Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats

This weekend Lizzie and I made dog treats for Penny and Tucker!

Here they are (from another weekend), two BFFs and cousins - how precious?

We had so much fun making them that I thought I'd share the recipe!

Tucker seemed to enjoy the treats as well :)

Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour

2 large eggs

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

3 tbsp of peanut butter

First, you'll want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Next, combine all ingredients in a stand mixer 

until you have a nicely blended mixture of dough. 

Sprinkle some flour on your clean counter top so that the dough won't stick 

while you roll your dough out.

Form a ball from the dough and place it on your flour. 

(If your dough is too dry, add a little water. If it's too wet, add a little flour.)

Next, you'll want to use your rolling pin to flatten the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick.

Choose a few cookie cutters that you want to use for the treats. 

(Lizzie wanted to use all of the mini cutters I had, so here they are!)

With mini cutters, the ingredient list above yielded approx. 100 treats!

Next, you can start cutting the little shapes into the dough, 

getting them as close to each other as possible.

When you're done, you'll have a full piece of dough with all of your little shapes.

Remove the cutout pieces and place them onto a baking sheet. 

You can place the treats close together - 

they will puff up a little but will not run together while baking.

With the left over dough, reform a ball and roll the dough out again. 

Repeat the process of cutting out your shapes. 

You'll want to keep continuing this process until all of your dough is used. 

(The last 2 rounds, we opted for stars for easy and faster cutting!)

Once you have used all of your dough and have filled your cookie sheets, place in the oven for 20 minutes for soft and chewy treats, or 30 minutes for hard and crunchy treats. 

(We opted for the softer treats, and set our timer for 20 minutes.)

Once your treats are done, you'll want to pull them off of the cookie sheet 

and place onto a cooling rack.

After a few minutes and once they are cool, 

you are ready to pack them up and give to your pup to enjoy! :)

Here are the treats - a set for Tucker, and the set that Lizzie took home to Penny!

Tucker loved the treats! I can't wait to make more to wrap up for cute gifts! 

If you end up making these treats for your pup, let me know how they turned out! :)

Thankfulness Challenge

I've been thinking about creating a blog for a while now, and I must say - I'm very excited to start! I'm always keeping busy with crafts, ideas that end up turning into major projects around the house, cooking and baking my favorite things, documenting trips, taking pictures, etc. - so why not document a few of those things here and there to one day look back on and have others enjoy as well? 

I was nominated by my new and dear friend Lauren for the "Thankfulness Challenge" on Facebook (where you share 5 things that you are thankful for, each day for 3 days). I think it's great to be reminded to actually sit down for a few minutes during our extremely busy days to truly reflect - even if you feel thankful everyday!

When I started typing my post for my first day of thankfulness (originally, starting on Facebook), a few things came to mind:

1- Wow! So much that I'm thankful for, could I ever possibly put everything into words?

2- Space is limited on Facebook!

3- What a great idea/topic for my first blog!

So here it goes! I hope that all of you reading enjoy taking this 'new blog journey' with me, and that some of it will inspire you to document (or simply reflect in your own way) your love of projects, crafts, pictures, recipes, places, memories, whatever you love doing! I'm guilty of not setting enough "me" time aside each day/week - so keeping up with my blog posts, even if it's a little bit here and there, will be my goal for now!

Thank you again Lauren for nominating me for the thankfulness challenge!

First and foremost, I'm thankful for my family. Without them and their love and support, I'd never be where I am today. 

• I've been blessed with the most amazing parents - I hope that I can one day be just like them and that my children will have the happiest, best childhood filled with love, happiness and adventures - just like I had. They are truly the most amazing, loving and supportive people I know!

• I have the most amazing siblings, that have always been there for me and that also made growing up by their side, so much fun. I've always been thankful for them, but as I get older, I appreciate them more and more.

• I'm thankful to still be blessed with three amazing grandparents, and a great aunt that has always been like a third Grandmom. And I'm thankful for the time that I got to spend with my Pepa while he was still with us. They've all taught and reminded me how important family is, and have instilled values and traditions in me that I hope to always continue to carry on. 

