Last night this little love was adopted and went to live with her new family. I cannot tell you what a joy it has been caring for her from such a young age and watching her personality blossom into what it is today. Even in the short time I had Vanessa (or Nessa as I liked to call her) she filled my heart with so much love. It’s been almost two years since my dog Cody passed away and Nessa has reminded me of just how infinitely wonderful it is to love a dog and be loved back by them. I may have given Vanessa a home but she has given me so much more than I could even put into words. And for that I am eternally grateful to her.
So in honor of this sweet girl, today’s recipe post is for homemade healthy dog treats! She absolutely loved these treats and they are loaded with healthy ingredients like flaxseed, oats, sweet potato and peas. In fact, as you’ll see, she loved them so much that she kept jumping in my photos and stealing treats while I was busy behind the lens! This is a basic recipe and you can add to it whatever nutritious dog safe foods you want. As you know from my post on Cody I’m a big believer in feeding our pets real food so that they can live healthy, disease free lives. And these treats are no exception. Here’s my recipe for Nessa’s healthy dog treats.
- 3 cups oat flour
- 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 handful frozen peas, thawed
- 1 handful frozen sweet potato, thawed
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine oat flour, flaxseed and vegetable broth. Knead into a dough ball. Add sweet potato and peas and knead for another minute.
- On a lightly floured surfaced roll out dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. With a knife or cookie cutter cut into desired shapes. Line baking pan with parchment paper and place dog treats on top.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Then turn off heat and let treats cool inside oven for 1-2 hours.
Notes
While dogs generally should not be fed onions, small amounts of cooked onions, like in the vegetable broth used in this recipe, are not harmful.
Bye, bye baby Nessa! xoxo
I have 3 questions:
Are the frozen sweet potatoes cooked or raw? I’m wondering if I should steam a raw sweet potato, or just chop it into small pieces, or run it through a ricer?
Oat flour? Can I run regular rolled oats through a food processor and make oat flour that way?
Vegetable broth sounds nice, but can I assume I can sub chicken broth or even plain water for the liquid?
I will try this non-peanut butter recipe soon!
Hi David! Yes you can make oat flour by running oats through a food processor, or use any other flour you have on hand. The broth in the recipe adds flavor, so while you could add water it wouldn’t be as flavorful. I’d add a dash of tamari if you do go with water. And then sweet potato can just be thawed raw from frozen but if you want to steam it first or make make it smaller/run it through a ricer you definitely can. If your dog has never had any veggies before than I would steam it first. Hope that helps!
Nessa – or Tessa – was the very best! You are such a good foster – keep it up!
Thanks Heather! xoxo
She’s adorable!.. Dogs, cats, all animals are such great human companions and it kills me to see how some people can be cruel to them.. I believe that if you can’t love animals then it’s almost impossible that you can love other humans. Be well Nessa!
Thank you for your kind words for little Nessa and all animals!
Vanessa is such a cutie! I’m so happy that you were able to find her a permanent home! Looks like you took such good care of her 🙂 Those dog treats look so healthy! I’m sending the recipe to my mom so she can make them for her dog Gracie!
Aw thank you Karissa. I hope Gracie likes them as much as Nessa did!