Applesauce = Awesomesauce

Chris and I visited our friends Dan and Jess, up in Madison, WI this past weekend. Last year, when visiting, Jess and I spent a few hours prepping and cooking food for dinner. This year, we decided to do all that AND add on the task of making and canning homemade applesauce. It was a lot of work and our feet ached by the end of the day, but we get tasty applesauce to enjoy all winter long so it was worth the hard work!

First, we peeled and cored a bunch of apples that Jess got from a local orchard. In order to get a well flavored sauce, without adding spices or sugars, we used a variety of apples to make this sauce (such as Roma, Grannysmith, Fuji, etc.)
This antique-y contraption made the job of peeling a peck of apples quick and easy!















Once all the apples were cored, we tossed them all into a large pot with just a little bit of water and started them simmering.



This part took awhile, since we had to evaporate most of the water from the apples. But oh how the house smelled of fresh apples! Our mouths were watering!!















When the apples looked nice and soft we took Jess' handy-dandy hand-blender (I seriously need to get me one of these) and pureed the pot of apples into a nice, chunky sauce.



















Then we processed the sauce in canning jars. In the end we had 5 quart sized jars of sauce and a dozen jelly jars of apple sauce. YUM!! I find projects like this to be so much fun. They can be a bit time consuming, but they aren't hard by any stretch of the imagination. And I'll appreciate all the work we did come January, when I'm snacking on my fresh, healthy homemade applesauce!

Publican

My friend Aaron is in Chicago shooting the new Superman movie. Or, ehm...excuse me...I mean, he's shooting the new "Autumn Frost" movie. Whatevs. The set is all over Chicago. The cat's out of the bag.

I am SUPER (pun intented) excited that FINALLY a movie is shooting in Chicago that one of my friends' is working!  I have a good amount of friends in the movie industry but they never seem to work on the projects in Chicago. 

Anyhoo, Chris and I met up with Aaron on Sunday night for dinner at Publican. Publican received a lot of press when it opened and I continue to read only great things about it.  The menu is mostly pork/pig focused with some plates of seafood as well.  To say the least, I was really excited to dine here and was thrilled when Aaron said he was up for checking it out as well.

Random side note: the three of us actually dined in, what we dubbed, a "pig pen" (to stay with the pork theme).  It was a table closed off by doors. Quite interesting.

Anyway, onto the food. Everything is served family style, so you share all the plates. Here's what we ate:
-shrimp and grits with corn relish (pretty good)
-taste of three hams (OMG so good, especially the one from Tennessee!)
-croquettes – chicken and chorizo (sooo good)
-hanger steak with peaches (a MUST have)
-pork belly (meh…it was OK but not as awesome as I had hoped it would be)
-side of corn (SOOO good)
-side of beets (also incredible)
-dessert waffle with honey butter (excellent)
-plum tart (also excellent)
-coffee for the guys (with dessert) and sparkling wine for me (with dessert)

They drank beer and I drank white wine throughout the meal. So I really liked, if not LOVED, every dish we had except the pork belly. It was too fatty for my taste so I would probably just pass on this if ever we dined there again. It was a pricey meal but I'm always willing to drop moolah for good food and it was awesome hanging out with Aaron for the night.  Here's hoping another movie brings him out this way again, soon.

http://thepublicanrestaurant.com/

Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps

There are certain items I always buy at the grocery store, every week. My staples, if you will. They are: 1 container of hummus, pretzel crisps, milk, cheddar cheese slices, and 1 loaf of bread.

I love hummus and often turn to it whenever I want to snack. Sometimes I'll dip veggies in but usually I want something with some crunch, which is how I found Snack Factory's Pretzel Crisps. These things are delicious and super crunchy with just the right amount of salt.

Let's take a look at the ingredients, shall we?
Pretzel Crisp ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, malt syrup, salt.

