As we continue with the Summer Dessert Recipe Series, we must give some time to our beloved pets. We have a 3 ingredients Summer Frozen Dog Treat Recipe. 

As you know from other talks with us, we love quick, simple recipes. And this one is easy.

Our pets love peanut butter, most of them anyway. Coconut is good for skin and hair and general health. Mint helps with “dog” breath and most pets seem to like it. So what more could you want? A quick, easy, low ingredient recipe?

Well, yes, here it is.

Peanut Butter

Coconut oil

Mint (you can use flavoring or fresh mint leaves)

Some kind of shaped molds or forms to freeze in.

This is one of the quickest recipes, you can whip up a batch in minutes. It does, of course, take a few hours to properly freeze the treats.

It is also a recipe that is easy and safe for the kids to join in on. Let the kids measure and mix, this is a good way to teach measurements.

If you want to make larger batches, you can add math to the teaching when you double or triple the recipe.

It is best to start with peanut butter.

Put the peanut butter into a small bowl.

You can either use store-bought peanut butter or homemade peanut butter. The homemade is fresher, and offers less processing and a better flavor.

We did a talk on how to DIY homemade Peanut Butter sometime ago, you may want to check it out and see how easy it is to make your own peanut butter at home.

Add the coconut oil and mix.

If you are using solid coconut oil, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. If you are using a liquid, just measure.

Add the mint flavoring or mint leaves to the mix.

We pick our fresh mint leaves straight from the herb garden. If you are using real, fresh mint as we do, make sure to wash it before you add it to the mix. You do not want any extras in your beloved pet’s treats, like bugs, pollen, or dirt.

With the 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix until you have a nice smoothish and well-blended mix. It will be sloppy and somehow sticky at the same time.

Pour the mix into whatever molds or forms you have ready for them.

Silicon molds are easy to use but if you do not have any on hand, egg cartons will do just fine.

Put your molds into the freezer and wait. Usually, we wait overnight just to be sure we have a good, solid freeze.

You can, of course, make your treat mix, less soupy.  With a firmer mix, you can roll balls or use cookie cutters.  This mix is too sloppy to do either of those things with.  But as usual with DIY you can make it to your own preference.

Clean up is super easy, give the mixing bowl to one of your pets. Hold the spoon for another pet and just like magic the bowl and spoon are clean. You will want to wash the dishes after the pets have helped with the clean-up.

Take the treats out of the molds and put them into a sealable container. Be sure it is a freezer-safe container and large enough to hold your treats.

We try to recycle, re-use, and up-scale everything we can. So when we need a container, we turn to “the cabinet”. You know the cabinet with all the stuff that you keep in case you need it later on. The cabinet with all the plastic yogurt containers, lunch meat trays, and the like.

It is best to keep these in the freezer. If you leave them out, you will get a peanut butter/coconut oily sticky paste with a pleasant mint scent.

The dogs do not mind the melted paste but it is a bit of a mess if you are the one that has to clean it up.

Now when your beloved pets are ready for their treats, you are ready to give them what they want. These treats are especially great for the summer when your pets are hot from an outing.

In our case, our pets are mostly seniors so their outings only consist of going out to potty.

Whatever the season, these treats are easy to make and our pets love them.

Also, as a side note, if you are out of pill pockets, this mix will do just fine. We did a talk on DIY pill pockets a while back, in case you missed that one.

But if you do not have pill pockets on hand, and do not want to make any, this will do.

Whip up a match of this mix but do not freeze it. The dogs will eat it off of the spoon and never realize that there was a pill hidden inside.

You can try this with cats, some cats will like it. But some cats will know you are up to something and not accept your offering. Our cats do not seem to like the mint flavor.

It may not seem like a big thing but making your own pet treats is another way to become more self-sufficient. Anything that you can make and not have to buy is a step in the right direction.

Having a home herb garden, or just one mint plant on the table is one of the easiest ways to start. Home grown, fresh mint is so much better than that stuff you buy in the cooking department of the grocery store.

If growing your own peanuts is too much, you can still buy peanuts in bulk. Make your own peanut butter and taste the difference.

Your pets may not understand the work you put into making their treats but they will understand all the love you put into them.

We hope you have enjoyed this recipe for 3 Ingredient Summer Frozen Dog Treats. Try it out and see how easy it is. Your pets will love them.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.