Pupsciles

My poor little blog! I have not forgot about you! Recently my husband had to have surgery to remove part of his lung & a tumor that was growing there. Its been a crazy last few weeks which has pretty much brought my cooking adventures to a halt... for now, hopefully in a few weeks I can pick it back up...

So what do I have for you today then if I haven't been able to cook? Well why not something for the four legged friends of ours?

Recently my husband has had to change his diet because of his cholesterol. So no more dairy for him (well he can have cheese just not MILK).  So this yogurt expired before I could get Eli to eat it all himself (I don't eat yogurt).

My solution instead of throwing the yogurt away was to make some pupsicles for the dogs. :)

With the temps this week reaching over 100 I thought this would be a perfect gift to cool them off!



Very quick and simple (really it took me like 2min to do)
Directions:
1 cut a slit in the top of the containers.
2 stick dog treat in the slits to create a "stick"
3 toss in the freezer and allow to freeze
4 run under warm water while rotating just long enough for the yogurt to pop free from the container
5 watch them enjoy their summer treat!

 The frozen product, this was "strawberry banana" and the "sticks" are beggin strips.

This is Twix, she is 4yrs old, she is our Carolina Dog/Husky/I believe Wolf. Yes I know what a combo huh? She LOVED the pupsicles. She quickly learned to just lick lick lick. She even figured out how to pick it up by the "stick" and carry it into the yard off the hot patio. Smart thinking!

This is Reeses, she's our "old" gal. Almost 9yrs old and starting to finally show her age. She is an Australian Shep/Border Collie mix. Didn't care for them as much, I have a feeling if she was younger she'd have chowed down on them though. She used to eat anything we gave her.

Yumm yumm yumm!

I had read there are other recipes you can do, plain yogurt with peanut butter and banana etc. I only did it this way because the yogurt we already had was expired. I think some of the other flavors I might mix some peanut butter in for them.

It was really simple to remove the frozen yogurt from the cups, like I said just run for a few seconds under warm water. I was squeezing the bottom the whole time and soon was able to just push it up like a push pop. I had also seen another recipe that talked about using paper dixie cups and just peeling away the paper. :)

Either way, this was a good way for the dogs to cool off! I know Twix was busy licking hers for a good 20min even thought it was 105 yesterday when I gave them these in the late evening (I bring them in during the heat of the day) because the yogurt was so thick it lasted awhile. :)

Hope your dogs enjoy this summer time treat!

PB2 Peanut Butter Cream pie

Prepare to die (in a good way) this recipe is SO good! I will have to post pictures a little later as the pie is currently "setting" in the fridge. So this review is based off sample tasting the batter and giving my hubby the spatula to lick after finishing.

So my husband and I have a deadly addiction to peanut butter cream pie. Really its a shame, recently we picked one up at the store and I was FLOORED to discover that it contained 600 calories per serving! I mean COME ON! I decided that I was going to research and see if I could find a recipe that calls for PB2 instead.

Don't know what PB2 is? Well let me introduce you! It will quickly become your best friend as mine has and I JUST opened our first jar!

This size jar (actually the ONLY size jar I saw) I found at hy-vee and was $4.49 not bad considering I'm sure while its small it probably makes a lot of PB since its in a powder form.

Seriously, for any of you who have a love/hate relationship with PB because of the fat and calories. Well here ya go, 85% less fat and calories! Not to mention it was about 50% less in carbs I think too.

You simply mix it with water and laugh at the amount of calories you are missing out on!

The only time you will find me posting "topless" pictures. Just to give you an idea of the powder. By the way, it also smells awesome!

Ok so enough about my newest friend (so long old PB). Here is the recipe for the most amazing PB cream pie.

Ingredients

• ½ cup of water
• 1 packet of unflavored gelatin (I believe that this would be about 1 tablespoon)
• 1-6 ounce container of plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 8 tablespoons of PB2 peanut butter powder (or ¼ cup)
• 1/3 cup Splenda
• 1-8 ounce container of fat free Cool Whip

Directions

1. Bring ½ cup water to boil and add the unflavored gelatin. Stir the gelatin until there are no lumps. I will usually measure my water in a glass bowl and heat in microwave for 2-3 minutes on high to get the water to boil.
2. Allow water to cool (not too much because you do not want gelatin to form just yet, but cool enough to touch).
3. Add the PB2, Splenda, and Greek yogurt. Mix well until there are no lumps.
4. Add half the container of Cool Whip. Save the other half for topping.
5. Pour the peanut butter mixture into a non-stick sprayed pie pan. Place in refrigerator for an hour.
6. Add the other half of the Cool Whip as a topping across the pie. Place back in refrigerator for another hour.
7. Cut into 8 pieces.

Calories: 163

Carbs: 18

Fat: 6

Protein: 9