Molly loves treats! (What dog doesn't?) I have been know to use them as a bribe to get her to do what I want! And, since she happens to be a very fussy princess, treats have to taste good to impress her!
I am pleased to say that Molly adores these treats! They are full of vitamins and Omega-3 oils. That is one of the reasons I love this recipe. Another reason I love it - it's gluten free! This is a great treat for dogs with wheat allergies. Molly isn't allergic to wheat, but she is allergic to almost everything else. I try to vary the treats I make her so I don't give her too much wheat. If your dog isn't allergic to wheat, I have a great peanut butter treat recipe you can see here. I found this recipe on the Internet quite some time ago. For some reason, the link is no longer on my favorites list! The good news here is that I have made so many changes to it, it no longer looks anything like the original recipe. Still, I like to reference recipes when I find them elsewhere. My apologies to the original author that gave me the foundation to create the recipe below. Chicken Broth Oatmeal Treats 3/4 cup of gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. However, if you have garbanzo beans in your food storage, you could grind them up and use that.) 1/4 cup flaxseed flour (In the past, I have used flax seeds instead of flaxseed flour because I didn't feel like grinding them to make the flour. If you do that, increase the gluten free flour to 1 cup.) 3 TBS powdered milk 2 TBS dried parsley (I grow my own.) 1 TBS powdered butter (I am not sure the powdered butter adds anything. I keep telling myself that the next time I make these I am going to leave out the butter to see what happens, but I always forget to do it!) 1/2 cup chicken stock. (I make my own. You can see how to do that here. If you use canned chicken stock from the store, try to use low sodium. Be sure to read the label and don't use anything that contains onions. Onions are poisonous to dogs.) 1 cup oatmeal (I have used both quick cook oatmeal and regular oatmeal successfully.) Start by adding all the dry ingredients together and mix well. Then add the chicken stock. This is a very dry dough that may need you to use your hands to knead it together. I usually use a big bowl and knead it right in the bowl. In this picture, I added the chicken stock before I added the oatmeal and all of the gluten free flour. (I did that because when I was making these, I was multi-tasking! I actually had two different kinds of nut bread recipes going at the same time I was making these. I poured the chicken stock before I was ready for it!)
Anyway, by the time you finish kneading the dough in the bowl, it should look like this. Wrap it up and chill it for a while. (I used freezer paper.)
The reason you chill it is because the dough is a bit sticky. Chilling it will reduce the stickiness so that you can roll it out and use cookie cutters. If you are going to drop it on the cookie sheet by a teaspoon, there isn't any need to chill it. I rolled mine out and used doggie bone cookie cutters. Roll them thin. I like them about 1/8 inch thick. If necessary, you can dust the work surface with some of the gluten free flour.
Place on a cookie sheet. I used parchment paper. If you don't want to use parchment paper, lightly grease the cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. If they are 1/4 inch thick or thicker, you may need to bake them a bit longer. I made mine during the evening hours so there was not an opportunity to use the Sun Oven. I store them in a cookie jar. When Molly hears me take the top off the jar, she comes running!
This Christmas video was shown at my church last year during the Christmas Eve services. It made such an impression on me, I haven't forgotten it! I have watched it five times this year already! When the commercial aspects of Christmas get me down, this video lifts me up. It is beautiful, and you won't regret watching it!
Search "The Piano Guys" on YouTube for even more wonderful Christmas videos! I wish you the best Christmas holiday season ever!
I don't turn the lights on at my house. There really isn't any need because I have lots of windows that let in natural light. At night, if I really need to see, I will grab a flashlight. My husband has the opposite view point. He tells me he likes living in the 21st century. He likes the convenience of lights coming on when you flip a switch. He has been spending more time at home lately (always a good thing!) and less time on the road for work so what happened next was inevitable.
Last night, he asked me where I store the light bulbs. My answer was to check in the light bulb box that I keep in a closet. He said the box was empty. So I looked myself to see what was there. I haven't bought a light bulb in about five years, but I really was sure I would find something. Well, there were light bulbs, but most of them were speciality bulbs. I didn't have any all purpose light bulbs. So, we went around the house to see exactly how many we needed. Moving through the house, we turned on every light to see if any bulbs were out. (I knew a few of them were, but I didn't know how many.) I really must show you some of what we found. This is the light in the family room.
This is the light in the master bathroom.
Here is the light in another bathroom.
Here is the light over the shower in the master bathroom. I knew this one didn't work. It hasn't worked in about four years.
I don't even know what kind of bulb it needs. I have lived in this house for 13 years and I never changed this bulb. I am going to have to get a ladder to get up there to see. (FYI - my husband knew this light didn't work too. But when all the other lights in the bathroom worked, he could see. Now that we are down to only one bulb working in the entire room, he can't see anymore as he is getting ready to go to work. Hence, the complaint that started this adventure.) Here are the lights in the kitchen.
Sorry for the weird angle! If you look closely, you can see that one of the fan bulbs is missing. I believe that bulb broke about three years ago. The spotlights are over the work triangle stations. One for the refrigerator, one for the oven and the one that is out is over the cooktop. The light in the laundry room is out too. That has been out for a few weeks now. It is one light fixture that holds two bulbs. All totaled, we have 29 light bulbs out. I honestly didn't know we had that many out! How could I know when I never turn the lights on? My husband's comment was "Normal people don't live like this!" My comment back was,"Well, we do!" I guess a trip to the store is going to be necessary. I don't even know how much light bulbs cost anymore! I don't want the new kind with mercury in them - even though they use less electricity - I think they are dangerous. If purchasing all 29 at once is too expensive, I will have to ration myself and only buy enough so my husband can see while he is getting ready for work. Then, I will purchase a few more each week until we replace all of them. Maybe I should ask Santa to bring me new light bulbs for Christmas
Some of the stories I heard about shopping on black Friday made me very sad. Shootings, stabbings, and lots of fist fights is not the way to be thankful for all that you have! Let me state here and now that things don't make you happy! I don't understand why people don't realize this. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men is the motto of the season. People forget that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday, not ours. Keep the gifts to a minimum this year! Instead, find a community service project that your family can do together. Work at a food bank, donate items to Goodwill, or maybe visit a nursing home. All of these (and many other acts of giving) is what will bring you joy this Christmas! To give you some additional ideas on how you can keep the joy of the season in your heart this year, I have listed some websites with additional ideas that may help:
It's Turkey Day here in the US! I hope everyone has a wonderful day and a wonderful dinner! Let us all remember that giving thanks is something that doesn't just happen one day a year. It is a year long journey that starts with having an 'attitude of gratitude'!
