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Pups and Other Pets

Book Gift Guide

December 14, 2015

2015 Book Gift Guide | Holiday Gift Ideas | Fake Food Free
I love the idea of a cozy room lined with book shelves and a reading nook in the corner next to a roaring fireplace. On those shelves would be everything from classic and modern cookbooks, mystery novels and non-fiction cooking and agriculture resources to coffee table books with stunning photography. 

I’ve always loved to read, but I think my real book passion started when my interests grew in cookbooks and photography. The organization of my collection isn’t quite up to par with that cozy room I described, but that doesn’t stop me from adding books to my gift list, both to give and receive. 

I’ve come across some lovely cookbooks, fun photography and inspiring stories this year. If you have a bookworm on your gift list, grab a few of these great books and finish up your holiday shopping.

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This September

September 22, 2015

Baby Turnips and Mushrooms | In studio at the Farm to Table Photography Workshop in Seattle | Fake Food Free

I’m usually not one to comment on how quickly or slowly the months go by. It varies for me from year to year. It all depends on what I have going on.

Lately though, I’ve been thinking a lot about this September. Mostly about how it came along quickly, after what felt like a long August, and now suddenly it’s almost gone. 

There are 3 very good reasons for this.

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Apple Peanut Dog Treats Recipe

August 2, 2014

This post continues my series on peanut flour. If you’d like to read more, check out the Peanut Chile Rubbed Pork Chops and the Nectarine Coconut Peanut Flour Scones

Apple Peanut Dog Treats | fakefoodfree.com

As soon as I read that peanut flour would make a nice addition to dog treats, I knew I couldn’t leave the pugs out of my recipe experiments. I hadn’t made homemade treats in a while and I got the feeling they were missing them.

They had no idea that what was going on in the kitchen had anything to do with them. I mixed, I baked, but then, I got ready to photograph.

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Pumpkin Seed and Lime Chicken from Dog-Gone Good Cuisine

February 18, 2014

Since the day we brought Dixie to her forever home three years ago, this sassy, sweetheart of a pug has had a favorite food.

Chicken on the bone.

If we dine on a vegetarian meal, she sleeps in the corner by the fireplace. Ribs or burgers? You can hear her snoring in her kennel. Even boneless chicken breasts don’t interest her.

But sit down with a plate of bone-in chicken and things drastically change.

She raises her nose to sniff the air. She nudges under your arm to get closer to the plate, and the sounds of soft, subtle whining and exasperated sighs can be heard throughout the house.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I have no idea what experience in her past made her develop a fondness for such a specific food, but that dog knows when you are having chicken on the bone.

And she wants some.

So when I received a copy of the cookbook, Dog-Gone Good Cuisine by Gayle Pruitt, I stopped my browsing when I found Pumpkin Seed and Lime Chicken. I knew I had to make it.

This might go down in history as the cutest cookbook, not to mention the most versatile. If you didn’t gather it from title, the book features recipes that are fit for both human and canine consumption. It includes a wonderful intro about ingredients that are safe for dogs and nutrients that benefit both you and your best friend. You’ll be thoroughly entertained by the tasteful pet photos and beautiful food photography by Joe Grisham. The recipes are simple and straightforward with ideas to please the entire family.

Also, don’t expect it to be all chicken and rice. The creativity here will inspire you. Plain Chia and Flaxseed Pancakes, Tomato-Carrot Soup and Mediterranean Meatballs on a Stick are a few more recipes I can’t wait to share with my furry family.

I also have to mention that my heart melted a little when I read the dedications, which included a mention of the author’s dog, Mister Casper. My childhood dog was named Casper. I knew him for the first 10 years of my life. What an amazing being.

As expected, the chicken was a hit (taken off the bone, of course.) This book is an excellent resource for cooking for your dog, and it would make a wonderful gift for all the dog lovers in your life.

Pumpkin Seed and Lime Chicken

From Dog-Gone Good Cuisine by Gayle Pruitt with photographs by Joe Grisham. Copyright © 2014 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Griffin.

Ingredients

4 chicken quarters, bone in, skin on
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces raw pumpkin seeds
Juice and zest of 2 limes
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt

Add all the ingredients except for the chicken to a food processor and pulse until the pumpkin seeds are in small chunks. Put the chicken in a bowl and pour the pumpkin seed mixture over the chicken, making sure to completely cover it. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Place the chicken, skin side down, in a hot skillet or grill pan. Place a cover over the top of the chicken, touching the chicken with the lid, and pressing down on the top of the chicken. Cook for about 10 minutes, then turn the chicken over; the skin should now be a golden brown. Reduce the heat to medium-low, re­ place the lid over the chicken, and cook for another 30 minutes.

Serves 4 adult humans and 6 to 8 small to medium dogs.

Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review purposes. I was not required to post about it and received no compensation for during so. However, I was paid in full by two very happy pugs in the form of pug kisses.

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2013

The pugs say, Happy Halloween! If you could use a laugh with your treats today, you can check out some more of their costume photos at The Macy Dixie Line.

