Food Porn

So this is what a weekend is like when you aren’t trying to get everything done is like. Wow, I had forgotten what it was like to catch my breath.

And I also made three batches of dog cookies ( peanut butter, bacon and beta tested apple-carrot), did my laundry, raked the yard, did a little last minute shopping, re-purposed Santa’s workshop back into a bedroom, finally took the decoration boxes back upstairs to the attic. And I still felt like I was sitting around relaxing. That’s how crappy my past weekends have been. Santa’s elves still owe me a thing or three, but after (please Gawd) those arrive, I’ll be done.

Did I over extend myself? Oh lets check my bank statement, Yes! Yes I did! Well, when it comes time for after Christmas shopping perhaps I’ll just leave my purse at home and go on a diet, and wear thick sweaters around the house and walk to work...

I made the new batches of dog treats because I remembered a couple of folks who office upstairs in the new building and they fell into kind of an Out-of-sight-out-of-mind place and all of a sudden I was like Oh, shit! I remember you! Of Course I have Cookies For You! It’s Just That You Have Large Breed Dogs And The Other 1,108 Cookies I Made Were For Small Breed Dogs! I will totally bring in your Large Breed Dog Cookies in on Monday!.

Now, I didn’t just make cookies for the two women at work I forgot about, after I made all those cookies over the past weeks for other dogs, Dogger got squat and she knew it. I was going to make treats for her anyway, this way she just got to enjoy more varieties. She is the only dog to get the apple-carrot treats. She’s special.

I noticed that she likes carrots - which is interesting because a couple of years ago I made carrot treats and she wouldn’t eat them and I think I ended up having to throw them out. I hope they weren’t as big a pain in the ass to make as this batch was, because I wouldn’t be anywhere near as understanding about that now. With this batch I’m like Yes Girl Dog, those peanut butter ones are real nice, and so are the bacon, but don’t you want some of these apple/carrot ones? You like these? Good. Now before I give you your dinner, have four more! Nummy treats!, Hey I know you’re asleep, but here! Have another apple cookie!. I’m also kind of thinking “Do you like them because they are a little softer than the other cookies, Do they taste sweeter then the other treats? Are they too sweet? Do you wish they were crunchy? Did I use too much molasses? Should I have used more? The apples were the yellow kind, do you think Granny Smith would have been a better choice? Please fill out this sheet. 1 means you really, really didn’t like it, 4 means it’s your favorite ever.”

Dogger isn’t just a taste tester, she’s a one dog focus group.

The good news is that she really seems to like the new variety. The bad news is that I’m not going to make them with fresh apples and carrots again. Too messy. Not the prep work part, but the mixing it part and the rolling out part. Do you know how we get apple juice and carrot juice? We administer weight to the apples and carrots and the juice flows right out. Imagine rolling a rolling pin over fresh apple chunks and carrot peices... You may think “moisture” when you think about apples and carrots but I didn’t. Messy, nasty, icky , dough and afterwards it took forever for them to get anywhere near firm. In and out of the oven. High temp for a short time, low temp for a long time, in and out of the freezer. It was really frustrating. It may just be my preference, but I like my dog treats crunchy instead of chewy. I also don’t see chewy as having the same shelf life as crunchy.

The next batch of apple/carrot is going to be made using apple sauce and baby food carrots. I’m thinking that if they are pre-cooked, that it might cut down on the moisture content.