All Natural Dog Biscuits That My Dogs Love, Love, Love

First, let me admit that my dogs have no choice: they have to live the Simplicity Lifestyle right along with me.  Which means none of those artificially-flavored bacon things, commercial dry food made with filler, well - you get the drift. 

This doesn't mean that they don't get treats.  Treats are big around here.  Even the word "treat" is very popular....

When I have time, I like to make the treats.  That way, I know exactly what goes into the batch, and I can cater the batch to their likes and dislikes.  Shocking though it may be, one of my pups isn't fond of peanut butter.  The other pup, finicky about fish.  You get the idea.

1.  My Source for Homemade Dog Treat Recipes

For the past few months, when I've looked for dog biscuit recipes, or other forms of treats, I've gone to Bullwrinkle.Com and combed through their big list of free recipes.  I do alter things a bit.  For example:

Fido's Favorite Treats (With My Alterations and Comments)

1 cup rolled oats
(I use Bob's Red Mill Organic Scottish Oatmeal, which I understand may be different from the rolled oats.  Why?  Because this is the oatmeal I keep in the pantry.)

1/3 cup margarine or butter
(Never, ever, ever do I use margarine.  Never buy this bad stuff.  I use unsalted butter. It's what's in the fridge.)

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cornmeal
(I use yellow or white, whatever I have on hand.)

1 tablespoon sugar
(I tried Stevia.  Didn't work well.  I tried honey.  Did okay.)

Use Your George Foreman Grill - It's Easy and Healthy: Watch This Video

Using your George Foreman Grill not only saves time, but it saves energy, cooks healthier food, and it keeps the kitchen lots cooler -- and thanks to DarkShadow1955 at YouTube, here's a great video to see how its done by real people, not Infomercial Hosts or pro chefs:

Cleaning House - Some are Better than Others

I firmly believe that true housecleaning is a talent. One that I don't have. Some folk have a Green Thumb in the garden, and some have a Clean Thumb in the house. I have neither. I have to work at it.

And, here it is: Spring Cleaning Time.

So, it being April and all, I've made my list of chores for my annual Spring Clean. In doing so, I've gone to the web for help. Making this list just doesn't come naturally to me; luckily, there are lots of bloggers out there who have tips and hints for people like me. And maybe you, Dear Reader.

Here's some of the great things I found:

All About Home is just loaded with cleaning tips, in a nicely organized site. Something I learned here: rubbing alcohol will take out those stains on the window sill (which are really bothering me, now that I've got the blinds up and the curtains pulled back, airing out the house with the nice Spring breezes).

How to Clean Anything has a great collection of Spring Cleaning articles. Very informative - and they cover a nice spectrum of topics, including your car (and the leather car seats -- cool hint, leather is a skin. Treat it accordingly).

Robbie Haf's got a lot of great info. Lots here, things like an easy way to clean a George Foreman grill (where the plates aren't removable) -- and here's a great one: when you move furniture and the carpet is pushed down, put an ice cube there. As the ice melts, the carpet fibers will bounce back. Wow, gotta try that one!

And, of course, there are commercial web sites with lots of tips, too. Mr. Clean, LYSOL, Windex -- they've all got helpful info (if you're willing to work around the fact that in giving advice, they're busy promoting their product).


And, just in case you're interested - today, I got an advertising message from a local cleaning service. When I look at their price list, silly as it may be, it really helps me to put a value on all that I'm doing (and have done) every week, much less in this month's Spring Clean.