The 100th Post!

100th post collage w-text final

{From top, left to right. Click on blue numbers to view original post} 

1/ Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies 2Meet the Pets 3/ Corn Casserole 4/ Faux Banana Cream Pie 5/ Homemade Salsa 6/ Thai Pasta Salad 7/ Cinnamon Rolls 8/ Bean Salad 9/ Lemon Squares 10/ Kalua Pork 11/ Fresh Apple Cake 12/ Fashion Friday- Feeling a Little Winey 13/ Bruschetta Pizza 14/ Parmesan Pasta 15/ Snickerdoodles 16/ Best Blueberry Muffins

On April 18, 2013, we posted our very first recipe- S’mores Pie. And now, a short 7 months later, we are already posting our 100th post! Starting this blog has been an absolute blast- it’s so fun to hear about you guys trying our recipes!

Buying a domain, finding a photo editing program that improves our photos exponentially,  learning little tricks that make it easier for you to navigate the blog, and just coming up with creative ideas for post topics- it has been quite a learning process.

We’re looking forward to cooking more good food, posting about the silly things that are happening around here, and most of all, hearing from all of you. If you have any feedback or questions about our blog, feel free to leave us a comment, or email us at mydaughterandiblog@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for reading!

Cindy & Jordan

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats

doggie biscuits 1 edited

In honor of Callie’s second birthday, I decided to bake her some special doggie treats. I originally planned on making a recipe that involved bacon, so while stopping at the store before taking Travis back to school, I picked up a few items too. He was shocked to see that I was buying bacon. Not that I have anything against bacon. I love bacon – that’s why I rarely buy it! I explained it was for Cal Cal and Travis said with disgust, “so you’ll buy bacon for the dog but not for us?” Too funny! It is her birthday after all.

doggie biscuits 2 edited

However, I settled on a recipe with pumpkin in it because Callie loves fruit and veggies. Jordan and I stopped at the cooking store, Sur La Table, the other day to buy a dog bone shaped cookie cutter. I love that store- if you’ve never been, you need to go – it is amazing. I made a big $0.82 purchase and got to try a delicious cappuccino at the same time. I admitted that I was baking for my dog and the gal behind the counter told me about this pumpkin dog treat recipe.

doggie biscuits 3 edited

I got the recipe off allrecipes.com and I modified it just a bit. The dogs seemed to really enjoy the treats and Jordan and I thought they weren’t too bad. Yep, we tried them 🙂

doggie biscuits 4

^^^The birthday girl waiting oh so patiently for her home-baked treat.

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats
2 1/2 cups flour, I used all purpose but the recipe recommended whole wheat
2 eggs
3 T peanut butter, I used chunky
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*.

Put all ingredients together in bowl and mix well. I used my KitchenAid mixer. If you need a bit more moisture add water to the mixture one tablespoon at a time. The dough should be pretty dry, so don’t add too much water. I didn’t need to add any water. Once mixed, turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/4 to 1/2″ thickness. Cut out to desired shape. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for a total of 40 to 50 minutes. I turned the cookies halfway through the cooking time. Keep in an airtight container.

Look Who’s Turning Two!

grizzly adams day 1 editedCallie (a.k.a. Cal-Cal, the wild Indian, or Lick-ums) is turning two tomorrow!! Out of all the dogs we’ve ever had, Callie has, by-far, the biggest, funniest personality. We’ve never had a dog before that licks as a form of greeting, howls when she’s excited and grunts like a pig when she rolls on her back. She is also a champion swimmer. She loves to go on walks and she “sings” for treats. She is hilarious!

callie's b-day 1
callie's b-day 3Just before we got Callie, we had to put down two of our dogs, and Daisy was sad and lonely. We actually started saying that she was a depressed doggie haha. Right around that time our friends, the Thorpes, told us that their chocolate lab had just “fathered” a litter of puppies, and they were offering us the pick of the litter. We picked out the little cutie above, and named her Callie (her dad’s name is Caliber, and her mom’s name is Lillie so we combined the two).

callie's birthday 5

In honor of her birthday we are going to try baking her some doggie treats- so keep an eye out for that post!

Cindy & Jordan

Meet the Pets

Daisy edited

Daisy – our pound puppy. We think she is lab and border collie. We got her from the animal shelter when she was about 2 month old. She is timid and sweet most of the time. She is almost 6 years old but acts much older. She is satisfied to sit or sleep near you. Her favorite thing is to eat treats but she also enjoys going on walks. She is very quiet and calm, but she is starting to “talk” a bit since Callie gets so much attention that way. She is very protective of our property and let’s everyone know that she is on guard.

callie 2

Callie – the crazy puppy. She isn’t quite 2 years old. Her dad is full lab and her mom is lab and Australian shepherd. We picked her out when she was about a month old and then took her home when she was 2 months old. She is hilarious! She grunts and howls and licks everyone! She runs everywhere, loves to play fetch and chew on water bottles. Her all time favorite thing is to swim! She takes herself for a swim in the pond on most warm days. After a good swim, she plops down on the dirt and rolls around- grunting! So funny to watch!

roofie edited

Roofus – the rescue kitty. We rescued him off the roof of a church in town. We noticed him one night crying up on the tall roof. When we went back the next day, he was still there. For a couple of days we tried to coax him down but he wouldn’t come. I started calling and visiting the local fire department to see if they would help me, but they insisted that the cat would come down on his own – “you never find cat skeletons on rooftops do you?” Finally they admitted that they don’t have a hook and ladder truck tall enough to get up there. Next thing you know, they called another nearby station that had a hook and ladder truck and they came over and tried to get him down and he refused, they couldn’t get him. I was desperate and on a mission. I called the equipment rental place and they had a big boom lift, they agreed to bring it over the next morning (if it wasn’t being used by a paying customer), the big rescue was going to occur the next day! Next thing you know, we got a call from the pastor at the church to come get our cat. Apparently he could get down the whole time, he came into the sanctuary where they were having choir practice. He was a mess. Skinny, scared, smelly and a bit psychotic! We put out signs in the area and no one claimed him – so 6 years later we still have Roofus! He is a great cat- he totally thinks that he is a dog.

aussie

Aussie – the cockatiel. Alex got Aussie when he/she was just a baby. That was 14 years ago. Aussie would sit on Alex’s shoulder all day while he was doing his school work. For years we thought Aussie was a boy, until he, um, she laid an egg! We still call her a him. It is just a habit. So Aussie has some identity issues! He/she squawks all the time and loves to fly around the boys’ room. You can’t sneak into the house, Aussie will hear you and call/squawk loudly to let everyone know you are entering!

peewee

Pee Wee – the parakeet. Jordan wanted a bird to train so she saved up her money and got Pee Wee. She thought she would be able to train him to talk and sit on her finger or shoulder. That was 5 years ago and that’s not happening. Not from lack of trying. Pee Wee is sweet and makes all kinds of talking noises, but no real words and he does not want you to touch him!

Cindy

New Hobby

I think I’ve mentioned several times about going garage sale shopping. I thought it would be a great way to buy items for Alex’s new place and for Travis’s dorm. I was also able to find several items that I couldn’t live without, such as the giant muffin pan and a really cool blue metal pan that is perfect for camping!

About a month ago I bought this adorable table and chairs at a garage sale. I thought Alex would like it on his patio. He said “no” so I decided to repaint it and keep it on our patio.

Here is the before picture, with Roofus our rescue kitty.

outdoor new hobby 1

And here it is after several coats of teal paint. Isn’t it cute? Not bad for $20!

outdoor new hobby 2

Cindy