Sweet Potato Dog Treats (or Vegan Jerky)

This was one of those too-good-to-be-true recipes, or, why didn’t I think of that? The Accidental Locavore was reading a blog post about making dog treats from sweet potatoes. Here’s how it works:

• Preheat the oven to 175°.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper — figure one pan per potato, depending on their size.
• Wash and dry 1-2 large sweet potatoes and slice very thinly the length of the potato. If you have a mandolin, this is the time to use it. If you’d rather practice your knife skills, slice a small piece off one side to give yourself a steady base.
• Arrange the slices in one layer on the baking sheets (they can touch but not overlap).
• Bake for 8 hours until they’re dehydrated.
• Let cool overnight, serve or feed to the dog and enjoy!

My verdict: Depending on how many sheet pans your oven will hold, as long as you’re running it that long, you might as do as much as you can fit. I did two large sweet potatoes because we’ve got a big dog, but you might want to use smaller potatoes if you’re eating them yourself or you have a small dog. Along with being low calorie (and knowing exactly what’s in them), these have the advantage of being really chewy so it takes a dog a little longer to wolf them down. After I did the sweet potatoes, the two butternut squash on my dining room table (since Thanksgiving) got peeled, sliced and dehydrated too. I took a bite and promptly spit it out, but my brave friend tried both and preferred the sweet potato. She thought they were both too chewy though.

Rif’s verdict: Woof, woof, woof! Worth sitting for. Nice and chewy and I’m a fan of sweet potatoes in any form. Not sure they replace a classic large Milk Bone and definitely no contest when it comes to a smoked pigs ear, but since the humans think they’re better for me, I seem to get a couple extra. Butternut squash was pretty good too, but not as chewy. Keep up the experiments, mom, but please no kale!