walls, would not hold it against me if these things resembled small bricks rather than cute little dog bones.  He knows I am not Martha Stewart.  Turns out, flattening the dough with our hands was more fun than using a rolling pin:

Once this was done and the dough was cut into squares, we baked them in the oven for 45 minutes (I was delighted and shocked to discover that we did in fact have parchment paper in the house, as the recipe instructed for lining the baking sheets.  I’m guessing this was my husband’s purchase at one time, in hopes that I might bake for him more… or ever.)

After the treats were done baking we had to test them out on the ultimate critic.  Because although I’ve seen this dog eat play-dough and pine needles, he has a surprisingly discriminating palate when it comes to things that are actually edible.

 Instructing the pup to sit (hand tap to the shoulder) is one of C’s favorite things to do.  And… it appears that these treats are a success!

 And back for seconds!  This project was a winner!