Whole-grain oats contain more fat and protein than most grains, so these gluten-free dog treats will help you and your dog maintain energy.

Just The Food Stuff:

Gluten-Free Dog Treats For You and Your Dog To Share

This recipe first appeared in The Gluten-Free Grains Cookbook

Whole-grain oats contain more fat and protein than most grains, so these gluten-free dog treats will help your dog maintain energy and in colder months, some extra warmth. Oats improve the body’s resistance to stress, so treat these treats as a visual cue to slow down, take a walk, throw a ball, and enjoy the furry one you love. 

Yield: 12 muffins or 20-30 mini muffins 

Ingredients

1 large egg
1 banana
1/2 cup finely grated carrots
1/3 cup all-natural peanut butter
1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup honey
1 cup oat flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350º F and line a cupcake tin with paper liners.

In a blender or food processor, beat the egg, banana, carrots, peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift the oat flour and baking soda together. Add the rolled oats and whisk to combine. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry mixture, and stir to combine. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake liners, about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Tips & Tricks:

For a pup-friendly “frosting” you’ll both enjoy, add a dollop of pumpkin puree, creamy peanut butter or softened cream cheese. Or try a mix like pumpkin and cream cheese, or peanut butter and cream cheese. 

**Disclaimer: I am not a dog nutritionist. As always, consult with your vet if you have any concerns about feeding your dog. These treats should not replace their normal meals. 

The Personal Stuff and The Julep Stuff:

This week, on Earth Day, my baby turned seven! She has become a literary number, a good luck number, a Biblical number. When I was seven, I desperately wanted a dog. Thanks to my vast library, I knew countless breeds and their “stats,” if you will. I kept (and still do!) a running list of good ideas for dog names. I went so far as to tape threatening notes to my parents’ bedroom walls saying, “Get me a dog, or else!”

Or else what? I can’t say I had a followup action, but my parents clearly did. There was a very stern lesson that one cannot threaten her way to wants. Also, our home was a rental. Also, I was scared of dogs (a minor technicality – I was very scrawny). A dog would have helped the fear, helped the loneliness, helped the way I always felt stuck in the middle. But everything in due time. 

Due time felt like one of the most adult decisions I’ve ever made. I was choosing to intertwine a life with my own, to have a life depend on me. It took time to find her, but when I saw her, when I saw a photo of her perched on a boulder, I just knew. I knew in a way that happens so resolutely and rarely, you have to trust it. It’s a core feeling, a compass, a North Star. 

She was not the troublesome puppy. She was not the ringleader. She had a reserve to her I recognized. She was seeking approval. I chose her, and she chose me. She nestled into the crook of my arm for the two-hour drive home, and every day has been better since. 

Our relationship has been the most reciprocal relationship I’ve ever experienced. I give. She gives. I love. She loves. If I fail to give, she lets me know. She wedges her head between my desk and my chair, or shows me her over-sized tennis ball with a gleam in her eye.

She has been letting me know for a while that I wasn’t myself. She was letting me know for a while she didn’t recognize me. She was mirroring my unhappiness, but it took me a while to see it honestly. The silver lining of social distancing has been more time with her, a return to myself and a return to her. 

I know I have shifted and grown and yet pulled necessary sameness from my core because she lets me know. She lets me know when she shadows the routine of my day, when she hops onto the couch with me, when she returns to her protective corner of the bed. 

There is no love like her. There is no better example of unconditional than her. She is soul, spirit, love and the best example of anything resembling the divine. She sees the good in people before I do, and she brings people together. 

I want to breathe her in like her coconut-oil shampoo days. I want to record the constellations of her markings. She is a work of patterns and colors, textures and art. She is strength and courage, fear and trauma. She is a constant reflection of me. 

If you think any of this is hyperbolic or dramatic, then clearly, you’ve never loved and been loved by a dog. There is nothing like it. This week, the love of my dog reminds me that time, all time, even socially-distanced time, is extremely precious and not to be taken for granted. 

And that revelation calls for cake… mini cakes that can be shared. (You know I have a thing for mini cakes!)

For an extra special treat, Julep likes her gluten-free dog treat with a side of goat milk. (As with all dog nutrition, the verdict is mixed, but there are many articles suggesting lots of health benefits to adding goat milk to a dog’s diet.)

Give your dogs an extra squeeze from me!