My name is Maria. I know most of the people of read this blog will know me and if you don't, I want this blog to be a clean slate, no preconceived notions of who I might be, I want to paint that picture myself. My husband is an incredible man who has served two tours in Iraq as an Infantryman and was selected by the DA to be a recruiter. Life as a recruiter is...different...especially since I am a military brat and grew up on military bases, where everyone around me was in someway connected to the military. We now live in the mid-west and a college town where knowledge of the military is limited to say the least. People are amazingly nice; what more could we ask for? I had a baby boy, Jack (well we call him Jack) exactly 6 months ago today and we have a two year black German Shepherd. In short, I truly believe my family represents the average All-American Enlisted Family.
Today is my puppy's 2nd Birthday. I'm making him a tasty birthday cake that is so simple to make but is sooo loved by my Eli (my dog).
Puppy Layered Cake
1 pound ground beef, turkey, or chicken
1 egg; beaten
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I have a big tub of Chobani in my refrigerator all the time so I can add it to anything and everything.)
3-4 Milkbone treats; crushed
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 Mix meat until well incorporated with ground meat of choice.
3. Divide meat into two equal parts and shape into patties.
4. Bake on ungreased (I always put tin foil down on the cookie sheet for easier clean up) cookie sheet for 30 minutes; then let cool.
5. Spread half of the greek yogurt onto one of the patties and sprinkle with half of the crushed milk bone treats.
6. Stake the second pattie on top of the "dressed" pattie and spread with remaining yogurt and crushed Milkbones.
This layered "cake" is favorite with my puppy. Eli is a big dog (pushing 115 pounds) so he can handle the whole cake although I normally give him half for his birthday dinner and half for breakfact the next morning, I mean who doesn't love birthday cake for breakfast? The smaller the dog, the smaller i Think the portions need to be. Use your best judgment.
(before staking them) I made a pumpkin cream cheese layered bread last night. I don't want to tell you if it was good or not but I'll let the fact my husband ate half a loaf last night speak for itself. Two recipes in a row wont be a regular thing, I promise! I just realized that both recipes are for something layered!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Layered Bread
For the Bread:
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp each ground ginger, cinnamon, all spice
1 1/2 cups each granulated sugar and packed brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups pumpkin puree
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two standard loaf pans. Sift together all dry ingredients. Stir in both granulated sugar and brown sugar until well incorporated. Add oil and pumpkin and stir well making sure to scrap the sides and bottom. Mix eggs in one at a time making sure it well blended.
For the cream cheese:
1 8oz cream cheese softened (I found a greek yogurt one that I used)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Mix everything together and until you can't tell where one ingredient stops and the other starts. I threw my cream cheese and sugar in the microwave for for about 35 seconds. to make it extra soft.
Take your bread batter and divide it into fourths. Place a fourth of the batter in each loaf pan. Take half the cream cheese mixture and spread it over each batter mixture. Finish by putting a fourth of the batter in each of the loaf pans over the cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.
