Because Benny has such strange allergies, and I tend to buy fruit that I can’t finish, I started making my own dog treats. 1. I know exactly what is in them and can eliminate things I think Benny is allergic to. 2. I don’t waste as much fruit or yogurt because the boys help eat it! 3. At one point Benny was on a food trial and was eating a Kangaroo based food. To make him treats, I had to literally crush the food, add some water and bake it. Have you ever baked Kangaroo dog food? It smells disgusting. Don’t do it. Also, It’s cheaper for me and they are pretty tasty!

What you need:

2 cups strawberries

1/8 cup plain low fat yogurt

1/2 banana

1 big spoon of peanut butter

1 squirt of local honey (gives it a sweet taste)

1 cup + of oat flour (or any type of flour just watch the consistency of the smoothie)

Steps:

1. Blend everything but the oat flour. You can use any fruit combination but sometimes citrus fruits may upset dog’s tummys. Sometimes they don’t. I also add a little water if the smoothie won’t blend. I worked at Planet Smoothie for awhile and picked that little trick up. TIP: **PLEASE read the label of your peanut butter. Many companies are using xylitol now because it make the PB less caloric. This is toxic to dogs. It’s what’s in sugar free gum. I use the self serve station at the grocery store where you literally just press a button and it crushes the peanuts. No salt or sugar added. 
2. Taste the now smoothie for flavor. I may add some extra PB if I think it’s too strawberry tasting or banana tasting. Sometimes I add extra honey. Whatever tastes good. Let’s be real, everything will be good to the dogs.
3. Pour the smoothie into a mixing bowl.
4. Make oat flour by taking oatmeal and blending it (separately). This is the cheaper way. You can use any style of oatmeal to make oat flour. Alternatively, you can buy oat flour for a premium.
5. Start with about a cup of oat flour and pour it in the mixing bowl with the smoothie. Using a SPOON, gently stir in the oat flour. TIP: **Sometimes I need more oat flour than other times. I think this is due to the type of strawberries I use.Currently, I use frozen strawberries because it’s cold out and fresh ones are more expensive.**
6. Once your mixture seems like it could hold a circular shape on a cookie tray, you can stop adding oat flour and start making circle shaped treats on the pan. Mine generally hold a circle like shape with little running on the tray. It may take a few times to get a feel for your mixtures but even if they run together a little, they break apart nicely in the end. See the picture below.
7. Bake for ten to fifteen minutes and then flip the treats over. Again, sometimes they need a little more bake time on each side dependent on how thick your smoothie is. My rule of thumb is that they should be a little brown on the pan-side-down side prior to flipping. They also should flip with your fingers or with a gentle nudge from a flipper tool. Bake on the other side for an additional ten to fifteen minutes.
8. Go ahead, taste one. They are not that bad 😉

Pictures are worth a thousand words:

In case you noticed, on the finished tray there are a few less than on the pre-bake tray. I actually had enough batter to make a few extra so when i flipped them over I transferred a few to the smaller tray that wasn’t full. For me, I know that if my consistency is perfect I should make exactly 7 rows of five  on my tray. So this batter pictured should have had a little more oat flour added. But they still came out just fine. The thinner the batter the easier it is to burn them. Enjoy!