Woof Woof!

Paw-Print Pet Treats
Makes about 2 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup brewer's yeast
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Combine flour, wheat germ, brewer's yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Place canola oil in a large bowl. Add flour mixture to oil in 3 additions, alternating with 1 cup stock; mix until combined.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 2 minutes (dough will be sticky). Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out rounds using a 2-inch fluted cutter (bakedeco.com). Transfer to baking sheets. Make an indentation toward the bottom of 1 circle using your thumb, then press dough to make an arch of 4 small circles on top of the thumbprint using the tip of your pinky. Repeat with remaining rounds. Freeze for 15 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating sheets and lightly brushing with remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock halfway through. Turn oven off, and let stand in oven for 40 minutes.

Dog treats can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 month.

A Cracking Recipe

Yorkshire pudding

3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c whole milk
4 Tbsp oil

Beat flour, salt, eggs and milk until they are very smooth.Refrigerate 2 hours or longer.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer batter into freezer for the next 15 minutes.

Add oil to a 8x8 pyrex dish, put in oven until spitting hot (2 minutes)

Take out COLD batter and immediately pour into hot pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

This is supposed to be "ugly"...it's irregular, and puffy and rises all funny and browns unevenly. If it looks like a big loaf of bread gone wrong, you did it!

You can do anything with this, it's the white paper of english cooking. Serve chili in it, alongside pot roast, at breakfast with sausage in it. Onion gravy with it (1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp olive oil, some red onions chopped and minced garlic sauteed, 4 sage leaves, a little marsala wine and dijon mustard, salt, pepper MMM!)

The possibilities are endless - have fun!!

Sweets for my Sweet

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c white sugar
18 squares of bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease one 10" cake round and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine water, salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Melt chocolate in large bowl in the microwave. Cut butter into tablespoons and as you continue to stir chocolate while it melts, drop in butter one pat at a time until each is combined. Then add the sugar water in fourths until each is combined. Then add eggs one at a time until each is combined separately.

Pour batter into round cake pan. Place pan in a larger dish and pour boiling water into a larger pan until it reaches up to half way mark on the cake pan. (a hot water bath for the cake)

Bake cake for 45 minutes - it will look wet in the middle still. Chill cake in fridge and unmold next day. If it's not removing from the pan well, dip in a bit of hot water.

According to the man in my life…it’s his new favorite. Enough said!

A Lil Bit of Irish

Colcannon

1 medium cabbage, quartered and cored
2 pounds of potatoes, cleaned, skins on
2 leeks, diced
1 cup of whole milk
1/2 tsp mace
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stick of butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil cabbage in water for about 15 minutes. Drain and set cabbage aside. In a new pot of water, boil the potatoes until tender and drain off water.

In a sauce pan, sauté leeks in milk, bring to an almost boil and then simmer until tender.

Add mace, salt and pepper, garlic and butter to the potatoes and mash well (use a hand masher), no add the leeks and milk to the mix. Stir tenderly, you don't want to break this into a mush. Add cabbage, continue to stir until it's smooth with nice toothy bits of cabbage.

Transfer this to a 10x13 Pyrex dish, put under the broiler. Score a cool design in the top with a fork (serves no purpose other than the "ooh ahh!" factor) and broil until browned on top.

This dish is FANTASTIC. If you are tired of mashed potatoes, or even mac and cheese (gasp!) this could be your next comfort food. It goes fantastically during the holidays with a rib roast just as much as you can do meatloaf on Thursday. Enjoy!

It’s only Tuesday AM, but I’m thinking Happy Hour

Mexican Green Sauce (a la Los Cucos for you Houston Fans)

3 medium avocados
32oz can of green tomatillos
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large fresh jalapeno
2 springs of cilantro
2 tsp salt
8oz sour cream
1 tsp fajita seasoning
1 cup of water - as needed

Combine all ingredients, without water, in a blender until smooth. Use water to thin to your taste.

I have searched and tried and fixed far and wide for a recipe that rivals this sauce. This is the closest I've come. and I'm still tinkering it til perfection. ENJOY!