• I'm thankful for my niece and nephews (and obviously their sweet mommies and daddies, noted in other places here) - it's so much fun watching them grow to be such amazing little people, each with their own, very different personality. (And I'm thankful for the ones that are still growing to soon join our family - I cannot wait to see what they will be like and how they will add even more joy to our families!) 

• I'm thankful for being part of such a large family full of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Who wouldn't want to always be surrounded by such a fun (very large) group of people at family get-togethers and parties? With us, there's no such thing as a small gathering... and I'm very thankful for that!

• I'm thankful to know that whatever comes my way, I always have a huge support system behind me, always.

I'm thankful for my amazing husband Eric. He's been without a doubt, one of my biggest fans - always there through whatever comes my way. He's been the additional push I need when I think I've hit my max, or is the calm reminder that I should slow down a little bit and not over-book myself all the time. He has always put us first, and works hard to make sure that we have everything we could ever possibly want or need. He appreciates my love for family, and also brings such a strong sense of family to our relationship from his own. I'm thankful that he has come home to me safely each night after work. Especially lately with all of the chaos surrounding his job, I squeeze him a little harder each morning when I leave for work. He gets me - all of me, and I'm so lucky to be his wife and share this wonderful life with him.

I'm thankful for the family that I've married into - Eric's family. I couldn't possibly ask for better in-laws. They've made this home away from home so incredible! They've been there through every life event since I've been dating Eric (which doesn't seem like much - but boy, so much has happened in the past 4, almost 5 years!). And they've welcomed me with open arms. I am extremely grateful and overwhelmingly thankful for all of their love and support.

I'm thankful for my amazing friends. I can't even begin to go into as much detail as I'd possibly want to about them. I still have the same best friends that I've had since kindergarten and am still so lucky to be so involved in their lives, 22 years later. I'm thankful to still have them by my side, and I love watching them and their little families grow each year. I'm thankful for my new friends - from college, grad school, and since I've moved to MoCo. Having each of you during such different phases of my life has meant so much to me. I feel so blessed to have each and every one of you!

I'm thankful for health - my health, and that of my friends and family. We've been so lucky to fight and overcome everything that has come our way. And to my friends and family members currently still fighting and battling, I'm thankful for your strength and ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Your strength is truly inspiring, and I'm so thankful for you.

I'm thankful for my little fur-baby Tucker. I never imagined that bringing home a little Labradoodle puppy one random day, would add so much joy and happiness to our lives. He's got the best personality and is such a little love. He's the best snuggler (sorry Eric!) and is always by my side. He's completely spoiled - and he knows it - but, I don't really mind! :)

I'm thankful for the home that Eric and I have built together. It's full of memories, love and happiness. I love looking around and thinking of the many memories and stories that go along with each room, each item of our house. We're constantly working on new projects and upgrades to continue to make this house our home, and I'm thankful to be able to do these things together. Some of my most favorite memories with friends and family have taken place here, and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them.

I'm thankful for my education, my job and my desire to keep learning! I'm proud that I pushed through and completed my masters degree while working 55+ hours a week and working 10 hours/week at my internship - not including the many hours of commuting to Baltimore twice/week, hours of class and hours of homework. (Add wedding planning, moving and starting a new job to that mix - and you have just a little glimpse to the 2 years of chaos!) I'm thankful for my job and am thankful that I can work for a company that believes so much in me, and continues to help me grow and explore new things in the career that I love so much.

I'm thankful for weekends full of plans, people and fun after a long, hard work week. We are constantly on the go, in the car, running from one thing to another, and while it may not be the most fun thing at the time (while driving back and forth and running around so crazily), I'm so thankful to be able to surround myself with such amazing people in such incredible places, creating new memories to forever look back on.

Is everyone still with me? I feel like I can keep going and going, as I have so much more that I'm thankful for... they keep popping into my head. I'm not going to nominate specific people to continue this thankfulness challenge, but I urge you to sit down, take a few minutes out of your busy day to think about all of the things that you are thankful for :)