Welcome home, baby boy!

Apparently I've been on hiatus for a while.  That was unintentional.  Anyway I'm back now and have a little news!

As you know, I'm pretty crazy about dogs, especially a little fluffy white one named Lucy.  She's been the pride and joy of my little domestic sphere since she joined my family in December of 2006.  Now she's getting ready to turn four and acting more like an adult dog than a puppy and Dan and I have been thinking about adding to our brood.  Maybe it's because I miss the puppy stage or maybe it's because EVERYONE I know has had a baby lately, but I wanted to do a little nurturing of my own and I thought that a puppy would be a good idea to help keep Lucy spry (she does love playing with other dogs).

Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of introducing the new member of our household!  Meet Calvin:

He looks a little droopy here, but it's very difficult to get an un-blurry photo of a twelve week old puppy unless he's sleepy.  And it turns out that when he's sleepy (or sleeping) is when he's cutest anyway.  When he conks out (my family always called that 'pulling a Lucy') he goes completely, utterly limp and snores these tiny little snores through his big schnoz.  He's pretty cute.  I might gush if I continue. 

Anyway, we've all been occupied non-stop with taking Calvin out for walks every hour, constantly reminding him to chew on bones instead of laptop cables, and keeping him from biting Lucy's ears and vice versa.  So far, everything's going pretty well, despite Lucy developing an upset stomach and a little case of envy, but it has been busy.

To welcome the little guy into the family and to remind Lucy that she's still top dog, I baked up some treats.  I found this recipe over at Simmer Till Done a few months ago and thought this was a good chance to give it a try.  We didn't have any brown rice flour, so I improvised and just used white rice flour.  It worked fine.

Oh, and both Lucy and Calvin LOVE them.  On a whim, we also tried them out on my parents' puppies, one of whom is the world's PICKIEST eater, but even she gobbled these things down.

Very impressive recipe, indeed.

Cleo’s (and Lucy and Calvin's) Pumpkin Dog Biscuits 

adapted from Simmer Till Done

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c canned pumpkin
• 2 T dry milk
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 2 1/2 c brown rice flour *

1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2. Whisk together eggs and pumpkin.  
3. Stir in dry milk and kosher salt.  
4. Add white rice flour gradually, stirring at first with spatula then with hands to form a stiff, dry dough. 
5. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and if dough is still rough, briefly knead and press to combine.
6. Roll dough to 1/4" thick and use biscuit or other shape cutter to punch shapes, gathering and re-rolling scraps as you go. 
7. Place shapes on cookie sheet, no greasing or paper necessary. If desired, press fork pattern on biscuits before baking, a quick up-and-down movement with fork, lightly pressing down halfway through dough. 
8. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully turn biscuits over, then bake additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely on rack before feeding to dog.