Other pretzel ingredients (Snyder's): Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid), water, malt, canola oil, salt, maltodextrin, modified corn starch,enzyme modified butterfat (milk), natural flavors, yeast and soda.


Woah. That's a big difference. And everything in the Pretzel Crisp ingredient list are things I could locate in a grocery store. Perfect!

Chiogga Beets with Herb Goat Cheese

Remember those beets I posted about last week? They made a delicious side dish on Sunday night, while Chris' family was in town visiting. Here's how I prepare beets:

Wash the dirt of the beets.
Cut off the greens (save those for later) and the ends of each beet.
Peel the beat with a paring knife, like you're pealing an apple.
Slice the beet into 1/4" thick slices.
Put the slices on a piece of aluminum foil.
Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Pinch of salt.
Half a pinch of pepper.
Using your hands, toss the beets, oil, and seasonings together until well coated.
Fold up the aluminum foil and seal off all sides.
Place the foil package on a hot grill (about 350 degrees).
Cook beets for about 10-15 minutes. You'll know they're done when you can pierce them easily with a fork.
Remove them from the foil (careful not to burn yourself on the steam) and place them in a large low bowl.
Crumble herb goat cheese over the beets.

Then serve!

Now about those greens...

Take a knife and cut the green leaves from the center stem (which can be sort of tough).
Roughly chop the greens.
Heat a tbsp of EVOO in a skillet. Once shimmering, throw in some diced onion and minced garlic. Cook a couple minutes on medium heat until the onions are sweating and the garlic is browning.
Throw in the greens into the skillet and watch them wilt. Cook for maybe 1 -2 minutes (this won't take long at all).

Plate the greens, onions, garlic and oil and serve as a side dish. YUM!!

Rustic Pear Tart

On Saturday mornings I always head early to my town's farmer's market to get the best pick of produce. There is one farmer that I always buy my fruit from; he is such a nice guy and I love supporting 'nice' people.
So this week I picked up some blueberries and peaches. As I handed over my money the farmer asked if I liked pears. I said that I do but honestly I don't like them enough to buy a basket full of them. He said that they have a lot of pears that are really ripe and if they don't get rid of them they'll just rot by the following week, so he offered me a free basket of pears.
Free pears! I had a challenge on my hands!!

I wanted to use these free pears and I knew I needed to cook them up quickly before they got too mushy. I decided to try my hand at a pear and honey tart.

I got this recipe off the Food Network website, which I don't usually get recipes from there so this was a crap shoot. I wish I could say I loved this, but I didn't. There was too much cinnamon so it just made the finished product taste like apple pie. And I like apple pie, but not when I'm eating a pear tart.



Chris didn't seem to mind though...he ate the whole tart himself (minus the 1 piece I had when sampling the finished dessert). So I guess, use this recipe if you get free fruit from a farmer and have a hankering for apple pie:

Ingredients
Crust: you could do this from scratch but I just bought a store made crust.

Filling:
* 3 medium pears
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
* 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
*

Glaze:
* 1 teaspoon honey
* 1/4 teaspoon boiling water

Directions

To prepare the crust, in a medium bowl whisk together the whole-wheat pastry flour, all- purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt. Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you get a pebbly, course texture. In a small bowl combine the buttermilk and ice water. Using a fork, gradually mix the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture. Pat the dough into a 4-inch round and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and prepare the filling. Peel the pears, core them and cut into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamon and toss until the pears are evenly coated. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a large circle about nine inches in diameter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and draping the dough over the rolling pin, transfer to the prepared baking sheet. If the dough breaks at all patch it up with your fingers.

Arrange the pears in a mound in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even.

Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown.

In a small bowl stir together the honey and boiling water to make a glaze. When the tart is done remove it from the oven and brush the honey glaze all over the top of the fruit and crust. Transfer to a plate to cool slightly. Cut into 6 wedges and serve warm or a room temperature.

