The heat has it

The dogs spent the day panting - it was HOT here today!

I have been trying to eat more regular meals - so this afternoon I ate half of this bar as a snack.

I am also trying to get more protein in my diet so this bar fit the bill. It was a little chocolaty and not too sweet. Perfection.

For dinner, I raided the freezer.

Leek soup.

This soup has greatly improved in flavor the more time it spent hanging out in the freezer. Definitely a re-do.

And since this was the last of the batch - I will have to make another big pot of soup - I just have to decide what kind to make.


The coolness of my dessert was much needed today:

Red grapes.

I am excited because tomorrow I am going on a 'field trip' to a foodie place I have been longing to go to for forever.

I am not sure when I will get to post tomorrow - it will probably be on the late side - but I will have lots of great pictures!!

Early summer

Can you believe it is over 80 degrees and sunny here today?

It feels like summer has arrived in March. Very Odd.


I went with something light for lunch:

Quinoa with zucchini and carrot over a bed of lettuce and cabbage.

I started with the veggies:

Carrot and zucchini chopped small.

I put 1/4 cup on quinoa in a pot with 1 cup of chicken broth - I added in more liquid than was needed to cook the quinoa since I would be cooking the veggies at the same time.

When the quinoa started to simmer, I added in the chopped veggies.

I turned the heat to low and covered the pot and let it cook for 15 minutes.

Chopped lettuce and cabbage went into the bowl as a bed for the quinoa.

I also had some of the crispy cod left over so that went on top of the quinoa.

Quinoa with vegetables over a bed of chopped cabbage with crispy cod and drizzled with blue cheese dressing.

A garnish of cherry tomatoes.

Time for shopping

My kitchen and fridge are pretty empty. I need to go shopping!

I put together breakfast from what I could scrounge together from my meager supplies.

Enter the breakfast quesadilla:

Corn tortillas, cheddar cheese and green onions.

I put the quesadilla into a hot skillet. I kept flipping it until both sides were golden brown and the cheese was melted.

Coffee.

Time to get together my shopping list.

I can't believe it is Thursday already...

Temptations

Is it strange that whenever I walk by this vehicle/backhoe/tractor with a forklift - whatever it is - I have the urge to hop on and take it for a joy ride??

And Connor, being a male, is always mesmerized by this large construction vehicle.


I finally broke down and purchased some new measuring cups and a new peeler.

I wasn't hungry for lunch for some reason so I just went with it and finally made something to eat when I did eventually get hungry at dinner time.

Bean and cheese burrito with a side of coleslaw.

Tonight I have a craving for collard greens - time to put more greens on the menu methinks.

A dog's breakfast

The dogs got to enjoy the rest of the soft tofu this morning. 

Yes, running out of kibble is a good thing!

Quinoa, ground pork, soft tofu, carrots and seasoned nori.

I used quinoa in this recipe because it has a nice protein content and I only had a little bit of the pork and tofu left.

I wouldn't bother adding salt to this recipe - dogs usually don't need it added for taste and the chicken broth should provide plenty of salt.

I drizzled Udo's oil over the top.

A golden pool of Udo's oil at the bottom of the bowl.

Quinoa and tofu in chicken broth

Serves 4 (40 lb dogs)


Ingredients:

1/2 a package of soft tofu

1/4 lb of ground pork

1 large carrot chopped

8 strips of teriyaki nori torn into small pieces

3 cups of chicken broth

1 1/2 cups of quinoa, rinsed

2 Tbsp. of Udo's oil

Directions:  

Pour three cups of chicken broth into a sauce pan and place over medium heat. Add in the ground pork, tofu, carrot and half of the seasoned nori. Rinse the quinoa with water several times and then add to the pot.

Bring up to a boil and then turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Keep an eye on the pot - if the quinoa has absorbed most of the chicken broth - add in a little more.

The nori will dissolve and color the quinoa green - Don't worry the dogs won't mind.

When the quinoa has become translucent and the carrots are tender, remove from heat and let cool. 

When the stew is cool, ladle 1 cup of the mixture into bowl(s), top with one or two strips of the nori torn into pieces and a generous drizzle of Udo's oil (you can substitute with olive oil).

This is a quick and easy meal especially for dogs that are sensitive to wheat or rice.

Sunrise muesli

Today I woke up before sunrise for some reason so you will have to excuse the flash.

