Archive for November, 2008

Ingredients

1    cup    sugar
½    cup    corn syrup
1    cup    peanuts
1    tsp    vanilla
1    tsp    butter
1    tsp    baking soda

Instructions

In 2 quart glass bowl (ideally a glass measuring pitcher with a handle) mix sugar & corn syrup, then microwave 4 minutes. Stir in peanuts and microwave 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla and butter and microwave 2 more minutes. Add Baking Soda and stir well. Let it finish bubbling. Spread quickly to desired thickness on parchment paper. Takes about 1/2 hour to fully harden.

Note: This recipe tested with a 1000 watt microwave. Adjust times as necessary if yours is hotter or cooler.

I nearly missed out on this! I’d noticed the triple Q info in the ad (on Saturday) and went to my favorite couponing site: Hot Coupon World to see if anyone had posted deals and saw the alert to the fact that they were doubling dollar Qs. Scramble, scramble… Got my Qs together, researched prices and hit the road. Good haul. No pictures this time. Just didn’t think about it.

My favorite deal was the free Hershey’s Extra Dark chocolate. It’s on sale, and with the Q, it’s FREE. Here are the deals I found (I didn’t buy all of them, but personally verified the coupons and the prices).

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp garlic powder or several cloves
1 lb raw beef liver  (look in the frozen meat section, should only be about $2)
1 egg
3/4 cup Flour, White, Unbleached — enough to form a stiff dough

Instructions

Liquefy liver in food processor, add dry ingredients until it’s the consistency of a thick paste. At this point, transfer the gunk to a mixing bowl and continue mixing in white flour until you get a good stiff dough (think playdough!). Once it gets good and firm, take it out of the bowl and knead it until the flour is well incorporated. You will need lots of flour as it is a pretty sticky dough.

This is the dough once it's been kneaded.

Now, take big hunks of dough and roll it into snakes about 3/4″ thick. (Use lots of flour or it will stick)

At this point, your dog is probably nearly jumping up on the table to get at this delicious concoction. Go ahead, give her a smidgen.

This is Opal. She wants a taste of the dough. Now.

Okay, now you’ll have several snakes rolled. Put them on a baking sheet.  (I lined mine with parchment paper because I’m too lazy to wash pans). Put them in the freezer for about an hour — not more than that or they’ll freeze solid and be impossible to cut. (You can chill them in the fridge, if need be, but the freezer is better.)

These are the "snakes" of dough. Some have more flour than others, but it doesn't really make a difference.

Okay, an hour is up. Now the snakes are pretty firm. Slice snakes into 1/8″ slices. If the snakes squish when you’re slicing, put them back in the freezer. My experience is that the ends will be nice and firm and ready to cut the middles are squishy, so I sliced the ends off each snake and put the dough back in the freezer having baked my first batch in the meantime. I use my santuko knife, which is great for cutting through frozen stuff.

Once you’ve got a nice pile of little liver snap slices, put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Try to stay away from greasing it, these are healthy, wholesome treats! Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 250 and bake for another 30 or 40 minutes (this is to really dry them out).

Store in a sealed plastic container or zip-type bag.

Makes almost 1-1/2 pounds!

I created this recipe from a variation of other dog treat recipes because I wanted a small treat to put in my dog’s Kong Stuff-A-Ball Large. She has a blast banging it around to get the treats out. The “Kong” brand treats cost about $7 for half a pound. That’s more than a decent steak costs per pound! One of the best things about these is they are wholesome and contain no chemicals or preservatives. Since they are cooked until thoroughly dry they keep well, too.

I actually came upstairs to print a dog food recipe and got sidetracked by some emails. I decided to post a video showing my technique for importing recipes from the web into this great software.

Here it is:

acbk-import-demo

You can purchase this software directly from the developer at: http://www.3caam.com/index.html

Actually, I haven’t decided if I’ll go back later today. Lots to do. I picked up all the best deals. The rest of the stuff on my list is just so-so.

I was disappointed to learn that Harris Teeter no longer credits the overage of the coupon to other items. They are only tripling up to the value of the item. But hey, we’re still talking about getting stuff for free.

Even though I got several items for free, I have to say, I think my best buy was the Smithfield Smoked Sausage, on sale for $2.50 with a 75¢ coupon, making them only 25¢ for a pound of sausage.

No detailed list today. Very busy with graphics and such.

All this for $20.96.

All this for a total price (including tax) of $20.96