Athena & Jameson's Puppy Pizza Party

My friend, Alan, and his girlfriend adopted a new puppy a few months ago. Little precious pup, Jameson. Alan, Jameson, Athena and I went out to eat on the patio at Mamasitas one night and the dogs got along great. They were being a little naughty, though...trying to jump on the waitress, barking at little kids and trying to get food off the table. We got to talking and decided that the next time the dogs have a play date, we should do it at Alan's house (to save us the embarrassment LOL). So tonight after I finish this blog, Athena and I are walking over to Alan's for dinner. What's more fun than a pizza party? A pizza party with puppies!!

I've baked homemade dog biscuits before but I've never done any novelty treats. I'm using an old recipe for dog treats and adding "toppings" to turn them into pizza. I'll be making one savory pizza and one dessert pizza. Here goes:

PIZZA PUPPY TREAT RECIPE-
Ingredients needed: 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk (we drink 2% lactose free milk), 1/2 cup chicken broth.

• For the savory pizza, 1 can pumpkin puree & some meaty dog treats (I'm using Pupperoni). 
• For the dessert pizza, 1 can pumpkin puree & 1 banana

1. Mix together egg, milk & chicken broth.

2. Put the flour in a large bowl and form a well in the center.

3. Pour the egg mixture into the well in the center of the flour.

4. Stir together the wet & dry ingredients. Make sure it is mixed well.

5. Knead the dough into a ball. (You may need to sprinkle some flour on your hands.)

6. Dust flour on a flat surface and roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thickness.

7. Using a round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles for the "pizza crust." I don't own a round cookie cutter, so I just used a cup.

8. I guess somewhere in between steps 5 and 7 we should have pre-heated our oven. Oops, my bad. Anyway, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the pizza crusts onto a non-stick surface (wax paper on a baking sheet works great) and bake for 20 minutes.

9. Let the crusts cool. Then time for toppings! Spread pumpkin puree onto each pizza crust.

10. Top with meaty dog treats for savory pizza or sliced bananas for dessert pizza. Then bring to pizza party and watch the puppies enjoy their treat!

Time to bring these fun treats to Alan's. I'll be taking lots of pictures of Athena & Jameson tonight and posting to my Instagram. Follow me @ragsreborngifts.

Athena's first birthday!

Athena is not a fan of pictures. (>.>)

Our perfectly precious puppy turned one on June 9th!!
       If I was a blogger who had a human child, I'm sure I would be one of those annoying types who spend at least 6-10 blogs detailing all of the DIY decorations, cake, photography and every other detail involved in my child's first birthday party. Luckily for you, I don't have a human child so you'll only get one "my child is perfect and I'm a doting mommy blog" regarding Athena's first birthday.
       Actually, it's just a bunch of dog pictures. And who doesn't like dog pictures?

Athena's puppy birthday "cake."

At first, I wanted to take Athena to the dog park for her birthday. But, Sadie can't go to the dog park (she doesn't play nice with other dogs) and a few of Athena's puppy friends couldn't make it so we ended up just having a family birthday celebration at home. Then we walked her around the neighborhood and to the CVS. I waited with her in the parking lot while Wes went in for a few items. Athena got two compliments for her adorableness.

Athena and Sadie each got a piece, which they gobbled up and spent the next 10 minutes searching for crumbs.

A few weeks ago, I bought a dog themed picture frame at a craft show. I decided that we needed to give Athena a photo shoot for her first birthday. We attempted taking a family picture but Athena was not cooperating (and Wes was getting agitated & stressed out) so I gave up pretty quickly. After that, we had "cake"... more like a large frosted dog treat. Then it was time for presents.

I got Athena a giraffe rope toy and Wes got her some refills for her Bento Ball toy. The refills ended up being a much better idea than the rope toy because she destroyed the toy in about an hour.  The toy's squeaker was inside the giraffe's head so the poor thing quickly got decapitated. Then she chewed through and unraveled all of the rope. LOL Maybe, I should have bought her a rubber toy. Remind me to keep that in mind for Christmas.

Giraffe rope toy...pre-destruction.

The entire "birthday party" lasted about 15 minutes. I'm about 80% sure that Wes thought the whole thing was retarded but he kept his mouth shut and participated. (I have an immensely supportive husband!) A friend of mine had a cookout for his dog's first birthday party and I threw Kensington a birthday party several years ago, so to me, this was perfectly normal. 

       When you're lacking something in your life, you spend a majority of your time learning to accept & appreciating what you do have. It's useless to dwell on the missing piece. But every now and then, that missing piece surfaces and you try to make up for it. For me, I made up for it by throwing a birthday party for my dog. It is silly and Athena had no idea what was going on but for me, I needed that "mommy moment."