Scooby Snacks – Homemade dog treats!

Saturday May 23rd marked a very special day in our house: Our dog Luna’s second birthday! We wanted to celebrate with a special treat. In typical Skill Up Skillet fashion, this means something geeky. Luna has a handful of nicknames because of her big personality including Luna-toon, Luna Lovegood, Toona-Loon, Fur Kid, Smart-Ass, and Scooby Loon. Scooby Loon, because our entry hall, kitchen, and pool room have wood floors and when she gets wound up she tries running on the floors, leading to much skittering a-la-Scooby.

While these treats are made from human food, they’re not very tasty to humans but are irresistible to dogs. Don’t try to share. Trust me. One of us took one for the team and tried a bite. Yuck.

Happy birthday, Luna! We love you! (Yes, I’m aware dogs can’t read, but I’m not so sure about this one. Too damn smart.)

Ready? Let’s go.

Death Note Apples

Okay, okay. This one is entirely subjective. Skill level largely dependent on artistic ability. Fair?

So, I’m going a little easy on the both of us this time. I could have done candied apples or caramel apples dipped in white chocolate but, let’s face it: I’ve been a busy girl this week. Plus, you’re getting two recipes today. Take your moaning elsewhere. If you’re not familiar with the Death Note manga and anime series, you’re missing out. No, really. You are quite possibly missing out on the best series to ever exist*. (Yes, I’m aware there’s a movie, too. It’s live action. Haven’t seen it, and not planning on it either. Yecch.)

*Again, subjective.

For those of you not in the know, Japanese shinigami (gods of death) are featured prominently in the Death Note series. Particularly one shinigami called Ryuk who loves apples. More than love, really; it’s an addiction.

L, do you know gods of death love apples?

Ready? Let’s go.

Banana Caramel Golden Snitches

Possibly debatable if a 2 or 3 Skillet difficulty- how steady is your hand?

Harry Potter is by far one of my absolute favorites and I intend on making many HP recipes over the course of the blog. But where to start? That was a decidedly hard question; there are too many to choose from! I finally decided on the classic Golden Snitch from the popular wizarding game, Quidditch. The Snitch is arguably the most important ball in the game as it is tiny, wicked fast, awards 150 points to the team who catches it, and ends the game. So, I did a little research a la Google and saw so. Freaking. Many. Cake. Pops. And some truffles. (Don’t tell the boy I saw truffles; he’ll want them and I’m not ready to make them.) Well, most of what I saw looked perfectly lovely and all but, geez, way overdone. So, Nilla Wafers.

I’m actually not sure what made these pop into my head, but another brief research stint informed me that Nilla Wafer sandwiches are a thing. The gears started turning. Quick, what’s the first recipe you think of when someone says ‘Nilla Wafer’? Banana pudding, right? Pretty good, but a little blah, if you know what I mean. But bananas and caramel, now, that’s really something.I can totally sandwich that. Oh, and toss some wings on ’em. Snitches love wings. (I’m sorry.)

The result? A desserty but not-too-sweet two-bite sandwich made in heaven. And it’s relatively easy, especially if you have a steady hand. Ready? Let’s go.

Tetris Rice Krispie Treats

Tetris for me has always been one of those ‘firsts’. Once upon a time, Little Leisel was fortunate enough to be able to read and play video games in the back seat of dad’s car on super long car trips. Nowadays, I’m either always bloody driving, or I get immensely ill after playing a level or reading half of the comics section of the newspaper– if I’m lucky. Anyway, back to Story Time: I never actually had a Game Boy handheld growing up. My first ‘brand name’ handheld gaming system was a 3DS… which I got this year. When I was a Bright Young Thing, I received a handheld Tetris video game player. It took a crap-ton of carefully rationed batteries and was immensely fun for all those long hours in the car going to and from family reunions in northern Indiana. You know, I have no idea what ever happened to that thing…

You’ll remember I actually did plan these when I wrote last week’s post. But I did not plan for it to be like this. Dad called me a couple of days ago to tell me our cousin Janet just passed away. Janet was the official ‘head’ of the family reunion – reserving the meeting place, sending out official invitation letters to relatives all over the country (most of which are actually in Hoosier country, but there are a few stragglers), organizing Bingo and the White Elephant auction… as you can tell, it’s quite a job! As such, I think it’s fitting to dedicate this post to Janet. Rest in peace.

Disclaimer: I know all this seems like A LOT. I promise this recipe will take you from raw ingredients to cooling stage in about 10 minutes.

Anyway. I made Tetris Rice Krispie Treats, flavored with gelatin. That’s right, they’re flavored! Because at Skill Up Skillet we either go ALL THE WAY or write a Filler Post of Facepalm. Ready? Let’s go.

Captain America Fruit Pizza

Ah, Avengers. Yes, I’m aware I’m one week late into the hype. I just had my heart set on making that meatloaf, y’know? Also, I was seeing Avengers on my everything feed like crazy, particularly pizza versions of Captain America’s shield. Considering that my family owns a pizzeria that would have been all too easy. Like, total cop out easy. Have you ever had a fruit pizza before. I’m not talking about pineapple on your everyday, run-of-the-mill Hawaiian pizza. I’m talking about on a full on dessert style fruit pizza. No? Well, you’ve been missing out.

Until today. Today I will change your life.

This is how you’ll get your kids to eat fruit. It’s fast, easy to put together, and once you get started you’ll realize that the possibilities are endless. Use kiwi and blueberries for the Hulk. Strawberries and mango or peach for Iron Man. You see where I’m going with this. As usual, I went all out and made a 16″ pizza. With this suggestion, you could easily make multiple smaller pizzas with different variations. A trio of 10″ fruit pies? I’m just saying…

Ready? Let’s go.

May the Fourth be with You.

That’s right! Today is May 4th, 2015, also known as the official Star Wars Day. Hope you’re doing something special to celebrate! We’ll be having an all-day Star Wars marathon in our private theater room until we’re forced to go to bed (work tomorrow, after all).

Because I’m a little late on the Avengers movie madness, expect Captain America Fruit Pizza this Thursday. I promise to give you your Star Wars recipe fix when the seventh movie comes out at the end of the year. And maybe another around July-ish, if I can swing it. Have a suggestion? Let me know, I can probably make it happen!

May the Fourth be with you,

Leisel