Recently at Lunch with Lauren: Dog Cake • Hasselback potatoes • Custom Cutting Board • Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks

by Lauren Townsend for The Aha! Connection

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November 11th

It is Olive Dog’s Gotcha Day. We made her a cake (and Cricket orchestrated a balloon drop, but that seemed more traumatic). This cake is safe for dogs to eat and I’m not sure how it tastes, but Olive liked it.
1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/8 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 egg.
Mix together and divide into small pans or bake in one. I did three 6 inch pans, but the layers were super thin. You could probably do 2 , 6 inch pans. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.
I used two of those individual cups of plain Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of peanut butter for the frosting. If your dog isn’t going to eat it right away, you need to keep it in the fridge because of the yogurt.
 
November 7th
***Updated to mention crucially mention that these potatoes were roasted with a boneless pork belly. The juices and fat from the meat did keep the lower part of the potatoes juicy.
I forget about  Hasselback potatoes and how yum they are. The key is placing the potato between two wooden spoons to keep you from slicing too far down. Then drizzle with oil and salt. These were roasted at 430 for several hours and I dropped the temp after I shoved cheese in them. I thought they could use a sauce, so I used some Moe’s queso that was not new, but didn’t kill anyone and thinned it out with milk and some garlic powder. It helped balance the crunchiness.
 
November 2nd
 
Holiday Gift Idea (and it’s local):
I don’t have any hand written recipes in my family because my mom didn’t write down her recipe for carrot and pineapple orange jello, but I love that my kids may do this one day…

Sumita Dalmia Patel makes custom engraved cutting boards from hand written recipes! These are engraved in the person’s handwriting. They are $65 each and measure 18×8. These are so perfect for Christmas gifts and keepsakes! ⁣it’s okay if the recipe is old, stained, or has lined paper. https://www.homeboundcustombooks.com/…/custom-recipe-board