Homemade Healthy Peanut Butter Dog Snacks!

OUR HOUNDHERD LOVES TREATS

But first things first!  Some  dogs have peanut allergies just like humans do. KNOW your dog and the allergies within! If you even think your dog might be allergic to peanuts...  avoid this recipe!

However, if you know your dog is free to enjoy peanut butter, this recipe is a healthy way to treat your pet!  So many store bought treats come from China and are unsafe! Many of these treats have been causing kidney failure and/or liver damage.

Much safer coming from your own kitchen!

I started with a half recipe for 3 reasons...

1. All I had on hand was Jif, a bit pricy for doggie treats!

2. I wanted to make sure the HoundHerd liked them before I ended up with a huge zip lock baggie full of treats no doggie wanted!

3. We are living in a 30' fifth wheel! NO OVEN! But I do have one of the smaller toaster ovens, so I made a smaller batch to fit the smaller oven.

I am giving you the 1/2 batch recipe because of #2.

I want your doggies to have a test batch, then you can make as many as you want. They freeze well!

PEANUT BUTTER TREATS

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Milk

Mix well....  blender or hand mixer works well.

Add 1 Cup WHOLEWHEAT FLOUR.

(The lady  that shared this recipe stressed the whole wheat flour because dogs digest it better!)

1/2 tsp baking powder.

Bake at  350 for 20 minutes.

That's it, that's all there is to it! It should look like this when you are done. Thick, I had to use a spoon to finish mixing it, it bogged down my hand mixer! THINK THICK!

 Peanut butter makes it an oily batter so it doesn't stick to your hands when you pat it down into a pan. I lined my pan with foil, but now that I have taken the treats out, I don't think foil is necessary. Left the pan cleanly. I patted the dough down to about 1/2 inch thickness. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes!
However, you may have to adjust baking times suitable to your oven and the thickness of your patted out dough!

We keep our toaster oven outside in the summer! Just too hot to bake anything indoors!  Supposed to hit 105 here today in Hurricane Utah. YIKES.

That's it, that's all there is to it! It should look like this when you are done. I used the egg turner to divide the treats into bite sized pieces. Sort of a brownie texture, crunchy outside and chewy inside.

Now, I would love to show you photos of how much the HoundHerd loved these, but I don't care what shutter speed I used, I couldn't get the camera focused quickly enough before the treats were gone! It was either give up on the pictures or end up feeding them a whole tray of treats! A big 3 WOOFS from Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

This recipe was given to me a day or so before we left Zion! Nice lady camped a few spaces down who fell in love with the HoundHerd. I hurried home, quickly wrote it down and finally made them today and wanted to share it with you!

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU from the crew of

The MotherShip, Chuck and Geri, our HoundHerd

Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Leaving Zion

We have loved our time here at Zion River Resort. We made a lot of new friends here, met guests from all over our beautiful country and even some foreign visitors too.

We loved our nice shady camping spot too! I think most of all, I am going to miss all the hummingbirds that visited us here.

Chuck and I spent many an evening just sitting and watching the dozens of hummingbirds
that visited our 3 feeders.

The drive into Rockville and Springdale always amazed us with the beauty that is Zion. This horse farm is one of our favorites!

Chuck and I took the Hound Herd with us as we explored the Kolob Reservoir Road. 24 miles that is entertwined with the western section of Zion National Park.

Chuck's job as camp host meant riding around in this fancy golf cart, meeting new guests and making sure they are happy campers.  Chuck is great at this job! He can fix the TV connection problems, some of the basic electrical and plumbing problems, keeping the campers happy! He also carries treats for all the canine campers.

He loved this job!  He also drove the shuttle from Zion River Resort to Zion National Park.  Chuck never tired of the scenery along the way and pointing out points of interests to the folks that rode along with him.  I worked in the office. I processed the online reservations, as well as the telephone reservations. I also checked in the guests as they arrived and as they bought merchandise from the gift shop. Because of my hearing problem, I enjoyed the online and telephone reservations the most. But I enjoyed meeting people from all over and sharing camping experiences and favorite places!

Unfortunately, some folks tend to  not drive safely around here and end up being carried off by a helicopter to local hospitals.

