Pinterest Inspiration: Triple Berry and Banana Frozen Yogurt Dog Treats

Clearly I had a lot of time on my hands during spring break.  With the Baby Pickin' Game, Kibble Egg Hunt, a trip to the beach, and Easter, Athena was a very busy (and tired) girl last week.  Here I am again with another DIY project all for Athena.

On Monday I checked out the Easter section at Target to scope out any after-holiday clearance deals.  Mostly I was just looking for backup plastic eggs for kibble hunts (which I did find for 50% off), but I also came across a 50% off bunny silicone mold.  It was just the thing that I needed to finally make Athena a batch of frozen dog treats that I'd been eyeing on Pinterest.  After looking at a couple of different recipes, I flung some different ingredients together to create these Triple Berry & Banana Frozen Yogurt Treats with Flaxseed.

Here's the recipe:

• 8-10 oz plain non-fat greek yogurt (I used Fage Total 0%)
• 1 banana
• 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh berries (I used strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
• 1 tsp flaxseed meal (a great source of omega-3's for doggies!)

Instructions:

• Blend all ingredients together in a blender (I used a Magic Bullet)
• Pour mixture into a silicone mold, ice cube tray, cupcake liners, paper cups, or anything that you'd like!
• Freeze for at least 2 hours
• Serve to your four-legged friend!

Pouring the mixture into a silicone mold

All ready for the freezer!

Once frozen, I popped the bunnies out the mold and stored them in a freezer bag

As much as Athena loves the store-bought frozen treats like Frosty Paws, they don't love her so much (if you know what I mean).  I love how easy it is to make her these cool berry treat and I love that I know exactly what's in them.

There are a ton of other great frozen treat recipes on Pinterest.  Here are a few that I found that I want to try out next:

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Peanut Butter

Breath Freshener

Does your dog love frozen treats?  Have you ever made your own at home?

Pinterest Inspiration: Sweet Potato Dog Chews

Yesterday was a perfect cloudy Portland day to stay inside and make homemade sweet potato dog chews for Athena.  I've been lusting over a few recipes for these on Pinterest, so it was about time that I made a batch.  Not to mention that I always contemplate buying a bag of store-bought sweet potato chews whenever I see them, but I end up passing them by because a) why spend money when I can make them for super cheap and b) if I make them myself, I will know 100% what's in them.

My recipe for these dog chews was inspired by a few pins on my Pinterest Dog Recipes board including this one, this one, and this one.

Here's what I did to make these tasty (and healthy!) treats:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Sweet Potatoes
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

How to Make Em':

1.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit
2.  Prepare a cookie sheet by lightly coating it with olive oil
3.  Wash the potatoes and then thinly slice them into rounds (I tried to slice mine to be about 1/4-1/2 inch thick).  You could use a mandolin or food processor for this step to make the slices the same thickness, however I don't think that Athena minds that mine weren't perfect =)

4. Lay out your round potato slices onto the cookie sheet.  It's OK if the slices touch, but try not to overlap them.

5. Bake for 4-5 hours (depending on if you want chewy or crunchy chews).  Flip the potatoes every hour.  Because mine weren't perfectly sliced, I got the best of both worlds (chewy and crunchy).
6. Remove the chews from the oven and let cool.

7. Feed them to your dog as a delicious snack or tummy soother!

Staring at the deliciousness would be just too much to bear!

Athena thought these treats were DELICIOUS!  We plan to use the crunchy ones for special training treats that are low-calorie and healthy and the chewy ones will be great for an after-school snack ;)

Have you ever made any dehydrated dog chews (in a fancy dehydrator or in the oven)?  How did your dog like them?

Check out these Pinterest inspired Peanut Butter Dog Treats that I also made

Pinterest Inspiration: Homemade Dog Treats

This weekend not only did we attend the grand opening for Portland's new Unleashed by Petco store and test Athena's sniffer at a free K9 Nose Work class, but we also did some extra special dog treat baking.

Mom, can I have that?

Ever since starting my Pitlandia Pinterest boards months ago, I have wanted to use one of my 'Dog Recipes' pins to bake a batch of dog treats.  This weekend I finally gave it a shot after realizing that most of the treat recipes call for ingredients that I already have at home (I've also been looking for an excuse to use my new bone shaped cookie cutters).

I ended up baking a batch of Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats using this recipe found on Pinterest:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour oat flour
2 large eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin purée, canned or fresh
3 Tbsps peanut butter

"Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium for about a minute, or until the dough looks like a bunch of little dough balls. If you pinch a piece and it crumbles, add a little water. If it’s really sticky, it’s too wet and you’ll need to add a little flour. Gather the dough together and form into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to about 1/4-inch thickness. You can either use a cookie cutter to cut out cute shapes, or use a knife to cut squares or strips.  Place the cookies on a baking sheet.  Bake 15-20 minutes for softer treats or 30 minutes for hard treats."-Recipe provided by userealbutter.com

The recipe made 100+ little crunchy treats in bone, heart, and flower shapes!

Athena thought that these treats were absolutely delicious!  I will admit that I tasted one and found it to be just like an unsweetened peanut butter cookie.  Athena doesn't seem to mind the flavor because she's been gobbling them up like crazy (I would say that she seems to like them even better than packaged dog treats)!

'Waiting' for her 'OK' to eat her treat

Substituting Oat Flour for Wheat Flour in Dog Treat Recipes:

The treat recipe above is not grain-free, but I substituted wheat flour for oat flour to make it so.  I made my own oat flour by putting dried rolled oats in the food processor and pulsing to chop the oats into a fine powder (1 1/4 cups of oats yields 1 cup of oat flour).

