Heart Healthy Recipes for Dog Treats
Cheesy Flax Squares

By choosing recipes for dog treats that can improve or support your dogs health, you're showing how much you love him.

Flax seeds are full of omega-3 fatty acids, which is part of the foundation for a healthy heart.

That's why we've developed these cheesy flax squares, with a whole cup of ground flax, to help you get the needed nutrition into your dog's diet.

Flax seeds do more than contribute to a healthy heart. Flax is full of fiber, so if your dog needs to drop a pound or two, you can add foods with fiber to help him feel full with less calories. They also aid the health and maintenance of your dogs skin and coat.

Cheesy Flax Squares
are Heart Healthy Dog Treats

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ground flax (see note)
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F
2. Whisk the flax and cheese together in a medium bowl.
3. Stir the water into the flax mixture.
4. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment paper with non-stick cooking spray.
5. Pile the mixture into the middle of the prepared baking sheet.
6. Cover with another piece of parchment paper and roll out (see note below). It should be no more than 1/2" thick, 1/4" is best.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the center is no longer soft or spongy.

Storing - This heart healthy, like other recipes for dog treats will stay fresh in your refrigerator for about 2 weeks. Keep them in the freezer for 6 months.

Yield - Using a pizza cutter, you will get about 24 2 inch squares with a few irregular squares of various sizes to nibble.

Tips & Techniques

• Flax Seeds - Whether it's called ground flax, milled flax seed, or flax meal, they will all work for this dog treat recipe. For the freshest taste you can grind your own flax seeds at home with a flax seed grinder. Or, a multi-purpose kitchen tool you could use is a spice grinder. Either way, it's better not to use whole seeds, because your dog's body will not be able to break them down and she will not get the needed nutritional value. Milled flax seed, whether fresh or pre-ground, needs to be stored in the refrigerator (or freezer), in an air tight container for no more than four months to keep it from going rancid.
  
  
• Roll Out Dough - To roll out the flax dough on the baking sheet you can use a rolling pin. But I found that the flat edge of a ruler worked great to get a consistent thickness. Don't let the dog treat dough get too thin around the edges or it will burn. Once rolled out, lightly push any thin edges in to avoid it from burning.
  
  
• Flax Seed Oil - Your dog can benefit from adding flax seed oil to his regular daily food. Lighlty sprinkle on before serving. Or, you can add it to other recipes for dog treats. Just replace up to 1 tbsp of canola oil, or other oil, with flax seed oil.
  
  
• Replace Eggs - Another way of adding flax to your dogs diet is to replace the eggs in your dog treat recipes.
  
  
• Golden or Brown - OK, one more thing about flax seeds. Should you use the golden (yellow) or the brown variety of flax seeds? It's completely up to you! :) The golden seeds have a higher oil content, but otherwise they are similar in nutritional value. It may depend on what you already have on hand or what you can find in your local market.

With all of the health benefits that flax seeds can lend to your recipes for dog treats, you may even want to consider adding it to your own baked goods so you and your dog can enjoy a long and healthy life together.