Nutritious homemade dog treats: Three easy recipes to try

I am joined today by my favorite furry co-host, Waffles. We are going to be doing some baking together, we're going to make frozen dog treats perfect for the summer time. So let's get baking. So let's get baking. So my co-host has decided to lie down. So, we're gonna start out with this first treat, now it is made with all natural ingredients that are safe for dogs, but just note that you know your pet better than I do, so just feed your pet accordingly, but waffles pretty much will eat anything, and don't worry if you do have a cat, I've got one treat that's perfect for a cat at the end. So the first frozen treat we are going to make are some of Waffle's favorite ingredients, peanut butter, banana, and yogurt. So into a little bowl we're gonna mash up some banana, do you like bananas? Now bananas are really good for dogs because they're full of potassium, don't eat the banana yet. All you want to do is mash up your banana nice and small, okay I'll give you a little bit, because you don't want to give them too big a piece, because they're only small little guys. So just mash it up with a fork. So the dog treats that we're going to make are made like I said with all natural ingredients and stuff you probably will have around the house so they're really easy to make for your pet Now next up, this is Waffle's absolute favorite, a little bit of peanut butter. He loves peanut butter, usually I put it in his Kong and I freeze it. So one note about the peanut butter, you want to make sure that it's unsalted and it doesn't contain xylitol, because doggies don't like that, and Waffle's just licked my whole arm with his peanut buttery tongue, there you go, that's lovely. Okay, our next ingredient is yogurt. One thing about the yogurt is that it's full of protein and it's really good for dogs' digestive system. You want to make sure that it is unsweetened, that it doesn't have any kind of flavor or anything like that in it. It's full of probiotics as well. So just pour that in there, and then we're just gonna go ahead and mix them all together. Waffles, you're not eating them yet! So Waffles is a Wheaten Terrier Lhasa Apso mix. He is four years old and he's going to be a good boy and get into his bed. And we got him from a shelter in Los Angeles called NKLA. It is a shelter that rescues dogs in high kill areas. So we got him just in time and he was found on the streets of LA wandering around. Definitely he had a home at some point you can tell because he liked people when we got him. He just was very, very shy and a little bit scared. But now, three years later, he is the best boy. So now with my free hand, I'm going to fill up my mold. Now I got this doggie mold on Amazon, I'm gonna put a link on my website, you can also use like an ice tray or little cups, anything like that you can freeze it in, it's perfect. Then all you want to do is just spoon your mix into your molds, without your doggie eating it. There you go. Fill them all the way to the top. Believe me, they are absolutely going to love these, I don't know what it is about peanut butter and dogs, but they just love it. And then before you put them in the freezer, just give them a tap on the counter. And that just gets out any air bubbles at all and lets them settle into themselves. Lovely! That's our first treat, what did you think? So this is one treat, we're gonna pop it into the freezer, it takes around 4-5 hours to freeze, not long at all actually, and you can keep it in your freezer for up to 8 weeks but I'm sure they're gonna be long gone by then. Okay, now let's move on to our next doggie treat. So I love this next flavor of frozen treats because all you have to do is just put a few ingredients together in your little tray and then freeze them, it's super easy. So here I have some strawberries, you can use fresh or frozen, just make sure that if they are frozen there was no sugar on them. All you want to do is chop them up nice and small, you always want to give dogs little bites so nothing gets caught in their throat. Let's just see if this is doggy approved. What do you think of that strawberry? Do you like strawberries? Yes, okay, strawberries are going in there. So just scatter some strawberries into your tray, like so, lovely, and this is the perfect time for strawberries, summertime, they're in season, and they're also inexpensive when they're in season, so remember that. And if you go to a farmer's market and you see lots for sale and they're really cheap, I always buy them, freeze them, and then I have them for months to put into smoothies, recipes, doggy treats. So our next ingredient is one of Waffle's favorites, blueberries. Look at blueberries, who loves blueberries? Strawberries and blueberries are really good for dogs because they are a nutritional powerhouse and they also are full of antioxidants. So they're really good for them and they taste good too, which is great. And then got nice color going on in there. Now we're going to take some yogurt and like I said full of protein, calcium and then just pour it over your other ingredients. Make sure your yogurt has no sweeteners, flavors, anything like that, just plain yogurt. So just in case you missed it, we also did a doggie ice cream video and it was a lot of fun. I think you're really going to like it so if you haven't seen it, make sure you go check that one out because it's really funny. Okay these are looking great and like I did with the last ones, give them a tap on the counter, get rid of any air bubbles, and then pop them into the freezer. There you go. Instant doggie treats. Is it nice? Yeah. Do you like those? He still has peanut butter on his face. Okay we've got another flavor to go and this next one is safe for cats to eat too. So now if you don't have yogurt, don't worry, you can still make dog treats. You can always just leave it out, or you can make this next treat that is based on chicken stock and it's really yummy, Waffles loves it. So our first ingredient is some raspberries, now these have been defrosted, and I'm going to just take a fork and mash them up nice and small like we did with all of our other ingredients. Now just like strawberries and blueberries, raspberries are good for dogs and they're full of antioxidants. Our next ingredient is chicken stock, you can use homemade or store bought, just make sure it has no salt or low sodium, then pour it in there, mix it all together. So I put my mix into a jug and I'm just gonna go ahead and pour it into my tray. Now there's one thing about raspberries, I only put a little bit in this recipe because a little bit like a lot of ingredients, dogs love raspberries but just don't give them too many. So just a little few in this recipe. And then also like I mentioned before, this is also a great one for cats, they'll like it too. So everybody's happy. Does this look good? He's just waiting for the finished product. So there you go, another easy treat ready for the freezer. Now I'm gonna have to go get the frozen ones because I know that he is gonna go nuts So I think I made waffles wait long enough and here I have some frozen bones. I'm just going to flip them out. Oh, amazing. Look at that perfect bone shape. Look at the color. It's lovely and red. And what do you think waffles? Yeah, doggie approved. So you saw yourself, these dog treats are really easy to make, they're inexpensive and they're made with all natural ingredients. And best of all, things that you have at home already. So you can whip up some dog treats right now. I hope you enjoyed this waffles episode, I know I did. Check out the doggy ice cream that we made before, it was really a lot of fun. And check me out on Instagram, Gemma underscore Stafford, where I share lots of photos of LA, Kevin, waffles, the whole family. And I'll see you back here really soon for more Bigger Bolder Baking. Bye! You're lovely. Can we get hair and makeup for waffles?