Caprese Salad

More photos of my garden goodness! It's August so my Roma Tomatoes are bursting at the seams with juice and my basil plant is ginormous.

I picked a bunch of basil last weekend and whipped up some pesto, which I then froze for use later in the winter months. But I couldn't help snagging a few leaves for a Caprese Salad lunch. Reminds me of being in Italy on my honeymoon. :)

Slice up that tomato, some fresh mozzarella, a leaf of basil, drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and serve! YUM!!!

Beets! And Pictures of Beets!

I have been trying to upload photos from Facebook for like 6 months with no success. I just figured out a trick though and was able to get this picture, from my FB page, onto this site! Victory!

These are my beets. I planted my first vegetable garden this summer and it's been quite fun and I've learned a lot! I planted many rows of Chiogga beets and as you can see from the picture (yay! a picture!!) they're ready to harvest. I just pull a couple every night, mix them with some EVOO, salt and pepper, and stick them on the grill to roast. They caramelize and turn all sweet and yummy.

Yay! Beets! And Pictures of Beets!!

E&E Grill House

Chris and I had a great time in NYC, earlier this month. Lunch at Shake Shack was fantastic, even with the 20 minute wait for food. Only wish I had was that I ordered a 2nd burger (those things were small...like White Castle small). I devoured the burger and strawberry shake (Chris opted for a Chocolate and Vanilla swirl shake) and then we strolled through Central Park, stopping briefly to sit under a tree. It was awesome.
The week at the beach was fun - lots of swimming, reading, bike riding, and playing Settlers of Catan. The perfect summer getaway.
Book of Mormon was hilarious and I would recommend it for everyone to see. Memphis was o-kay. I wouldn't rush out to see that one, but it was still fun taking in some theater on Broadway.
Before our Memphis show, on our last night in the city, Chris and I dined at E&E Grill, a grillhouse in Midtown right near our hotel. It was a last minute decision to dine there but we got lucky with a fantastic meal! I ordered spinach ravioli and our waiter's family actually made the ravioli that morning! It was delicious!

Chris and I split a bottle of Malbec and treated ourselves to a rhubarb crumble for dessert. What a lovely meal. What a great trip. Thanks New York!

Flavour Shaker

Yesterday I turned 34 years old. It was a good day, all in all, despite Sasha not winning on So You Think You Can Dance. I got loads of phone calls from family members wishing me a Happy Birthday. My co-workers surprised me with cupcakes from Sugar Bliss. And Chris treated me to fun new cooking gadgets and magazines (along with some jewelry, but that's beside the point).

My new fun kitchen gadget is Jamie Oliver's Flavour Shaker! (I love how British the spelling is.) This handy little gadget is replacing my little Ball Jar I keep in the kitchen, and have used to mix up salad dressings for the past year or so. The Flavour Shaker comes with this heavy marble that can smash up whole cloves of garlic, fresh herbs, and even seeds (like caroway or sunflower). It will allow me to add so many layers of flavor (I mean, flavour) to my dressings and marinades!

What fun!

The Big Apple

In one week, Chris and I are heading off to New York City! Woo-hoo!! His family has a home on Fire Island in Point O'Woods and so we're spending most of the week at that house on the beach. But we're bookending the trip with two weekends in NYC and I'm so excited for the fun places we will eat and the fun shows we will see. :)

The first weekend we plan on grabbing lunch at The Shake Shack, which supposedly serves the best hamburgers EVER. I was skeptical, because I'm all have these people ever been to an In-N-Out Burger?, but Christopher Kimball interviewed people standing in line at the Shake Shack and if he's spending his time at this restaurant then By God, so am I.

We have dinner reservations at a Mario Batali restaurant (more on that later) and then we have tickets to see The Book of Mormon!! I can't wait to see this show and we got really good seats (like 15th row center or something crazy like that). Yay!!

