100 Days of Pinterest: Day 48 - Peanut Butter Dog Bones Recipe

I am almost halfway to my 100 day challenge. I think this challenge has really helped me refocus my thoughts away from MS. I now find myself thinking about how things would make good Pinterest challenges. It's good to find something to take your mind off of things sometimes. Not necessarily to push things under the rug, but to overcome.

Since summer is in the air, I've been looking for a lot of summery ideas to try. The other day I tried the recipe for the Jello Pudding Pops.  The pudding pops tasted more like a Wendy's Frosty than what I remembered Pudding Pops tasting like. Which isn't a bad thing. Wendy's is my favorite fast food restaurant (okay, other than Taco Bell) and I love Frosty's! I think I seriously need to find better Popsicle trays though. It was a complete pain in the butt getting the pudding pops out of the dollar store Popsicle forms I have. I ended up submerging them in warm water a couple of times before I was able to get them out. Then they were a bit melted.


One of the other Pins I attempted were the Peanut Butter Dog Bones. Now, I should seriously buy stock in peanut butter. My sons, mostly my youngest one, could eat peanut butter every single day if I'd let them. We could be flat broke, but we'd have peanut butter in our cabinet. I usually have to buy the bulk sized Jif to keep my family supplied. I had my oldest son help make these. He said he wanted to be a chef someday so here's his start. Dog bones. He can't go wrong. The ingredients were minimal and I liked that I know what my dog is eating. We buy the boxed dog treats every couple of weeks and I have no idea how they are made or what they are made with. I don't know about your dog, but my dog couldn't care less if he received neat dog bone shaped treats after he does his business in the yard. I have a pug and a pit bull-American bulldog mix, so I had to make different sized treats. So, I simply rolled the dough out and then just cut different sized rows so I could get smaller and larger sized treats. Easy peasy. Once these things were done both of my furry little boys were sitting in the kitchen waiting for a treat. My pug is quite picky and he kept sitting there with his puggy eyes begging me for more. They love these things.

Peanut Butter Dog Bones Recipe
Originally posted on:  Arch.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 C. whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 C. natural peanut butter (or regular)
• 1 C. skim milk (I used raw milk, that worked too)
• Cookie cutters (or not, my boys didn't mind their treat squares)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°. In one bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk. Combine mixtures and stir well. 

Drop dough on lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out dough anywhere from 1/8” to 1/4” thick. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on greased baking sheet for 20 minutes.

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Today I tried the Homemade Bread Pin. I like to torture my family by making as many bread recipes as I can. I figure eventually I'll find that one recipe that keeps us coming back. This recipe made four loaves of bread and since I really don't need that much bread I used some to make homemade cinnamon rolls. I rolled the dough out, buttered it, and sprinkled a heavy dose of sugar and cinnamon on the flattened out dough.Then I rolled it up and cut it into half inch cinnamon rolls. I put them in a greased pan, snug in a cinnamon roll cluster and stuck them in the oven for eighteen minutes at 375 degrees (golden brown). When they were done I whipped up some icing with milk, powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla. These didn't last but ten minutes once they were done. My boys and the neighbor boy ate most of them, leaving only a few for me and my husband.

Now, the bread recipe had WAY too much salt in it for my liking. If you aren't a salt fiend then you may want to reduce the salt used in this recipe. To date, I think the Kitchen-Aid bread recipe is by far the best one I've tried so far. What's your favorite bread recipe? My family loves bread and I'd like to try some different ones. Send me your recipes as womaninthemancave@yahoo.com and I'll try them out.

Through this challenge I have discovered that I am a foodie. I'd love to say that I eat healthy, low fat, all organic foods, but I don't (yet). I make meals and desserts that I know my guys will enjoy. Not only does it help to mix things up, but it also encourages my sons to try things they haven't tried yet in hopes that they will find a new food to call their favorite. It's working, because while taking part in this challenge I have started eliminating processed foods from my home. I think that is one of the biggest challenges to face these days with so many instant delights at our fingertips. Why make cookies when you can buy a pack already made? Why make homemade jam when you can buy a jar off the shelf? Well, simply put, because you know where it came from. You don't know who handled the berries they used before they used them in your jam. Did they wash them first? Were there heavy pesticides used to keep the bugs off? Who knows?

I think the first step in eating better is by eliminating easy and that's one of the successful aspects of the Pinterest challenge. I'm making more of the the items we'd run to the store and buy. No more preservatives or pesticides in my sons. So, I guess this is going pretty well. I'm almost halfway there and I can't wait to see what the rest of my Pinterest challenge brings.

As always, find me on Pinterest at: http://www.pinterest.com/inthemancave/
Or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womaninthemancave
Or Twitter: @NmsBauer

Thanks for reading.
Take care.

NB