Over the weekend, we picked our first sweet potato from the garden. It was the first time we ever tried our hand at growing sweet potatoes and we were pleasantly surprised to find a potato growing under the dirt. When we planted the plants, I was kinda thinking we weren't going to have much luck.
So, now that we have this sweet potato, I need to find something to do with it. I thought about putting it in a soup I make, but I don't have any of the soup's other ingredients on hand. We need to make more food for the pugs tonight so I think I will bake it in the oven and add it to the pugs food. They love sweet potatoes and I am sure they would love to be the first tasters of the homegrown sweet potato.
OBP Reader Martha, sent a quick not to Nestle, the makers of Libby's pumpkin, to let them know how much Benjamin, Henry & Luna enjoy their product. It doesn't look like there will be any spokesmodel opportunities in the pugs' near future, but it was nice that the good folks at Nestle took the time to respond. Here is what Nestle had to say:
Thank you for contacting Libby's® 100% Pure Pumpkin.
We appreciate your kind and thoughtful comments, and the loyalty of you and our furry friends to Libby’s Pumpkin! At Nestlé, we are dedicated to you and your family throughout every phase of your lives. Your feedback is valuable to us, as it helps us to improve our products and services.
With more than a century of experience making the food your family loves, we are committed to providing you with products that live up to your high standards for taste, quality, nutrition and enjoyment - in short, "the very best."
Because we appreciate that you took the time to contact us I have included a link at the end of this email for a printable savings coupon that I hope you will enjoy!
We appreciate your use of our products and hope you will visit our website often for the latest information on our products and promotions.
Over the weekend, G-Ma sent Benjamin, Henry & Luna a text message letting them know that she spotted canned pumpkin in the grocery store. Knowing how surprised and excited I would be to see that pumpkin is back in stock, she even sent a picture along as proof.
The next day, at the grocery store, I headed right to the pumpkin aisle and sure enough canned pumpkin was once again lining the shelves. I bought a few cans to tide us over, knowing that I would be going to Sam's Club to stock up soon. Sam's Club doesn't normally carry canned pumpkin, but I have noticed that they generally sell it in the Fall. So, I was hoping that if pumpkin was back in most stores that Sam's would have it in stock as well.
I made the trip to Sam's on monday, I and was pleased to see cans of pumpkin piled up. I loaded up the cart with 3 cases of the cans. Crazy, I know, but, I like to have a nice stockpile and you can't always get the 29 ounce cans year round.
I would like to send a big thank you to Heather, Huckle & G-Ma who were generous enough to send us pumpkin during the pumpkin shortage.
I gave Luna a small bite of cucumber and the video below shows what she thought of that. Also, my favorite part is how Ben swoops in at the end and eats the cucumber and then gives me a look that says, "What? That was a perfectly good piece of cucumber." I guess it falls under the 5 second rule for the floor, but it was in Luna's mouth for more than 5 seconds.
I was at the book store perusing the bargain aisle when I came across the Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs. I picked up the book and the first page I flipped to was a recipe for Pumpkin Twists. Needless to say, that recipe caught my attention. I continued to flip through the pages and found a lot of recipes that I thought the pugs would love. There were Banana Peanut Butter Biscuits, Apple Kissed Peanut Butter Treats and even some frozen treats that I thought would be perfect for the pugs after a walk in the hot FL evenings.
For my first dog treat baking experience I decided to try to make Chicken Ginger Biscuits. I was worried that the pugs weren't going to like them, but after they got their first taste Benny promptly scratched on the pantry door for more. Success!
Here is the recipe for the Chicken Ginger Bones if you would like to give it a shot.
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 cup chicken broth (I used low sodium)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, and ginger.
In a second bowl, combine the chicken broth, egg and oil. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well blended.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Combine dough scraps and repeat rolling and cutting into biscuits until all dough is used.
Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
Whenever one of the pugs does something funny or noteworthy, I jot down a little blurb in my blog idea book. Later, when I'm looking for something to blog about, I have a whole book of ideas. I have notes in my book that I never got a chance to blog about before Sol passed. I thought I would share one of those stories today.
When it came to food, Solsey had a pretty strict set of rules that she followed. One of those rules was never, ever eat any fruit.
We quickly became aware of Sol's "Eat No Fruit" rule when she turned down tiny bits of bananas or apples on a regular basis. But we didn't realize how serious Sol's distaste for fruit was until she got picky about her Cheerios.
Each morning plays out about the same around here. We start the day with a bowl of Cheerios and a banana. However, we are a two Cheerio flavor household. One of us eats Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and the other Honey Nut Cheerios.
We offer the pugs a tiny bite of banana each morning and of course Sol always turned hers down. So, we started offering Sol a Cheerio instead. If it was an Apple Cinnamon Cheerio, Sol would turn that down as well. If it was a Honey Nut Cheerio, she would woof it down and ask for another.
Mix a handful of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios with a handful of Honey Nut Cheerios, put the mix in a bowl and give it to Sol and when she was done eating you would have a bowl full of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios left.
As soon as we got to the car after picking Benny up from his brachycephalic surgery I knew he was going to be OK. In our excitement to go pick Benny up, we forgot to remove a small container of kibble that we brought with us to his pre-surgery visit the day before.
His pre-surgery appointment required fasting and we weren't expecting to leave him so we brought a small meal to give him after his visit. But, Benny ended up staying for his surgery so there was no need for the meal we brought with us.
When we picked Benny up to bring him home the next day, he sat on my lap on the passenger seat. After about a minute or two, he went to the back seat and immediately found the bag of kibble that we had previously brought.
He smelled and stared at the bag for a bit and then he started whining and barking at the bag. Except, his bark wasn't quite back so soon after his surgery. I have only a tiny clip of his barking, but it is enough to give you an idea.
Benny's little tantrum went on for about 60 miles and then finally we were back home. Once home, we followed doctor's orders and gave him a soft meal. He gobbled it up and then took a much needed nap.