Chuck and I spent a lot of time just kicking back with the HoundHerd.

DoogieBowser loves it when daddy reads to him!

 

Radar just always wants to be in my lap!

Scotty, now 17 years old, just likes hanging out with both of us! We are lucky that all 3 love to travel!

Even RVSue's crew, Bridget (ever conscience of a camera pointed at her) and Spike visited with us! I kept them entertained while Sue and Chuck went to Zion National Park.

Goodbye to our favorite restaurant, Wildcat Willies

Goodbye to our favorite waitress Shannon!

Goodbye to my wonderful friend Fay! Fay and I worked together almost 30 years ago at The Grand Canyon Trading Post in Tusayan, Grand Canyon's south rim area.  We celebrated our long friendship at Wildcat Willies, me with Buffalo Meatloaf (YUMMY!), Fay with the Pork Chop (HUGE!) and Chuck also got the Buffalo Meatloaf. Bye Fay, thank you so much for being our friend!

\

And of course, we must chuckle and say goodbye to the anatomically correct Coyote that greets visitors to Wildcat Willie's!

The Shoe Tree gets almost as many visitors as Zion!

Our  last week here, we met Nancy and Guy who have restored an old 1960's Avion Truck Camper!

The inside looks great too!

Another classic 1947 vintage bus conversion visited Zion River Resort several weeks ago!

And a goodbye to the beautiful Virgin River that passes behind Zion River Resort. We will miss our co-workers and our time spent here, but our time is up and it's time to move on. We love workamping! What a great way to retire! We are waiting for a part to repair the MotherShip.  The room won't slide back in and we are waiting (2 weeks now) for a small wheel. It is expected today so by late afternoon, we will be on our way!

Happy Trails to you from the crew of the MotherShip

Chuck, Geri  Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Zion Ghost Town of Grafton

FINDING GRAFTON

To find Grafton, you will have to find the east end of Rockville which is just west of Springdale and Zion National Park! That should be as clear as mud!  I am supposing you are heading TO Zion National Park, heading east through Rockville. Ok now, slow down... Rockville has a serious speed limit of 40 mph and a cop ready to enforce it!

Entering Rockville

Headed east on Highway 9. To the right is a beautiful horse farm and longhorn steers in the pasture!

Watch your speed here!

When you are almost at the end of town, look on the right for Bridge Road and a small brown sign that says Grafton. Turn right.

After you turn on Bridge Road....  What do you see?

A beautiful, old, one lane bridge! What else??

As soon as you cross the bridge you will meet a sharp right hand curve, follow it!

THE ROAD TO GRAFTON IS BEAUTIFUL!

There are signs along the way just follow them...

Hard to notice signs when your eyes are so distracted by the beauty surrounding you!

The rock formations are odd shaped and eye catchers. You will actually drive between these rock formations.

Just past the rocks, the road comes to a "Y". The left fork road will take you to an old and very interesting cemetery, the right fork takes you to Grafton. 

Almost as soon as you turn right you will cross a small bridge. If you look to your right, you will see the old bridge foundations that used to carry the pioneers to their homes.

Both the Schoolhouse/Church and adobe home have been restored.

If you saw the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"........ Paul Newman rode Kathern Ross on the handlebars of his bike in front of the old schoolhouse/church!

Radar exploring!

I loved the swing hanging from the tree of the Alonzo Russell home! Then I realized this was the family who lost their 14 year old daughter Loretta and her best friend, Elizabeth  Woodbury from an "accident, swing broke as cause of death". They are listed on the cemetery page as buried together as best friends.



Can you imagine living like this... beautiful scenery all around you?

After you have finished exploring the town, you really should visit the cemetery! This is where the history of Grafton is told.

The best part of this journey? The ride back is just as pretty as the ride to Grafton!

We hope you think so too!

If you ever get the chance to visit the Zion National Park area... please plan to stay here long enough to enjoy your visit and explore some of the back roads!

Reporting from the MotherShip, Geri, Chuck and the HoundHerd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar.

PS:  A good friend mentioned to me that my photographs may need to be downsized because they took a very long time for her to download. If you are experiencing the same problem, please let me know.

I thought I had downsized them enough, however it's certainly not fair to make you wait! Thank you!

Geri