Kentucky Maple Syrup

March 10, 2012

 My interest in maple syrup started in my high school anthropology class when we watched a lengthy, black and white, film documentary about maple syrup production in the northeast U.S. I’m not sure why I thought the production was reserved only to that area and Canada. We have plenty of maple trees around. 
Apparently people here have been thinking the same thing. Over the past few years, Kentucky maple syrup has been stocking shelves of local food markets right next to sorghum and honey.
This morning we headed out the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, a historic attraction in nearby Harrodsburg, Kentucky.  What is a tourist attraction today was a site where the Shaker community once lived. Roads and buildings have been preserved and turned into education centers, shops, and museums. 
Animals are kept on site and represent specialty breeds owned by the Shakers. Milking Shorthorn Cattle are one example, and we were told this trip that with over 300 head, the Shakers once owned the largest herd in the US.
There is an inn on site as well as a restaurant, and that is the reason we made the visit this weekend. The special Maple Syrup Breakfast to be exact. We were able to dine on a breakfast buffet of pancakes, cornmeal cakes, bacon, sausage, and fried apples. Served alongside was maple syrup made on site. After breakfast, it was time to learn about the syrup making process.
Trees were tapped all along the paths within the village. According to our guide, sugar maples and black maples make the best syrup, and those were the trees we saw strapped with buckets. 
I’m sure you’ve heard that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. This means that the sap is about 3-5% sugar. Weather plays a role in yield and in sugar content. Ideal temperature is 40 F degree days and 20 F degree nights, and we haven’t had many of those in Kentucky this winter. 

We were able to watch the process in the wood burning evaporator. The sap goes into the top metal box, and is drained through the spout.

Then it is boiled, and boiled, and boiled until liquid is evaporated and the sugar syrup remains. 
I still hope to see the process in person in the northeast someday, but for now I’m content with adding maple syrup to my list of local foods.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes using Kentucky maple syrup.

Wheat Berry Salad with Fresh Cranberries and Orange Maple Dressing

Banana Bourbon Scones with Walnuts

Bourbon Sweet Potato Waffles with Maple Cinnamon Butter

Butternut, Flax and Walnut Bread

Cranberry Pumpkin Granola

Sweet Potato Date Bars

 

 

A Dog Biscuit Cookbook, a Rescue Pug and a Fundraiser

March 20, 2011

Last Christmas I received the cutest cookbook. It was full of creative recipes and I couldn’t wait to try a few out. The catch, however, was that this cookbook was not meant to benefit myself or my husband, or any human for that matter.

No, this cookbook was meant to benefit these two characters:

And when I say characters, boy do I mean it. Back in December we adopted pug #2.

This is how my husband affectionately refers to them, pug 1 and pug 2. Upon telling this to a friend, she told him that they likely refer to us as human 1 and human 2.

Fair enough.

Dixie, or Dixie Land, has fit in nicely at our house. She and Macy still have a few squabbles, but they have learned tolerance and perhaps even like each other a little. Dixie had been living with 5 other pugs so I really don’t think she understands what the big deal is with Macy. She has no problem sitting on top of her or squeezing in next to her.

Macy, on the other hand, is incredibly offended by these gestures. She likes to reminisce about the days when she had the house, couch and dog beds to herself.

We adopted Dixie from Kentuckiana Pug Rescue. She was surrendered by a breeder who went out of business, so up until a few months ago (with the exception of the time with her foster family) her purpose was having babies. She is now warming up to the idea that her purpose is for pug kisses, snuggling and a receiver of lots of love.

Although adorable, I will say she isn’t innocent. She gets into a bit of trouble eating from the open food bin, jumping into the dishwasher. Yes, that actually happened.

She is also a very proud carnivore. She barks during our dinner time when we have meat, but not when we are dining vegetarian. This is too amazing to me to make up. The dog knows her meat.

So back to this cookbook.

The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook from the Bubba Roses Biscuit Company is full of all kinds of fun food ideas for your buddy. There is everything from complete entrees to roll and cut out biscuit recipes. In fact, there are over 100 recipes in the book along with tips that point out beneficial ingredients for dogs as well as foods to avoid. A great gift for the cooking dog lover in your life and your pup will be especially grateful if you grab a copy for yourself.

There is a reason why I decided to feature this book right now. I’m in the middle of training for my second half marathon. I’ll be running the Flying Pig half in May and my husband will be running the marathon. Through my training and racing, I’m on a mission to raise funds for an organization close to my heart – Kentuckiana Pug Rescue, the organization through which we got our adorable Dixie last December. You can find a link to my campaign in my right sidebar.

I appreciate every dollar donated to help pugs in need, and even if you can’t give, spreading the word is the second best thing. My husband gets emails daily from KPR with the most heart wrenching stories, asking for foster homes or medical assistance. Dixie is such a sweetheart, I can’t imagine someone not loving and keeping her and I know there are so many pugs out there like her so I want to help as much as I can.

Now about the dog biscuits.

I tried out the Ohm My These Are Good biscuits to share with you. Now, I realize it might not mean much to say an animal liked a treat when said animal will eat just about anything that drops on the floor, but the girls were big fans of these cookies.