We have a hotel in Midtown, The Pearl, that we're staying at so we should be in walking distance to the theater. After the show we're meeting up with friends and some family in Midtown to grab drinks at a bar. I can't WAIT!!

Northwestern Cutlery

Every good cook needs at least 1 sharp knife. Because of my passion for cooking coupled with a hefty discount from Crate and Barrel, I have grown my collection of knives to include some German, some Japanese, and some British steel. It's like the UN of knife blocks.

I have tried sharpening them on my own but I'm not that good at sharpening them so I decided to hunt around on Yelp for a good place to take them to. I had heard that Sur La Table offers free knife sharpening, but reviews online showed their service to be quite poor. People actually complained about this free service, saying it wasn't worth their time.

So I kept hunting until I found out about this little gem, about 4 blocks from my office: Northwestern Cutlery. http://www.nwcutlery.com/

I dropped my knives off one morning; humbled that I was carrying them in a shoe box, because how else do you travel with 8 knives? I seriously looked like the opening sequence to a Final Destination movie.

Anyhoo...I dropped them off and then picked them up on my lunch hour. They only charge like $3 a knife, no matter what knife you bring in. So a 10" chef's knife = $3. A paring knife = $3. (Most places charge by the inch, which can get to be pretty hefty in upcharges.) My total bill came in less than $30 for all those knives. And boy are they sharp! It's like having brand new knives! I forgot how easy it is to dice an onion, slice a tomato, or cut into a crusty loaf of bread when your knife is razor sharp!

So I left them a great review on Yelp and I highly recommend them to anyone else looking to sharpen their steel.

http://www.nwcutlery.com/

Cereal

Shopping the cereal aisle used to be a fun activity for me. I would stand in the middle of the aisle and just look at all the boxes, all the options, all the colors!, and try to decide what I wanted to eat that week.
Lately, the cereal aisle has not brought me that same type of joy. It was a little over a year ago that I decided to try my best to not consume any high fructose corn syrup. I'm sure there have been times where I've eaten something that still has that ingredient, but I really do try to read labels and avoid it whenever possible.

This has drastically affected my cereal shopping.

Have you ever looked at the ingredient lists on cereal boxes? I haven't even looked at the sugar cereals like Cap't Crunch or Trix; I'm talking about the "healthy" cereals like Special K or Raisin Bran. They are LOADED with sugar and most have high fructose corn syrup. It's quite disheartening.

For awhile I was buying Kashi's Summer Field, which is very delicious but you don't really get that much cereal in that small, expensive box, so it's not very logical to buy this cereal on a weekly basis.


This past weekend I went to the store and just looked at cereal boxes and their ingredients lists. Here's a couple of cereals I found that are low in sugar and have no high fructose corn syrup. I hope you find my research helpful. :)

Cheerios (especially the original kind but the multi-grain are yummy)
Rice and Corn Chex
Crunchy Corn Bran

Lotta Apricotta Bar

My office catered lunch for a long meeting we had scheduled last week. Part of the lunch buffet were these organic granola bars, "Lotta Apricotta" by Nature's Path. I snagged one to keep at my desk, just in case I ever find myself hungry and tempted to go to a vending machine.

I just ate the whole thing and it was really good! Sweet but fairly low in sugar (compared to most granola bars) at only 12 grams for the whole bar. It still contains a lot of ingredients that I can't find in a typical grocery store (which I try not to consume food that has ingredients like that) but in a pinch, this would be a tasty and fairly healthy treat.

