I think I was abducted by aliens this morning. I was driving along as usual, when suddenly a bright light was shining in my face. I think I remember the same thing happening to me about a zillion years ago. I vaguely remember it being called sunshine. Momma Said, “It has only rained twice this spring and summer, once for 45 days and once for 35 days.”
The way this year is progressing, it will probably snow on Labor Day. Everything seems to be in high speed this year, after all, it was just Memorial Day a couple weeks ago, right? It will seem a lot shorter because I am not going to get much from the garden to can, so that process will be short and not so sweet.
I was on a walk the other day and noticed that the elderberries are coming on. Gran used to make the best jelly and that is just one of a million things I miss about her. She was a super cook and like mom, she could make a meal out of nothing. Her bacon gravy was the best and she could fry potatoes that were so brown and crispy. I wish I would have paid more attention to a lot of things.
Back when I was a kid, I was a big tomboy and didn’t want to stay inside to learn “girly” stuff like cooking and sewing. It did not interest me in the least and now, that stuff would mean so much to me just for the memories. I can cook but it is just not the same as Gran’s. Momma Said, “Time lost is something that can never be reclaimed.”
I spent what turned out to be a beautiful weekend giving the dogs a bath. With a 90 pound Golden Retriever, that is a lot of dog to wash. It takes all day for her to dry so I try to do it on a sunny day. The smaller dog has long hair too so it is a job getting both of them dry. All the smaller one wants to do is go out and roll in the dirt when she is wet, so I have to keep her leashed until she dries. It is definitely a job. Momma Said, “If you are going to have them it is your responsibility to take care of them.” I will leave you this week with a treat for all your four legged kids. It is a lot better treat than the store bought kind that have God’s knows what in them.
CARROT BANANA DOG TREATS
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 bunch fresh carrots, finely chopped or grated
2-3 fresh bananas, peeled and mashed
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar (*optional, we went without)
1/2 cup cold water
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheets.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal & *brown sugar) in large mixing bowl, then incorporate carrots, bananas, egg, oil, and water until well blended into workable dough.
Note: With both the carrots and bananas, I chopped them into large pieces then slowly pulse them in the food processor. This not only saved me time, but created semi-regular sized carrot chunks and smooth banana mash to blend right into the rest of the base ingredients. I left the pulsed carrot pieces fairly chunky instead of pureeing them, because I like the idea of being able to see the actual carrot pieces throughout each treat.
Flour your workspace and roll out dough to desired thickness. We went with about 1/2 inch thickness to allow for some expansion once baked. Cut cookies to desired shape and size — I used our 4 inch dog bone shape from a cookie cutter.
Place dog cookies on baking sheet and bake 35 minutes.. After baking, turn oven off and leave cookies inside for another 30-45 minutes until crisp. This step is important to make sure your treats harden up otherwise they will remain like soft cookie.
Once crisp, remove dog cookies from oven and let cool. Transfer to zipper bags or airtight containers and freeze to preserve freshness for your little ones.