Making Dog Treats Grain Free:

One reason that I've been discouraged from making any dog treats found on Pinterest is because most are not grain-free.  We try to feed Athena a grain-free diet as much as possible.  To make the above treats grain-free, you could substitute the wheat flour for potato flour, almond flour, or any other grain-free flour substitute.

Grain Free Dog Treat Recipes:

Peanut Butter & Carrot Treats (also gluten, dairy, and sugar-free)

Dehydrated Liver Treats

Sweet Potato Chews

Dog Treat Recipes (substitute flour for a wheat-free or grain-free treat):

Peanut, Banana, & Bacon Treats

Veggie Treats

Carrot & Banana Treats

Cheesy Treats

Excuse me, but when can I eat that?

For even more homemade dog treat recipes visit my 'Dog Recipes' Pinterest board

Have you ever tried your hand at baking homemade dog treats?  What are some of your favorite recipes ?

Dog Collar Fabric Flower Tutorial

In an attempt to make Athena look girlier, we have recently outfitted her in her very own bright pink Tiennot Knits sweater as well as two stylish Sirius Republic collars.  I have definitely noticed more “she’s so pretty!” comments rather than the “he’s so cute!” ones.  But, I decided that Athena needed just a touch more girl to go along with her new girliness.  So, I sat down at my sewing machine and created a collar flower complete with a Velcro attachment and fabric button.

Here are the steps for making your very own dog collar flower:

1.  Gather the materials

• Fabric (I used part of one fat quarter for the main flower fabric as well as a small amount of fabric from a different colored fat quarter for the flower button)
• Cover Button Kit  (or any button that you would like to use)
• Felt
• Double Sided Velcro
• Top Thread (or any thread that is thicker than sew-all thread)
• Fabric Glue
• Rotary Circle Cutter  or Drinking Glass (I used an Olfa rotary circle cutter, but you could easily use a drinking glass to trace a perfect circle)
• Sewing Supplies (Sewing machine, rotary cutter, ruler, needle, fabric pen/pencil, fabric point turner--I just use a chopstick)

2.  Cut the flower petals & felt circles

Begin by ironing your main flower fabric and lay it out on a rotary cutting mat.  Next, set your circular rotary cutter to the desired circumference (or find a drinking glass with the circumference that you need).  Each circle that you cut should measure 4” (this means you need to set your circular rotary cutter to 2”).  Cut out 8 circles from your main flower fabric.  Then cut out 1 circle from your felt that measures 2” (set circular rotary cutter to 1”) and another felt circle that measures 1.5” (set circular rotary cutter to .75”).

Set aside the two felt circles until step #8.  Now fold each of the 8 fabric circles in half and iron each on the fold to create a crease in the fabric.

Using your rotary cutter and ruler, cut each of the 8 circles on the center crease.  You should now have 16 half circles of fabric.

3.  Sew the flower petals

Bring all 16 half circles to your sewing machine.  Fold each half circle in half again with right sides together.  Using a ¼” seam, sew down the straight edge of one of your folded half circles.  Continue to feed all of your petals through the machine without cutting the thread.

4.  Prepare the sewn flower petals

Snip the thread in between each of the flower petals that you sewed in step #3.  You should now have 16 inside-out petals.  Using a fabric point turner (or a chopstick…or your finger!), flip each petal so that it’s right-side-out.  Next, iron each flower petal flat (this is important for achieving crisp looking petals).

5.  Stitch the bottom flower

Use 9 flower petals from step #4 to create the bottom layer of your fabric flower.  With embroidery thread, hand stitch a running stitch on the bottom curve of your first petal.  Pull your needle through the fabric and tighten the thread to gather the fabric at the bottom.  Continue to add the remaining 8 petals, tightening the thread as you go.  Once all 9 petals have been stitched, use the remaining thread to attach the first and last petal together with backstitches.  Tie a knot to secure.

6.  Repeat step #5

Repeat step #5 to create the top layer of your fabric flower, however this time use only 6 flower petals from step #4 (you should now have one flower petal left over from step #4).

7.  Attach the bottom and top layers of the flower

Position the top layer flower on top of the bottom layer and stitch the two layers together.  Secure with a knot.

At this point I didn’t like how I could see the knots from my thread peaking out from the sides of some of the petals.  To hide the thread knots, I simply used a touch of fabric glue at the base of some of my petals to hide the knots.

8.  Fix the ugly back by attaching felt & Velcro

Now that the top and bottom flower layers are attached, you may notice that the back of the flower is quite unattractive.  This is a quick fix by using the felt circles from step #2 to hide the mess.

First measure how much double-sided Velcro you will need for the flower to attach to your dog’s collar.  Then, center align your Velcro on top of the 2” felt circle and securely sew it into place (make sure to backstitch here to create a strong hold).

Glue this felt piece onto the back of your fabric flower.  Next, glue the 1” piece of felt on top of the Velcro to hide the thread and to prevent the double sided Velcro from fraying a nylon dog collar.

9.  Make the button!

This is my favorite part of making the fabric flowers because I just love to make buttons!  To make my fabric covered button, I used a Dritz button cover kit #36 in 7/8”.  I followed the kit instructions to make my button.  You could also easily use any button that you have available instead of making your own.

To finish off your fabric flower, use fabric glue to attach your button to the front of the fabric flower.

10. Wear it out and about!

Now that you’ve completed your dog collar flower it’s time for you and your dog to go out on the town and model it around!  

So far I have made Athena quite a few collar flowers in many colors and styles to match all of her outfits.  People can’t help but stop and admire what a pretty pittie she is when wearing her flowers =)

Please leave a comment below or e-mail us at PitlandiaPooch@gmail.com if you have any questions or suggestions for improvements to this tutorial!

Also check out our Dog Tutu Tutorial for another stylish DIY accessory to add to your dog's wardrobe!