World Elephant Day!!!!

Today is World Elephant Day - my favorite *holiday* of the entire year.  Elephants are by far my favorite non-domestic animal (although I love all animals).  To celebrate today.. here are my favorite elephant pics!

The gorgeous Willy form the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Cleveland, OH. My little sister took this one!

It was dinner time at the Cleveland Zoo when we too this one. Female #1.

Such a gorgeous elephant. The second female at the Cleveland Zoo.

Female #1 again. She's more of a taupe instead of grey. Love it!

Scotty! This was taken at his first birthday party in Cleveland. He was so tiny!

Elephant sculpture at the Cleveland zoo. They had several, but this was my fav.

Last but not least, the pink elephant cake I made for my 20th birthday.  This was take right after I finished, so the cake *fleas* weren't removed yet. haha! Not too bad for only 1 batch of frosting, 2 - 8in cake rounds and some black food gel!

Now, go hug an elephant!!

Happy World Elephant Day!

Updates!

So after realizing my harddrive on my *new* laptop is just done...(sigh) I'm back to using my old, but ever faithful laptop.  Let the mischief rebegin! haha

I've been testing out some organic products for a while now (three weeks ish..?) and have found my favorites.

Raw Cacao Powder
Coconut Sugar
Coconut Flour

The coconut flour isn't very easy to use, but I like the challenge.  It can absorb a ton more moisture than regular all purpose flour (or wheat flour).  BUT it made phenomenal dog treats!  My dachshund prefers homemade treats to store bought, especially the new recipe we made.  I haven't perfected it yet, I try to remember and share when I do.. but here is the general idea.

Apple Dog Treats:
Coconut Flour
Eggs (yolks and whole)
Sugar free apple sauce (I made my own)
Apple - cubed and peeled

Basically, I just took a whole cup of the flour, added about two cups of apple sauce, one yolk and two whole eggs then just threw in a bunch of apple chunks.  There was no exact science when I made it, but they came out well!  I chilled the dough for about an hour, then rolled it, cut it out into "bone" shapes and baked at 325*F until very light in color.  These were crunchy, healthy treats that Yosuke loved!  We still have plenty left as he only gets 2-3 treats per day.

I'm really excited to try out coconut flour for baking with "human" treats, but haven't had a chance yet.  Has anyone tried it before?  Happy Update Day!