Bucatini with Green Peas and Pancetta

Cooking Light recipes are the bomb! Last night I cooked up this recipe, featured in their May magazine: Bucatini with Green Peas and Pancetta. It was surprisingly simple (especially if you prep your food before you start cooking) and holy cow was it flavorful! The carmalized shallots and salty pancetta were delicious! It was a perfect summer meal, light and fresh but packed full of flavor.
Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup chopped pancetta (about 2 ounces)
* 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
* 1 1/4 cups shelled green peas (about 1 1/2 pounds unshelled)
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1/4 cup dry white wine
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
* 1/2 pound uncooked bucatini pasta
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

* 1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add pancetta; cook for 10 minutes or until browned and crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove pancetta from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan; set pancetta aside. Add shallots; cook for 4 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add peas and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add wine and thyme. Increase heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil; cook until liquid reduces to 2 tablespoons (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat.
* 2. Cook pasta in boiling water with 1 tablespoon kosher salt according to package directions, omitting additional fat. Drain the pasta in a colander over a bowl, and reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Add pasta, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to pea mixture; toss well. Stir in reserved cooking liquid. Place about 1 1/4 cups pasta mixture in each of 4 shallow bowls; top each serving evenly with grated cheese and pancetta.

Sauteed Pork Chops with Peach Sauce

For Christmas I was given the gift of a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine. I love this magazine because it has really interesting articles, tips on how to prepare exotic vegetables (like artichokes or leeks), and healthy recipes that are fairly easy (and quick!) to make.
Since we got some pork chops from our farm CSA this week, I cooked up CLM's recipe for Sauteed Pork Chops with Peace Sauce. It was DIVINE! And at only 235 calories per serving, it's quite healthy too!



4 (4 oz) center-cut boneless pork loin chops, trimmed
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp thinly sliced shallots
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 peaches, each cut into 8 wedges
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. light butter

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan and swirl to coat. Sprinkle chops evenly with salt and pepper. Add chops to pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chops from pan, and keep warm.

Add shallots, thyme, and peaches to pain and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 2 minutes). Stir in broth and honey and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in butter. Spoon sauce over chops and serve.

Geronimo

Another restaurant we dined at, while in Santa Fe, was the highly acclaimed Geronimo. I had read up on this restaurant, prior to our trip, and knew that the food was top notch and I had better bring my appetite because I was going to want to sample almost everything on the menu.
We started off with green chili bread, which was a little more heat than I'm used to so I accompanied this with about 2 glasses of water. I then had an order of the Maryland Blue Crab Cakes (TO DIE FOR) which left just enough room for a good sized main course.
My friend, Roberto, who got married in Santa Fe has been talking my ear off about this restaurant for the weeks leading up to the trip. He's a foodie, like myself, and was raving about this menu. He first suggesting the mushroom sampling, but since I don't like mushrooms, his second choice was the peppered Elk.

Now I love food. And I'll try most things at least once but Elk worried me. I didn't want to drop $45 on my entree and not like it. What if Elk was too gamey? Or the texture was too gross? But Roberto swore up and down, and earlier in the day I tried Duck and liked it...so I took a leap of faith and ordered the Peppered Elk.

Much to my surprise, I really liked it! It's not gamey at all and it was cooked perfectly. Like a good steak it was full of flavor and juice but not overly chewy. It was wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, which gave it a nice salty taste. The sides to the elk were garlic roasted mashed potatoes, sugar snap peas, and brandied mushroom sauce. And even though I don't like mushrooms, that sauce was delicious! The waitress suggested I pair all this with a glass of Cabernet, which was a great suggestion as the wine complimented the peppery coating on the elk.

The one downside was I had no room left dessert. Which says A LOT because I almost always have room for dessert!

By far the biggest surprise of Santa Fe was the excellent cuisine.

Memorial Day Weekend

Chris and I spent Memorial Day weekend at the townhouse down in Myrtle Beach. I strongly believe life is better on the ocean. When you start your day by listening to the waves crash on to the beach and end each night watching the sun set on the marsh, life just seems more peaceful.
We also saw dolphins swimming in the water and lots of wildlife such as loons, an alligator, and a baby shark (about a foot long, at best).

And we drank Landshark beer all weekend long, which is the best beach beer in my opinion. It's light and refreshing and I highly recommend it on a sunny day.

