Month: November 2016
This is probably more accurate than it should be.
This Week on Instagram
Wow… much cute… so instagrams…
Cinnamon Bun Dog Treats
Since we deiced to get a Bowzer Box in September and October we’ve been pretty flush with treats for last two months, but I decided the dogs deserved something a little special today. A quick google search brought up these cinnamon buns from babble.com so I thought I’d give them a try. Hey, they looked easy…
As usual, I made a few substitutions – but safe ones this time, I promise! Google is my friend. I swapped out oil for applesauce (a pretty standard substitution for healthier treats) and since I didn’t have any honey, I opted to use a small amount of sugar instead.
Things started out fine.
Even the dough looked correct-ish!
I followed the instructions exactly and “lightly floured” the counter (assuming that “lightly” means “cover everything you own with flour” and started smushing. The recipe calls for the dough to be rolled out “into a rectangle that measures roughly 8×14-inch.” Hahahahahaha. This stuff stuck everywhere, to everything. A bunch more flour, a lot of tear-this-bit-off-and-stick-it-over-there and some serious swearing, and we had it under control (if a little less rectangular and more sort of… mutated-oblong-esque).
Then the rolling. Oh. My. God. It was a sticky disaster, and I had it rolled up most of the way before I realized it was rolled way too loosely.
Have you ever tried to unroll dough? Don’t. Just don’t. Ever, for any reason. At one point I seriously contemplated pitching the whole thing in the garbage and curling up in the fetal position. There are no photos of this process because I had dough stuck to every square inch of my hands and somehow it was in my hair and why do I bother and then finally… finally it was rolled up into god-damn-it-it’s-good-enough shape, and it was time to start cutting.
The recipe recommends you use dental floss for cutting but… what? I mean, I understand the principle but I have this perfectly good big-ass knife right here…
This step provoked a lot of interest from the peanut gallery.
Into the oven they went, and came out looking… believe it or not, ok! Sort of adorable, really.
These are pretty big, and I’ll definitely split them in half. The recipe gives instructions for a cream-cheese frosting but then they’d have to be refrigerated and uuuuughhhhh I just don’t feel Martha Stewart enough for that today.
The dogs each got one and seemed to enjoy them…
When I walked back into the kitchen a few minutes later, this is what I found… so I’m declaring them a win.
Cinnamon Bun Bites
https://www.babble.com/best-recipes/homemade-treats-national-dog-day/
2 cups (500 mL) whole wheat flour
1 tsp. (5 mL) baking powder
1/4 tsp. (2 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) water or milk
1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) honey
1 tsp. (5 mL) cinnamon
1/4 cup (60 mL) finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Cream cheese drizzle (optional):
1/4 cup (60 mL) light cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp. (15-30 mL) milk or water
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl stir together water, oil and egg. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until you have a soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat the dough into a rectangle that measures roughly 8×14-inch. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon and nuts, if using. Starting from a long edge, roll up jelly-role style and pinch the edge to seal. Using a sharp serrated knife or (even better) dental floss, slice half an inch thick and place slices cut side down on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until springy to the touch. Wait until they have cooled completely before you spread them with cream cheese.
Makes about 2 dozen biscuits. Store extra in a tightly covered container of freeze. If they are frosted, store the container in the fridge.
Goodbye, Vibe
Our dogs love the car. LOVE the car. It doesn’t matter where we’re going, or for how long, or why, or even when… if there’s a chance to go in the car, they want in!
For the most part our vehicle was very good to us. It was a 2009 Pontiac Vibe, and it was the perfect vehicle for our family because the seats folded flat and they had a hard plastic back on them so the dogs couldn’t damage them. We’d been all over Nova Scotia, and into New Brunswick and PEI in it, and it had been great every step of the way. It was, admittedly, a little squishy if we needed to cart around a lot of gear or were going on vacation, but that’s what the roof carriers are for. And as a day-to-day dog-mobile it was a great commuter car.
That is, until yesterday, when we got rear-ended. Thankfully the dogs weren’t with us, but it looks like we are in the market for a new vehicle.
Anyone who has dogs knows that getting the right vehicle is important. Too small, and everyone’s smushed and miserable. Too big, and it’s unwieldly. If you have dogs you already know it’s going to be covered in mud/water/slush/wtf-is-that-wait-I-don’t-want-to-know at some point. There will be nose art on the windows. There will be no shortage of fur in every crevice. We need something rugged. Something tough. Something versatile.
…and maybe heated seats for Mom? I mean, this IS Canada…
So here’s our short list.
- Subaru CrossTrek
- Ford Escape
- Toyota Corolla iM
- or…. maybe just buy a used a 2009 Pontiac Vibe (to replace the one we had – it’s a really great car!)
Unfortunately, the last year they made the Pontiac Vibe was in 2010, mostly due to the whole issue of Pontiac going out of business and whatnot – but its identical twin sister, the Toyota Matrix, was made until 2014. The Corolla is the new “replacement” for the Matrix, but the CrossTrek has Subaru’s AWD for Canadian winters and the Excape has more room, so we’re open to trying anything. And maybe we’ll find something totally unrelated. This is the first vehicle we’ve bought with the dogs specifically in mind, so we’ll see where that takes us!
I can tell you that it won’t be a Jeep Wrangler, which is what we got as a rental… you might say Kaylee is unimpressed.
It seems a bit silly to get sentimental over a car, but I’m going to miss her. She took us on all our best adventures; from the beach to the back woods, and all places in between. She may have had perpetual nose prints on the windows and fur stuck to the ceiling, but she always got us to where we were going, even when we didn’t quite know where that was. She helped us make memories.