So, this morning it was sunrise muesli:

Muesli with milk, blueberries, slivered almonds and peanut butter.

And very strong coffee.

The dogs were out of kibble this morning so I am cooking them some breakfast now.

I will post pictures later...

Enchirittos

I was planning on making chicken enchiladas tonight but, unfortunately, I forgot to pull the chicken out the the freezer this morning to defrost.

So, I had to make do with what I had on hand.

Green onion, baked beans, cheese, corn tortillas, enchilada sauce.

I spooned some of the enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of a pan.

Then I mixed together the chopped green onion, the shredded cheese and the rinsed beans.

I smeared some of the enchilada sauce on top of a corn tortilla and then spooned some of the bean mixture on top.

Then I rolled it up and put it seam side down in the pan.

I continued the process until the pan was filled.

A little bit of cheese, green onion and some more enchilada sauce on top.

They went into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

They came out of the oven with the cheese nicely melted.

I added a dollop of sour cream on top.

Even though it wasn't the dinner I had planned, it turned out great!

And since they were a cross between enchiladas and a burrito I called them enchirittos.

Crispy cod with a spicy lemon yogurt sauce

At noon time I wanted fish and I also wanted some steamed veggies.

Crispy cod over a bed of steamed carrot and zucchini with a spicy lemon yogurt sauce.

I pan fried the fish over medium high heat. I kept the preparation simple. I just cut up the fish in chunks and rolled them in a mixture of half flour and half Matzo Meal.


Keep a close eye on the fish while it is in the pan. Turn each piece as soon as you see the underside starting to turn golden brown.

Drain the fish on paper towels. 

Then I chopped one carrot and two small zucchini and tossed them in the steamer. I cut them small so they were done in about 7 minutes.


Next, I made the sauce.

Spicy lemon yogurt sauce.

I have no real amounts for this one I just kept adding a little of this and that until it tasted great. But I can tell you I did start with 2 Tbsp. of greek yogurt and mixed in some chicken broth, ground cumin, lemon juice and taco seasoning.

This dish was pretty even before the sauce :-)

The Matzo Meal made the fish extra crispy.

I drizzled the sauce over the top.

This turned out much better than I thought. The slightly spicy, lemony sauce was a great creamy accent to the crispy fish.


The sauce made its way down to the vegetables and OMG! I could have just kept adding more and more sauce and eaten it like a soup :-)

Breakfast calzones two ways

I pulled out one of the frozen pieces of pizza dough from the freezer last night.

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it today - but when I woke up I had the urge to experiment with breakfast calzones.

Egg, apple and Parmesan calzone.

First I rolled out the dough.

Rolled out pizza dough and chopped apples.

Apples roughly chopped.

Thick shavings of Parmesan.

I cracked a raw egg over this - but I wasn't able to take a picture since the egg started to slide around.

Note to self: Make a well for the egg to sit in next time.


Then I made a calzone with apple and seasoned pork.

I sauteed up some ground pork (about 1 cup raw ground pork) over medium-high heat with a little peanut oil. 

While the pork was cooking, I mixed together in a small bowl 1 Tbsp. of soy sauce, 1/8 tsp. of chili paste, 1/2 Tbsp. of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of chicken broth.

When the pork was lightly browned I added in the sauce mixture to the pan and turned the heat to low. I mixed 1 Tbsp. of flour with some water and added that to the pan to thicken the sauce.

Just like with the first calzone, I put in a layer of apples on the bottom.

Apples chopped fine.

I did chop the apples fine for this one. The first calzone was hard to roll because the apple pieces were too big.

Seasoned pork over a bed of apples.

Each calzone got brushed with an egg wash.

 They both went into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Apple and seasoned pork calzone.

The apple and pork calzone turned out wonderful. It tasted a bit like one of those steamed buns with barbecued pork - only less sweet. Yummy!

Next time I think I would increase the chili paste to 1/2 a tsp.


The egg, apple and Parmesan calzone turned out very interesting.

A very lumpy looking calzone!

You can see the egg starting to ooze out the top.

The egg was a bit overcooked - I think I would pull it out at after 10 - 15 min. next time.

This ended up tasting like a cross between a McDonald's apple pie and an egg McMuffin. A very surprising taste combination.

The crust was very flaky.

So, all in all, not a bad result from my breakfast calzone experiment - but it still needs some tweaking.