Vinaigrette - A Salad Bistro

Last weekend, my mother-in-law, sister in-law and I flew to New Mexico to spend 3 days hiking, exploring, eating good food, drinking fine wine, and relaxing at a desert spa. Oh, how I love a girl's only weekend. :)

We arrived early Friday morning where I ran into the musician Ian Moore at the Albuquerque airport! What a way to start the trip off! After I stopped gushing to him about how I love his music, we loaded into a rental car and drove to the canyons where we hiked for a few hours. The views were breathtaking and the sun felt so nice on my face.

Saturday we drove from Albuquerque to Santa Fe where we spent the morning in a desert spa called Ten Thousand Waves. There were heated meditation rooms, warm foot paths, natural spring pools, and a lovely massage that helped worked out any knots I've gathered during yoga practices and canyon hikes.

After all that...we were starving! We had heard about a small little restaurant called Vinaigrette, so we thought we would give it a shot. Holy cow was it good! I'm not one to eat a salad as a main course but this place was amazing! I ordered the "Can't Beet It" salad (big surprise, since beets are my favorite veggie). It was a mixture of spring greens (grown in the restaurant's garden), arugala, roasted beets, goat cheese, toasted pecans in a light vinaigrette. And since I wanted some protein with lunch too, I added the Duck Confit to the salad,

The last time I ate duck was in Paris back in 2001. I don't remember much of the meal (I didn't pay much attention to what I was eating back then) but I do remember not liking it very much. So I was a little nervous about ordering duck with my salad but happily I can report, I loved it! It sort of tasted like dark chicken meat...very juicy and full of flavor but not overly gamey. And it was the perfect addition to the salad.

With my salad I had a glass of pinot grigio (light and crisp, a perfect compliment to the salad) and some lemon water.

Never in my life did I expect to eat such great food in Santa Fe, but this place was amazing.
http://vinaigretteonline.com/

Lemonade

With spring's arrival, my palate has begun craving sweet berries and tart citrus. Nothing quenches my thirst on a hot summer day like a cold glass of lemonade. Unfortunately, when it comes to store bought lemonade, I find most packaged drinks to be overly sugary and, in most cases, they rarely taste like lemons.

And who has time to hand squeeze fresh lemons?

Here's a tasty recipe my sister-in-law shared with me, that I love! It's inexpensive, easy, and super quick - what beats that combination?

In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, and fill the rest with cool water. Stir and serve!

Duck Duck Goose

My culinary skills are being put to use in a way I never imagined happening. I'm beginning to research cooking for my dog, Fred. Fred is our 3 year old lab-mix puppy, whom we adopted from a farm when she was 8 weeks old. Over the past 3 years, Chris and I have discovered that Fred is allergic to just about everything. She's allergic to grass and pollen, so spring and summer are pretty miserable for her. And like a lot of dogs, she's also allergic to grain and wheat - which rules out all dry dog foods.

So after a couple of years of trying different brands of food on Fred, we're happy to have found Stella and Chewy's raw meat patties! We have been feeding Fred the "Duck Duck Goose" variety and Fred LOVES the food and already she's itching so much less. She has even grown some fur back in! Fred gets two raw patties per meal, and each patty is comprised of organic duck parts (i.e. liver, meat, gizzards, etc), goose parts, cranberries, broccoli, squash, blueberries and pumpkin.

Two weeks ago we thought we would have her try out Stella and Chewy's All Beef patties, but after two meals Fred was itching so much she had trouble walking. So now we know she's also allergic to cow. (Seriously, how can something/someone be allergic to cow?!)

Stella and Chewys also offers a Dandy Lamb variety and a Chewy's Chicken, so we may try those out on her as well to see if she can eat them without having an allergic reaction. I've also gotten a book on cooking for dogs with allergies and have learned that dogs are able to eat a lot natural foods! I think from now on Fred's snacks will be comprised of a mixture of fruits and veggies. Now that's what I call a real treat!