A Doggie Affair

Yesterday, my babies turned 7! I cannot believe this!! It seems like just yesterday that my sister and I "picked" our two little peekapoos at just 5 weeks old. :') 

So, it was only appropriate that we celebrate this milestone (my mother let us have animals - INSIDE the HOUSE!!!) with a little birthday party! We've made them a regular cake before (ya know, from a box? No trying to convince me to make them a from-scratch cake then!) but I decided that this year it would be fun to make a doggie birthday cake. One with carob...and honey....ALL of the good stuff! I'm crazy, I know. ;) I even made the carob chips!!! That was an interesting endeavor! It was actually pretty easy, but next time around (and I'm sure there will be!) I think I would change it up a bit. Here's the recipe that I used. I think you should give it a try! Just beware..if you use Carob powder, it smells like an armpit. It tastes okay, but if you're not used to it it's really hard to get past the smell!!!!

               Homemade Chocolate or Carob Chips

Yield: Approx 3 cups chips / chunks

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil 

1 cup cocoa or carob powder

3 Tbsp sweetener

2 tsp vanilla 

Method:

1. Melt coconut oil over a very low heat.  Remove from heat.  Stir in carob, sweetener, and vanilla.  (If you heat over too high of a heat or don’t remove from the heat, the coconut oil will separate from the carob when cooling.  You can still eat it, but it won’t be as smooth.)
2. Pour mixture into a pan (8×8 works well).
3. Place in refrigerator or freezer until solid.  Remove from pan, and cut into chunks of desired size with a good, solid knife.
4. Store in a cool place until ready to use.

Anyway, after I made the carob chips, I moved on to their cake! I loved that (for once!) they actually had a "healthy" cake! Minus the buttercream icing that Maggie & Lizzy got to choose. Don't laugh at me!! :P (Of course, I only gave them one option..and they loved it! Hehe) This is what the batter looked like right after I mixed it:

 And this is what it looked like right before it went into the oven!

After I let it cool (overnight) and iced it, we were ready for our little party.Complete with candles in the shape of a "7". :)

Okay, you're not allowed to laugh at me, but my family and I came up with a doggie version of "Happy Birthday" by replacing the words with "bark" and "woof woof" replacing the "to you" part of the song. This is making me smile because I can totally see each and every one of you trying to sing it now!!! Mwuahahaha! ;) M & L were not into the lit candles, so they kept their distance until I blew the candles out! 

Once we were finished, it was time to dig in! And dig in they did...

                                                                   Notice Lizzy trying to pick her bowl up?!?!? Crazy dog!!

 Obviously the cake was good because they both had another piece today. Home run for momma/auntie! :) I'm not promising that I'll remember to make them a cake next year, but this year will be a year to remember! I hope that any of you that have animals in your life spend the time to celebrate with and love them, because when all else fails, they love you through anything! (A nice picture of what our Father in Heaven does for us, huh?? I think so!)  I'm off to hug my pooch!

Happy eating,

~HB~