Homemade Dog Treats

I was really itching to bake something Sunday afternoon. Cookies? Cupcakes? I know myself, and I knew if I baked something scrumptious I could eat half the batch by myself. So I opted for fresh dog treats instead!

Mom gave me a cute little dog-treat cookbook a couple of years ago that came with a bone-shaped cookie cutter. I just flipped through it to find a recipe that worked with ingredients I already had in the house. This one couldn't be simpler:

• 2 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup milk

Cream the butter and cheese together with a fork. Work in flour and milk. Form into a ball and roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut and bake at 375 for 28-30 minutes.

The house smelled so good while they were baking, like there was a fresh loaf of some fancy cheese bread in the oven. The boys loved them! We even shared a few with a the neighbors' new dog. Their 5-year-old told us "He didn't even spit it out!" So I guess he liked them too.

Jenny Craig Update: Week 1

In the middle of what has been a crazy day (including an x-ray for a shoulder injury playing golf last night and getting my car towed to the dealership because it had absolutely no power at all), I weighed in at Jenny Craig to see how my first week had gone. A nice 3.4 pounds down!

I like the structure of Jenny Craig. I like that the routine and the planned menu allow me to let go of my tendency to obsess about what I'll be eating next. I know exactly what I'll be having for my next meal.

I know the weight-loss numbers after the first week or two are never as big and impressive as they are when first getting started with a program, but this 3.4 sure gives me some encouragement and motivation to have another great week!

(X-ray showed no problems with my shoulder bones. I'm waiting for a call to schedule an MRI to check for tissue damage. I hope to be back on the driving range very soon!)

Eat the Rainbow

From a new Twitter follower, I found this blog post about the importance of the colors in the foods we eat. I'm doing better, but I can still improve on the rainbow of good, local foods that I eat. In a nutshell, the blog post from guest blogger Mary Ward breaks it down like this:

• Red foods are good for your heart.
• Green is good for overall health.
• Blue foods are good for your memory.
• Orange helps lower your cholesterol.
  

And we're not talking about M&Ms (unfortunately).

I always fill a little guilty when Cole and I fix a plate for dinner, and our cream-colored plates end up filled with cream-colored grilled chicken, tan rice and a white dinner roll. I'm learning and doing better. And that's what it's all about!

Food City

Austin is an awesome city. You don't need to look very far to find the great live music, outdoor fun and weirdness to prove it. Oh, and did I mention the food?

Saturday's Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 was a perfect meshing together of all of the above.

Organized by fellow Austin food-lover Jennie Chen, there was no other place I wanted to be, and I think about 1,000 other Austinites felt the same way. There were cupcakes, cupcake-eating contests (for dogs and humans), live music, silent auction (which I somehow missed) and cupcakes. By the time Cole and I were heading out the doors, the crowd was spilling out onto the sidewalks. I think the Convention Center might be a great venue to consider for the next one.

And if you can believe it, I showed some restraint and only had one cupcake. And a small one at that!