Tasty Tuesday-Hippie Dippie and Blogger Break

We are feeling a little hippie-ish here at the moment.  It could be because we have wearing our tye died tees,

or maybe its because the anniversary of the famous Woodstock Festival is this Wednesday, or maybe its that mom and dad watched the movie Across The Universe this weekend and all that 60's Beatle's music is stuck in our heads.

Anyway, in keeping with the Hippie mood mom decided to make some flower child friendly treats for today's Tasty Tuesday post.  The first is a recipe for dog friendly Granola, now mom has never giving us Granola even though she likes to make it for herself and dad and  she has posted her recipe on the blog before (recipe link).    To make us granola mom adapted a recipe from the super cute dog cookbook Throw Me a Bone.

Grrrnola (adapted from Throw Me A Bone by Susan Orlean and Sally Sampson)

1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup almond slivers (optional)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup bran flakes
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fish or coconut oil
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried banana chips
1/2 cup carob chips

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the oats and almond slivers and stirring constantly toast until golden, about five minutes.   Lower the heat to low and add the wheat germ, sunflower seeds, and bran flakes and stirring constantly cook for five to ten minutes more until golden.  Off the heat stir in the honey and the fish or coconut oil.  Cool.

Once cool stir in the dried blueberries, banana chips, and carob chips or substitute any dried fruits your dog likes.   Serve sparingly (as it is pretty sweet) as a kibble topper with a little yogurt.

Super sweet, just like me!

Norbert licked the bowl clean

Now for the humans....cookies.   Our grandma used to make a lot of recipes from of hippie friendly 60s cook books like, Diet for a Small Planet.   Mom's favorite treat where these cookies, which come buy their unusual name because they have so many ingredients, you know everything but the Kitchen Sink.

Kitchen Sink Cookies adapted from Diet for a Small Planet

They look ugly, but trust us they taste delish!

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
 1 1/3 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweet flaked coconut
1/4 cup milk powder (1/3 cup instant)

¼ c cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
2/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs, beaten

milk, 1-2 tbsp, if cookie mixture is too dry

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.

Mix liquid ingredients in a smaller bowl then pour into the dry mixture and stir well.  The batter will be quite thick if it is too dry add a little milk, not more then 1-2 tbsp.

Use a spoon to scoop out about 2 tbsp of dough and form into a ball, flatten a bit, and place on the parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.

Tomorrow marks the first day of mom's three week summer staycation.   So we will be having a lot of fun hanging out with her and dad and we will be taking a blogger break until September.   We hope everyone has a wonderful time for the rest of August and we will be back blogging soon!

Happy Birthday Toto-A Historical Hounds Post

link to picture

When I was a little girl I would watch the Wizard of Oz every day, sometimes more then once, and as soon as I could read I devoured all of the Oz books.   In the beginning of the book and the movie Dorothy is a lonely, isolated child.  No friends her own age and no siblings.  As an awkward only child growing up in the country without other kids nearby, I definitely felt a kinship with her.  Of course, Dorothy had one thing I did not, Toto, an utterly loyal canine friend.   I was convinced that if only I had a dog I would never be lonely again.  Unfortunately my parents are not fond of dogs so I had to make due with cats, birds, and guinea pigs and a range of reptiles and amphibians, none an acceptable substitute for Toto.   I told myself that as soon as I was an adult I would get a dog just like Dorothy's, of course when I did grow up I decided a pug would actually make a better first canine companion then a Cairn Terrier.


I still love the Oz books and the movie, I watch it every year at Christmas, and I still love Dorothy even though I can't fathom why she chooses to leave the magical land of Oz to return to dull, dry Kansas, but my favorite part of the movie continues to be Toto.   I love how Toto, unlike many cinematic dogs, basically behaves like a regular dog throughout the movie: chasing cats, snatching food that doesn't belong to him, and barking at strangers.  In my opinion its the best canine performance of all time, a Tour De Force.


Today, marks the birthday of Terry, the dog who played Toto.   Born in 1933 Terry was owned by the famous dog trainer Carl Spitz who founded one of the first American dog training schools, The Hollywood Dog Training school, in 1927.  At the time The Wizard of Oz was made Terry was already a star having appeared in six films, including Bright Eyes  with Shirley Temple.  Terry was payed a 125 dollars a week for appearing in the Oz film, more then some of the human actors, and about five times the weekly salary of the average American during the Great Depression.  Of course like everyone involved in the film Terry will be forever associated with The Wizard of Oz and her role as Toto eclipsed all of her other work.  Spitz even officially changed her name to Toto in 1942.   


Terry, or Toto, died in in 1945 having made fifteen films, the last of which was Tortilla Flat based on the novel by John Steinbeck.  Toto was originally interred in a cemetery on Spitz's ranch, but eventually when the Ventura Freeway was expanded the property and cemetery where destroyed.  On June 18, 2011 a permanent memorial to Toto was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.