As soon as Macy realized I was photographing dog and not human treats, she sat below the table whining. She is a sit and stay-er, so she sat in agony while I snapped a few photos. Dixie on the other hand is still working on her sit and stay so she just looked at me wondering what in the world I had in my hand until I let her have it, then it was gone before I could blink.

Ohm My These Are Good Dog Biscuits
Reprinted with permission from Cider Mill Press

1 cup oat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup canned or fresh pureed pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/3 cup water

These treats are high in fiber, low in fat, meat-free and low in protein.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients together and mix until a dough forms. Roll into small balls (about 1” in diameter) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet (they can be rather close together as they don’t spread while cooking.)

Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

*I wanted to use the new cookie cutters I also got when I received the book so I added about ¾ cup whole wheat flour which allowed me to roll out the dough and cut the biscuits into shapes.

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2010

Guess what? I missed Halloween! I can’t believe it!

Our local news said that our town would be celebrating on the 31st while some surrounding towns would celebrate on the 30th and even the 29th.

Do your cities do this? The first time I experienced this whole choose-your-Halloween was when we came to Kentucky. It annoys me a bit. I miss the good ol’ days when Halloween was the 31st no matter what day of the week it fell on.

Anyway, my husband went to a football game out of town over the weekend with plans to be back Sunday so we could hand out candy and show off the pug. That is Macy above. She decided to be a candy corn this year in honor of her favorite toy.

I was in the middle of doing yoga when I started hearing voices outside. I looked out and saw a few kids dressed up. Thinking that perhaps someone in the neighborhood was having a party and they were headed there, I didn’t pay much attention.

Then as the night went on I realized that there were kids out trick-or-treating! No one was coming to our house because no lights were on and by the time I realized they were actually out to get candy the specified 6 to 8pm time frame was almost over.

This whole time frame thing gets me too. I remember trick-or-treating well into the night. That was the fun of it!

So now, I sit here on actual Halloween with no celebrations, a pug with no one to see her costume and candy. Fortunately I didn’t buy a lot because our neighborhood isn’t that big living out in the country a bit.

Oh well, maybe next year.

Maybe you can let me know what exciting things you did for the holiday to ease the disappointment.

To ease your pumpkin craving check out this great article LouAnn of Oyster Food and Culture shared on Twitter – Any Way You Carve It with 13 ways to cook up pumpkin!

And don’t forget. The last day to sign up for the International Blogger Holiday Cookie Recipe Exchange is Friday!

Happy Halloween!!

A Big Win and a Good Cause

February 7, 2010
I’m stopping back in this weekend because I just had to share about a great prize I won a couple weeks ago. Macy (my pug) and I won a giveaway on Elizabeth Anne Designs. I honestly have no idea how I get so lucky!
The prize was customized stationery from Lydia & Pugs! I started following the site when I first learned about it on Owned by Pugs, the best dog blog out there. Dawn does beautiful customized artwork of pets and I won the opportunity to have a customized design on note cards. Since Macy loves popcorn and the couch, we combined the two. I received the stationery this week. Just look at how cute it is!


I also wanted to take this weekend to tell you about the organization I’ve decided to support through my half marathon coming up the end of March. I love animals and I wanted to find an organization that helped both animals and people, preferably something more local.

I found what I was looking for with Pawsibilities Unleashed. This non-profit out of Frankfort, KY trains service and therapy dogs for people in need. I’m happy to be raising funds to help train and raise a service pup.

I’ve set up a fundraising page on Give Forward. If this is a cause that happens to be important to you as well I definitely appreciate any contribution. I’m 40% of the way to my goal!

This One’s for the Dogs

December 16, 2009

Considering how excited I am to have our pug, Macy Mae, back with us I simply could not leave her out of my cookie baking this year. I’ve had a recipe for some apple cinnamon dog biscuits for a long while now and this year I decided it was finally time to try them. I have several dog owning friends and I thought a little Christmas gift for the best buddies would be appropriate this holiday season.
I first read up on the ingredients since I’m not familiar with doing a lot of baking for dogs. I wanted to make sure the foods and methods of baking were safe. I ended up altering the recipe, not because it was unsafe, but because the original recipe had a lot of seasonings and some oil that I didn’t think were necessary. I mean, I love Macy, but she is a dog which will eat just about anything. I doubted she’d miss the cloves or other pricey additions.
I was right. She didn’t care a bit.
If you have some dogs that need gifts this year, these are easy to make and I’ve heard no complaints from the two dogs I’ve witnessed enjoying them.

They are certainly pug tested and approved!

Apple Whole Grain Dog Biscuits

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
¼ cup apple, minced
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp cinnamon
About 1 cup water
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and line your baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except the water. Slowly pour a half cup of the water over the mixture and stir. The consistency needs to be one for which you can roll the dough out on a floured surface. Gradually add the rest of the water until you reach the right consistency.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. I used a round glass, a small heart and gingerbread men. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. I don’t know the exact amount it will make because I used all different sized cutters. I was able to fill four small decorative Christmas canister/jars.

Update: I just wanted to add that the biscuits should be eaten within about 2 weeks because they will develop mold if left out at room temperature. Macy and I learned this the hard way. Sorry I didn’t add that in the post. The original recipe I adapted didn’t list any storage tips.
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