The Grinch White Chocolate Mint Fudge is made with white chocolate and mint chips topped with green sprinkles and little red hearts.

When our Holly passed last year I had a few people question why we tried to save her when we knew she had congestive heart failure?

While Holly was in congestive heart failure, she did not actually die of congestive heart failure.

And congestive heart failure dogs can live many years when the medication is right.

In fact, she had walked a 5K just days before and tramped through a pumpkin patch with no issue at all.

She fainted or had what they call a syncope due to being startled by a blow dryer.

Holly was on a blood pressure medication that did not allow her blood pressure to rebound like a normal dog (or human) would do and so she went on oxygen.

When we took her in not knowing what was wrong we had told the emergency vets our end of life plan for her.

They were a little surprised that my husband and I were so organized.

And practical about everything and I thought for sure we would be getting a phone call telling us she had passed.

But that was not the case.

When were arrived later that night they were quite confident that she would be going home the next day,

We were already to take her home when they discovered an infection and wanted to continue to keep her there.

Staying at the ER in the small oxygen box and not getting to move very much caused her to get pneumonia, much like what happens in human ER’s.

Even with the pneumonia they were confident she was going home later that day.

She of course did not.

Because her heart was too big.

Holly had a big heart both figuratively and literally.

So when her lungs began to fill with fluid they really had nowhere to go and so we knew she would not be able to recover from it.

And thus the hard choice was made.

I bring this all up because of comment that was made on one of the rescue dogs we follow.

His mom runs the rescue (Panda Paws Rescue) that our Georgia and Tulip comes from and the rescue specializes in special needs and hospice animals.

One of their hospice dogs Duncan Lou Who has been beating the odds for years.

He has become rather famous and you can’t miss a two legged boxer running carefree on the beach dragging a stick three times it’s body size.

Duncan has three different wheelchairs…he refuses to use any of them.

He is not in pain and on the times he is he gets some meds that stop that pain. Just like humans.

If anyone doubts he has an amazing life they should check out his Instagram.

Anyway, the commenter said it was cruel to keep the dog alive.

That where she lives (I want to say Sweden but don’t quote me) no vet would have even done the surgery to keep them alive.

Which I’m not sure I believe.

Heck, France and Japan are now doing open heart surgery on dogs with Mitral Valve Disease (which is what Holly had and all of our cavaliers have).

Many argued that would you kill off a child if they only had two limbs?

Which the argument then was…these are dogs, not children.

Now, not having kids of my own I can’t fully weigh in on that….but my husband has had both kids and furkids.

Honestly, they are the same to him.

In fact, at least the dogs are always happy to see you and are not asking for money. 🙂

More and more people are treating their pets as family.

Real family.

My dogs are real family to me.

That’s why we have more and more veterinary specialist.

It’s why more and more hotels take dogs.

Restaurants create patio spaces for dogs.

Heck, some restaurants just pay the fine for dogs to be inside.

It’s one of the fastest growing industries.

There are lounges for dogs, food trucks for dogs, raincoats for dogs, strollers for dogs, monthly subscriptions for dogs, dog wine, you name it…and more is coming.

Every single one of my dogs have a health issue.

All of my dogs have a pretty darn good life.

Just look at their Instagram...and yes, my dog has more Instagram followers than me. 

Do they have bad days?

You bet…we all do.

They also all have what I call a quality of life plan.

A plan which was made at a non-emotional time, a time before something happens and you are in the thick of it.

And checklist of what constitutes a quality life and when they no longer meet that checklist then it’s time for them to cross the Rainbow Bridge.

I often called Holly the Grinch (well, I actually called her Grinchy)…not because she was a grump but because her heart was too big.

So it got me thinking about the Grinch drink I made and thought it would be fun to do a Grinch White Chocolate Mint Fudge.

It was a good idea until I needed red heart sprinkles which I thought I had.

Turned out they were pink.

I had tiny red ones…but they were mixed in with tiny white and pink ones.

And so I sorted.

Sorted some more.

Lots of sorting.

Food blogging is a glamorous life I tell ya.

If I were to make this again I would just go online and buy some red heart sprinkles but I was impatient and wanted to make the fudge right then.

If you can’t find green mint chips then use all white chocolate chips and then add four drops of peppermint extract and a couple drops of green food coloring.

This Grinch White Chocolate Mint Fudge is a super fun treat to have while you watch the Grinch hate the on Who’s but love on his dog.

And as always it’s a great day to order my cookbook.

Keys to Successful Fudge:

Have a thermometer. I don’t like the old fashioned ones that you clip to the side. Those never work for me. I like digital and use this one.

Use Baker’s sugar. Also known as caster or superfine sugar.

I don’t always follow my own rule because I don’t always have it on hand but it makes for a less gritty fudge.

If you don’t have it you can run the sugar through a dry blender or food processor to make it superfine.

Use good butter. Preferably European. They higher the butterfat content the better.

Cheaper butter often has too much water in it and will cause your fudge to separate.

Same goes for your chocolate.

The cheaper the chocolate the more likely it is to separate. If using chips I tend to use Guittard.

And when making extra special fudge I used TCHO.

Want more Grinch recipes?

Grinch Jell-O Shots

The Grinch Green Jell-O Salad

Grinch Buttermint Cupcakes

The Grinch Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

Grinch Cocktail Cooler