Nutrition Done Right with Purina® Pro Plan® and Apple Peanut Butter Treats!

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The overall health and nutrition of my pups has become very important to me. Several family members who hadn’t seen my dogs for a while would often comment about how much of a “big girl” our oldest dog Jada was. As a mom, you tend to not  notice weight gain in your children er, pups right off, and so I would just shrug it off as Jada being a bit husky. Jada loves treats and comes running whenever she hears a bag rattle in anticipation of a tasty snack. Admittedly, after having her do a few tricks I usually would reward her with something, but after I sat through a not so nice talking to from our family vet about Jada’s weight I figured I should probably address the issue head on.  Our Veterinarian suggested we switch Jada over to a Weight Management dog food, but since we have two dogs with picky taste we wanted to be sure that we found a brand a dog food that would meet Jada’s Weight Management need as well as be nutritious enough for our other dog Jujubee to enjoy.  After trying a couple of other brands without success, we decided to give the Purina® Pro Plan® brand a try. One of the main reasons we decided to try this brand is because real chicken, beef, lamb, or salmon is the #1 ingredient found in all Purina® Pro Plan® dry formulas. To our surprise, Jada didn’t snub her nose at the food and began to clean her bowl without the help of her sister. 

When it’s time to pick up a new bag of dog food we usually bring the girls with us to their favorite superstore, PetSmart, and make it a family outing.While I’m feeding both of my girls the Focus Weight Management Line, Purina® Pro Plan® has a wide range of dry and wet foods, snacks, and supplement bars that  can be found in five specialized platforms. Each one contains products formulated for a dog’s taste preferences, age/dietary considerations, or activity/lifestyle. 

Since we’ve switched our girls over to the Purina brand I wanted to continue to promote a healthy lifestyle by making all their treats at home. Two things both my girls like are peanut butter and apples and so I decided to combine the two together and create  tasty Apple Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits. 

Step 1: Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Next, gather up your ingredients. You’ll need 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of rolled oats, 2 tbsp of all Natural Peanut Butter, 1 egg, cinnamon, 1/2 cup of chicken broth and 3 apples. You can finely chop the apples or cut them into large pieces. I went with a mixture of small and large pieces as I wanted some of the apples to be seen in the final cooked treat. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough. If the mixture is too sticky add more flour until you get to the right consistency.

Step 2: Roll out your dough. Since I’m pretty limited with space in the kitchen I decided to use my counter tops. Just lightly flour the surface before you roll out your dough as to keep it from sticking. Notice the pieces of apple? These are the large pieces I was telling you about that will show up in your final cooked treat. Roll out the dough to your desired thickness. I like to make my cookies to be a bit thick.

Step 3: Place your cut out treats onto a greased cookie sheet. As your cutting out the treats you may have to knead and roll out the dough again.  From the recipe above I was able to cut 20 dog treats to fit on the sheet. I was also left over with a small ball of dough that I used to cut out two large cookies with another cookie cutter. 

Step 4: Bake the treats for 30-45 minutes.  Be sure to flip the treats over halfway into cooking so that they cook evenly on each side. If you like your treats a little crispier cook them a bit longer. Let stand to cool and then serve!

These treats will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. I like to store mine in the freezer to preserve them a bit longer. Make sure you stop by PetSmart to check out the wide variety of Purina® Pro Plan® dog food. Your dog will love it. Once they’ve had their dinner you can give them an Apple Peanut Butter  Treat for dessert. To find our more information on the Purina® Pro Plan® brand be sure to check out their Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also visit the Purina® Pro Plan® MyPLAN website to get your dog’s MyPLAN recommendation and a rebate offer for a free bag of Purina® Pro Plan® Dry Dog Food (4-6lbs, up to $18.99.) Good only in U.S.A. A.P.O’s, F.P.O’s. Void where taxed, prohibited, restricted. Allow 6-8 weeks for shipment. LIMIT ONE REQUEST PER INDIVIDUAL, ADDRESS, or EMAIL ADDRESS. Offer expires 04/30/2015.

What are some of your favorite homemade treats to feed your dogs? Share them in the comments!