Bill Gent, one of our beloved Southern Plate family members and someone whom I have personally adopted as my long lost brother, offered to do a post on how to make homemade doggie biscuits. I love and adore Bill and I know y’all do, too, so I lovingly told him to get on it and get it to me STAT! (Can someone tell me what STAT stands for? I have no idea.) So here is Brother Bill with his post. We are both adoptive parents of precious dog babies and I’m claiming Mama’s privilege for both of us as we brag on our canine babies in photos at the bottom! I’d like to invite you to brag on your four legged babies at the bottom, too! What are their names, where did they come from, tell us as much as you’d like! Take it away, Bill! Gratefully, Christy

Hello Margaret, It’s me again! (Google that phrase if it’s confusing to you) I’m back again to regale you with another post.  Since I just became a daddy to a new Australian Cattle Dog, I asked Christy if I could do a post about homemade dog biscuits and she agreed. As I grew up, we always had a pet around the house, ok.. several pets. My mom was a sucker for a stray animal and the animals in the neighborhood knew it. I’m sure the news got around by word of mouth “Hey, Fido, there’s this woman down the street who cooks pretty good and she will feed you. Just sit in the front yard and look sad. Oh yeah, be sure to suck in your gut.”

This brings me to my new widdle goggie (That’s baby talk for “Little Doggie” because for some reason, we lose the ability to speak like adults when we get around the little darlins.) I was laying on the couch watching TV one evening when I spied a beautiful Cattle Dog walking around in the cemetery across the street. I did my best to ignore her because stray animals tend to roam around there quite often and they usually go home and I never see them again. This dog did not go home. She was there every evening for a week and a half. I became concerned about her because the street I live on has become increasingly busy over the years and I kept hearing horns honking and more than a few screeching tires.

I tried to approach her but much like the women I have been attracted to, she ran away lickity split, albeit with much less screaming, crying and pepper spray. I took out the big guns and got some leftover pork roast out of the fridge. She was hooked. She was still very skittish but it didn’t take her long to fall heads and tails in love with me – as women also would if they would simply desist with those bothersome restraining orders (just kidding).

I did not want a dog so I searched for ads in the paper and online to see if anyone was looking for her and I took her to Petsmart to see if she was micro chipped but to no avail. I also tried to even give her away on Craigslist but there were no takers. Over the next few days I  noticed that she had not had one “accident” in the house and she was able to learn commands very quickly. She stole my heart with her antics of dragging out everything in the kitchen trash can and unexpectedly jumping on me with all fours while I was laying on the couch. I eventually named her “Baby, the orphan dog”. ~sighs~ I was all hers.

My great niece, Kaley, who is 16 and growing up way too fast, wanted to make her some doggie treats as she did for her yellow lab, Dakota. Baby, loved them so I wanted to share the recipe with all of you “doggie wuvers” out in Southern Plate land.

The ingredients and recipe are very simple, which is what I like. We are making treats out of Peanut Butter and oatmeal which are very yummy to the tummy! Yes they are! Yes they are! Such a good doggie… umm.. excuse me. I get caught up very easily.

Here is all you need: peanut butter,  water, oatmeal, veggie oil, and whole wheat flour.

Put the peanut butter in a bowl.

Add your oil..

Now look at that measuring spoon. It didn’t melt in the dishwasher, it was made that way.

Knowing Christy’s fondness with kitchen utensils I thought that was pretty cool.

(Christy’s Note: Hey Bill, you know some women are fond of diamonds or horses and the like. I’d say my husband got off lucky)

Next, pour in the water.

Now isn’t that a good picture considering it was taken with a cell phone? I thought so.

Stir, stir, stir.

Kaley is doing such a good job at this. She’s a good girl, yes she is! Yes sh… oh.. sorry. I’ll stop now.

Add your whole wheat flour.

Yes, whole wheat flour. Gotta keep our four legged friends healthy too, especially when they tend to eat stuff that.. well.. nevermind.

Add in that oatmeal!

Taking a little break to admire that backsplash. It’s hand painted. Isn’t it awesome? Ok, back to the recipe.

Now Christy says your best kitchen tools are your hands.. or is that Emeril Lagasse that says that? You know they look so much alike I get them mixed up sometimes.

Anyway.. smush it up real good.

Flour your counter.. or in this case the wax paper on the counter.

Kaley taped the wax paper down so it wouldn’t slide. put a little flour on your rolling pin and go to town. I mean get started rolling it out. You don’t need to go to town in the middle of this. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch.

Look at the cute little doggie shaped cookie cutters. One is in the shape of a bone and the other is of a dog in a sitting position. The precious factor is off the charts.

The dog doesn’t care about cute but we pretend they do cause we wuv dem soooo much! Yes we does! Yes we… dang it… sorry.

If you don’t have cute cutters, just cut them into squares and they’ll be just fine.

Look how cute they are. Your doggie will love you so much for these it will make up for every failed relationship you’ve ever had, at least that’s what I’m telling myself. 🙂

Doggie Biscuits

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1- 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 tbsp veggie oil
• 2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine peanut butter, oil,and 1 cup water. Gradually add flour, then oatmeal. Add 1/2 cup water.Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 35 minutes.

Man is rated the highest animal,

at least among all animals who returned the questionnaire.

~Robert Brault. Submit your quote by clicking here.

This is Bill Gent’s “Baby”. 😀

Me and My Zoe

We adopted Zoe from the Human Society several months ago. She was absolutely meant to be part of our family. She and I are two peas in a pod. My husband and the kids call her “Mama’s Shadow”.