In My Garden

Doggie Treats for Copper

I am having a giveaway, go here to enter! Good luck!

Tim and Michael went kayaking on the Niobrara River a couple of weekends ago. Copper always misses Tim when he's gone. To help him feel a little better, I decided to make doggie treats. Despite the 95 degree heat and humidity of 60 plus percent, I baked these. Copper thanked me by beeing a good dog for the rest of the weekend.





Copper loves peanut butter. It's what we use when we give him his heartworm medicine, so I knew he'd love these treats. My first inclination was to roll this dough out much thinner than it should be. These are different than cookies, there's nothing in them to make them rise. They pretty much bake in the same shape as when you put them in the oven.






Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

½ cups water
½ cup oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup oats

Blend wet ingredients together. Whisk dry ingredients together and mix into wet mixture to form a ball of dough. Roll out and shape. Put onto a non-stick cookie tray or lightly greased one. Cook 20 minutes at 400 F. Turn off oven and allow the biscuits to cool in oven until crisp and hard. Store in airtight container.

I am linking this to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesday's at the Table and Tasty Tuesday's.

Toasted Almond Lemon Bars - Sweet Melissa Sunday's

I am having a giveaway, you can enter here!!

Although I don't make them often, Lemon Bars are one of my favorite desserts. I love anything made with lemon.

The crust for this recipe goes together easily. I did feel like the crust was pretty sticky and soft. Maybe that was because it was hot and humid? Concerned about the crust being so soft it would spread, I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking. It turned out perfectly. This crust is delicious. As I scraped out the inside of the food processor, I tasted the batter. I could have eaten this by the spoonful. I made a 1/2 recipe. It worked beautifully in a 9" square pan. The filling is really runny but it sets up nicely.

I try to share the sweet treats I make. My taste tester, Tim ate one, make that two bars. I said "How about taking these to work tomorrow?" "Can't we keep them here? Michael and I will eat them this weekend." My guess if you make these you won't want to share them either. These are delicious! The almond crust gives them a nice hint of nutty flavor, a great contrast with the lemon.

You can find the recipe on Rebecca of the Indecisive Baker's blog. Rebecca, thanks for choosing a fabulous recipe! The links to all of the other SMS baker's are here!

Pink Saturday & A Giveaway!!!

I love pink glassware. My husband's mother gave me these beautiful pink candlesticks. I found the Depression Glass Pink Sunflower plate at a flea market last Fall. I love that pattern and am in search of more pieces!

For the details on my giveaway, go here!!! The winner will be chosen on August 1st. Good luck and thanks for entering!!!

Happy Pink Saturday!! I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound!

A Giveaway!!! & Peanut Butter Parfaits

Are you familiar with CSN Stores? I wasn't until a few months ago. CSN Stores has EVERYTHING, from dining room furniture to cookware. Do you like to shop? I LOVE to shop! Browsing and deciding what to buy is one of my favorite things. My mother used to call it window shopping!! As a reader of my blog, you're going to get the chance to shop!!! CSN stores is giving one of my readers (in the USA or Canada) a promo code good for $50.00 in merchandise from their stores.

How to enter is simple!! Sign up to be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment! If you're already a follower, just leave me a comment and you're entered. Also, I'd love to hear what you like to shop for or your favorite place to shop. I will be picking a winner on August 1st. Good luck and thanks for reading my blog!!!

Now for this week's Foodie Friday recipe...Peanut Butter Parfaits. One of the fun things about baking cakes to decorate is you always have leftover cake tops. It’s fun to come up with creative uses for them. Cake Pops are a fun creation to make with cake tops. My final cake for the Fondant and Gum Paste class I took last month, was a Peanut Butter Cake. No recipe for this cake, just a yellow cake mix with a 1/2 cup of peanut butter added. It’s moist and delicious.

I decided to make Peanut Butter Parfaits with my leftover cake. Parfaits are so fun and a smaller (much less caloric) version of a trifle. As I was riffling through my glasses, I realized I don’t own parfait glasses. I know I’ve passed them up numerous times at Goodwill, thinking oh one more set of glasses, I don’t need them. How about stemless wine glasses?

Peanut Butter Parfaits

Peanut Butter Cake
Vanilla Instant Pudding
½ cup peanut butter

Whisk ½ cup of peanut butter, gradually whisk in 2 cups of milk. When smooth, whisk in the instant pudding mix. Chill 10 – 15 minutes. Layer the pudding and cake, finishing with a layer of pudding. Drizzle the top with chocolate sauce.

These parfaits were a quick and easy dessert.





I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

In My Garden

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

This is a family favorite, one you will always find at those holiday or birthday dinners. It’s also a recipe I go to when having dinner for a group. We had these ribs for Father’s Day and I asked Tim what side he’d like to go with them. How ‘bout that cheesy potato thing?, he said.

So the “cheesy potato thing” it is. It was a warm day and I try to refrain from using the oven on hot days. The way my kitchen is designed the heat just hangs in there and makes it miserable. I’ve made these before in my crock pot. The last time I made them, I did an hour on high and then about 3 hours on low. The hash browns didn’t seem done. I cooked these for an hour on high and then 4 hours on low. They turned out more like cheesy mashed potatoes but still were delicious. I think my mistake was I thawed these before I cooked them and I think that caused them to cook faster.

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

2 lbs. hash browns
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cheese soup
1 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
2 c. grated cheddar cheese

Spray the crockpot with non stick cooking spray. Mix together the soups, onion, milk, sour cream and 1/2 of the cheese. Stir in the potatoes. Cook on high for 1 hour. Turn the crockpot to low and cook an additional 2 1/2 hours. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese and cook an additional 30 minutes.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tuesday's at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's.