Ok, so we have established that I am not totally against making homemade dog treats for Chester and Gretel. We have also established that I am a lazy dog Mom when it come to that. I won’t make stuff that takes too much effort and prefer to make treats that both you and your dog can eat.
Another “fault” of mine is buying food and then not eating it before it goes bad. I try not to because I feel bad and it’s bad for my pocket book but it happens.
So there I was with all “brown eyes” of the over-ripe bananas on me. I mean, the flies were starting to circle.
Too guilty to throw them away and too lazy to make banana bread, I grabbed a bowl and fork and mashed them up. I had a silicone ice cube tray so I slapped it on the counter and filled each cavity 3/4 the way full with the banana.
I topped the banana with enough frozen wild blueberries to fill up the rest of the tray, patted them down into the goo and threw them in the freezer. This is how they turned out. Not bad if I do say so myself.
It was hot out so Chester and Gretel appreciated them. It has turned a little cloudy around here so the rest are in a Tupperware container in the freezer waiting for a hot day.
Note: Because I like my bananas yellow with a tinge of green, these treats made with over ripe bananas tasted icky. I mashed bananas and probably used a half-cup of blueberries total to make these. I was able to fill the whole ice cube tray (13 holes) so I estimate that each treat was about 19 calories.
urban hounds says
Well these sound so delish!
urban hounds
Hailey and Zaphod's Lady says
That is a great treat! What a good use of food!
GizmoGeodog says
Creative use of what’s on hand…These do sound good for both humans and dogs and definitely super simple
Amber DaWeenie says
Great way to use up those “senior” bananas. I think we have some of those in the pantry too. 🙂
Jessica Rhae says
“senior” bananas…I like that 🙂
SUGAR: Golden Woofs says
Banana and Blueberries are great combo for a DELISH Tasty Ice cubes. Love that you place whole blueberries on top and did not mixed it up with the mashed banana, Happy Tasty Tuesday. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
Jessica Rhae says
Ha, ha. That was my touch of “class”.
jan says
I love the verbs you use, grab, smash and grab. These are my kind of cooking directions and seriously, I have bananas right now that I need to fight the fruit flies to get so i am going to have happy dogs, thanks to you
Jessica Rhae says
Grab, smash, slap is pretty much how it goes when you are lazy and want to get it over fast 🙂 I think I had to fight the fruit flies to get to my bananas too. I hate that they stick around for a while after too hoping they will come back.
jan says
grab, mash, slap I mean
Flea says
You knooooow … you could do this in a yogurt cup, the way Champ’s mom did, and use a cinnamon stick for people to hold onto, or a bully stick for dogs. I shared this on FaceCrack and will share on Twitter. What fun!
Jessica Rhae says
They eat the cubes so fast (shew them) that it would be instant access to the bully stick…which is extra sugar and calories. The goal of my treat making is to keep them under 25 calories each, or 50 calories for the Kong Stuffing per 2 TBS serving (that is what it takes to fill a small Kong). The bully stick would make them super cute though.
Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes says
They actually look pretty yummy. Honey loves bananas and blueberries so I’ll give this a try.
BTW, you can freeze overripe bananas. Just stick the banana in the peel right in your freezer. When you thaw it, it will be dark and disgusting. But it’s perfect for banana bread.
I only use my oven in the winter. And I usually have at least 3 bananas waiting to go into banana bread when the temps are cool enough to bake.
Jessica Rhae says
I have tried freezing the bananas before. Just as you said, they ended up dark and disgusting. I thought they were bad (and it was gross) so I threw them away. Good to know that is “normal” and they are safe to eat. My hubby will be glad to know that because he likes banana bread 🙂
Sarah says
Ouh!, if you peel them, than freeze them you can throw a couple in the blender with a smaller portion of your choice of milk it creates a great banana smoothie!!! Of which you could combine with any other fruit, Yummy!!
Jessica Rhae says
I tried that before but I don’t like my bananas very ripe….yellow with a tinge of green on them. By the time they would be freezer material they would already be too ripe for my liking 🙂
Jessica Rhae says
I peeled them and THEN froze them for the dogs before and that worked though. They weren’t disgusting after 🙂
Kirby the Dorkie says
Actually they look quite artistic as if you slaved over the final presentation! Banana Blueberry Bliss!
Jodi, Kolchak & Felix says
Many an overripe banana has found it’s way into dog treats at Casa de Kolchak. I honestly don’t know why I buy more than one banana, ever.
Pam says
This is perfect for today, because I also have some way overripe bananas on hand and I just don’t feel like making banana bread with them. No blueberries, but I have some other things I could use. But I don’t have any silicone trays (and have no idea why I haven’t bought any yet since I read these great frozen treat ideas all the time). I wonder if they’d pop out of regular trays okay… guess I’ll be finding out.
houndstooth says
I love the sounds of this one! Wow!
FiveSibesMom says
Great idea! I have a whole bunch of those brown bananas here, too! Guilty of the same thing…not getting to the food in time! I love making frozen treats for my Sibes, and this one will be a favorite I’m sure…(for me, too!) Thanks for sharing!
Champ's Mom says
I am ALL for easy dog treats, too! These look good!
Kolchak, Felix & Jodi says
These look delish! I make this same kind of thing for the people here (frozen banana puree with ribbons of chocolate running through it). I’ll have to try your doggy version!
emma says
I think they look like blueberry cheesecake and I know we would love them…we aren’t picky when it comes to the state of the banana!
Jodi says
Very nice, nutritional and probably yummy to the pups.
Paula says
Let’s hear it for the lazy dog moms. ME! If it is simple to make, I like it. Although my daughter does accuse me of preparing more food items for the dogs than her. 🙂 I share a banana every morning with my foster dog. I don’t like the high prices of pet food items, like ice cream. I buy frozen yogurt bars, blueberry and share them with the dogs. I put some peanut butter in an ice cube tray to see how that worked. The dogs loved it! Some dogs will even enjoy a plain ol’ ice cube. It is funny to watch them eat it.
Jessica Rhae says
Chester and Gretel LOVE bananas. I could probably even puree pure banana and put it in Kong for Gretel and she would be satisfied. I do have a little fun pretending to cook for them though 🙂 Another idea for you would be to mix peanut butter and plain yogurt to freeze in ice cube trays.
Paula says
PS I love the name of your blog. Caught my attention!