Happy Birthday Sugar-and Some Recipes

Today is Sugar the Golden Retriever's 10th birthday, 

isn't that wonderful.  It got is in the party mood and reminded us of Tubby's 10th birthday:

 He had a big smile too, just like Sugar!


Anyway we have been feeling nautical:



 (full disclosure: this is an old picture from before we had our grey hairs, but too cute too not share)

so we decided to make some nice tuna fishy flavored treats.

Mom based the recipe on one from Throw Me a Bone by the awesome Susan Orlean whose definitive biography of Rin-Tin-Tin is coming out soon.  Here it is:

Tuna Fish Treats

2 cans of tuna in water

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tbsp garlic powder

Parmesan cheese (or cheddar)

Preheat oven to 350.  Empty the tuna cans (and their water) into a mixing bowl.  Mash the tuna up with a fork and beat in the 2 eggs and the 1/4 cup of water.   Stir in the cup of flour (add more if the mixture is too dry, it should be the consistency of cake mix) and tbsp of garlic powder (garlic helps repel those nasty fleas.) Spread the mixture into an 8 inch square baking pan that has been coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle the top generously with cheese.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until its pulling away from the sides of the pan a bit and is the consistency of putty.  Cool and roll into small balls and store in the fridge.

(These would probably be good for kitties too-mom is going to try them out on Scooter, Baby, and Ernie).

Smells Tasty

Waiting for treats

Of course people got to eat too, so mom made her favorite fancy tuna sandwich (Pan Bagnat-french for something like tasty tuna sandwich we think.)   Don't do what mom did and by bread that is way too small to accommodate the filling, but she assured us it was still tasty.

Ingredients:

1 baguette

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cans Italian tuna in oil (12 ounces total)

bunch of basil

1 Vidalia onion, chopped

2 plum tomatoes, diced

6 sun dried tomatoes in oil (optional but I had them on hand)

2/3 cup brine cured olives

2 tbsp lemon juice

Parmesan cheese

 Slice the baguette in half and pull out some of the filling (this is a good time to give the pups a taste).   Spread both sides the bread with the 1/4 cup of olive oil and line them with basil leaves.

Combine the tuna, onion, olives, tomatoes, and lemon juice in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.   Spread this mixture evenly on the bottom half of the sandwich.

Top the tuna mixture with the sun dried tomatoes and  use a vegetable peeler to shave some Parmesan cheese on top.   Place the top half of the sandwich over the filling and then put a heavy weight on top of the sandwich.  I covered the sandwich in plastic wrap and then put a cast iron skillet on top.    Weight the sandwich for 20 minutes and then enjoy!