Bed and breakfast for all

One thing I really enjoy about my dogs? They always let me sleep in.

As long as they get a walk just before bed - they won't budge until I get up.

Even when I had a regular schedule during the week, on weekends they embraced endless hours of laying in with the enthusiasm of a sleep deprived teenager.

So when I eventually decided to get up (today it was 10:15am) I decided that we should all have a special brunch.

My breakfast.

The dogs breakfast.

I cooked 1 1/4 lb of ground turkey over medium heat with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil.

I pulled out 2 cups of the cook turkey for the dogs and 1 cup for mine. 

Next, I added in two generous handfuls of fresh spinach and let it cook until wilted.


I pulled out 1/3 of the spinach and put it aside with my ground turkey. 


For the dogs meal, I put 1 chopped apple back into the pan along with the spinach and added in 1/4 cup of chicken broth and a few dashes of fish sauce. I let this cook down until soft and mixed it into the dogs cooked meat.


I seasoned my meat with a dash of soy sauce and a tiny amount of chili paste. 


Then I added one egg cooked over easy to complete my meal.

Time to get some things done before I had off later today for a family birthday party.

Sriracha gum drops

My guilt-free day is going very well.

I went for a long walk with the dogs.


I took a long bath got to use my new soap:

This soap is made with grass fed beef tallow.

The bar does have a slightly 'tallow' smell - but it did leave my skin really soft and no tallow smell remained on my skin after I rinsed off.

For lunch I made these:

These are russian meat dumplings. I especially love the picture of the guy on the package :-)

I boiled them in salted water until they floated. 


I seasoned mine with Sriracha sauce.

The Sriracha ended up looking like bright red gum drops on the dumplings.

These dumplings were delicious and fast - I did my best not to feel guilty that I did not include any vegetables in my lunch.

The dogs got to enjoy one dumpling each. And, as usual, their snack ended up looking better than mine.

And, nope, that is not Sriracha sauce on the dog's treat - it is a squirt of ketchup :-)

Braised beef shank and saffron mashed potatoes

The second culinary highlight I hit on the road trip?

Marin Sun Farms!!!! Here in Northern California it is a well known farm that sells 100% grass fed beef. 

I first became familiar with them when I was feeding my dogs a raw diet (a long story ) and they were a great resource. But one day I ordered some meat for myself and OMG!! Outstanding!

I saw this sign on our way to the lighthouse and my thought was, "How nice they serve Marin Sun Farms meat" - on the way back I realized it WAS Marin Sun Farms and we had to stop :-)

They have an adorable cafe - but I will show those pictures another day.

First - the star of the show today:

Grass fed beef shank (center cut).

When I brought this out the dogs went nutty. Sure, they are interested if I have beef - but for this stuff? they went really overboard.

This is Abby trying to inhale the meat:

I am not sure what Connor is doing here because the meat was sitting on top of the white paper - maybe a ninja attack on the meat??

This can be a tough cut of meat so it takes a long cooking time to make it juicy and tender.


After 1 1/2 hours of cooking I enjoyed this:

Braised beef shank with saffron mashed potatoes.

And the dogs gobbled up this:

Crostini topped with braised beef shank with a dollop of marrow and a garnish of cilantro.

I modified this recipe from Emeril Lagasse.


The cooking started with coating the meat lightly in flour seasoned with salt and pepper:

Shake off the excess flour and brown the meat in a pan on high heat with 3 Tbsp. of olive oil.

Remove the meat and add in chopped shallot, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper, carrot and celery.


When the shallot becomes translucent, deglaze the pan with white wine making sure to stir up all the dark bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.


Add in 1 1/2 quarts of stock (I was almost out of stock so I used 1 cup of chicken stock and the rest was water).


Bring it back up to a simmer and add the meat back in.


Cook for 1 1/2 hours. 


For the saffron potatoes - I boiled 2 large Yukon potatoes until tender - drained them and mashed them with a fork and folded in a few strands of saffron and 2 Tbsp. of creme fraiche.


I will admit that I am a wimp when it comes to textures. I steer clear of fatty bits of meat or connective tissue - so I ended up cutting up the beef shank.

The marrow and connective tissue is filled with nutrition but some gets cooked out into the broth so if you are a texture wimp like me - you can still enjoy all the healthy goodness from the cooking liquid.


If you notice - I gave the dogs all the pieces with the chewy bits:

Monday is looming - I am off to relax for the rest of tonight!

Yuba fettucini and dogs love tofu skin

When I was cooking up the tofu skins last night, the dogs were interested but I thought it was the smell of the soy sauce mixture I braised it in.

Nope, this seems to be a lingering obsession. When I brought out the Yuba (tofu skin) at lunch time, both dogs were standing by the table sucking in air like were trying to vacuum it off the table.

To me, at least, this stuff doesn't have a smell - but to them it might as well have been Fillet Mignon.

But I digress, first my lunch:

Yuba fettucini with cherry tomatoes and garlic in tomato basil cream sauce.

 I started by putting 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in a saute pan and pan roasted 3 cloves of garlic and a few cherry tomatoes over low heat. 

When the garlic had roasted and perfumed the oil - I pulled out the tomatoes and garlic.

I then cut the Yuba into fettucini size strips.

Then I carefully separated the strips.

Then I tossed the Yuba strips into the saute pan with the seasoned oil. I gently tossed them until they were warmed through.

I poured in 2 Tbsp. of the tomato basil cream sauce and continued to gently turn the Yuba until it absorbed all of the sauce.

I then added back in the tomatoes and cloves of roasted garlic.

A sprinkle of parsley over top.

This was amazing! The Yuba stayed chewy but it was more like a slightly underdone al dente. What I liked most about it was how the tofu skin absorbed all of the sauce to each strip was packed full with saucy goodness and savory garlic flavor.

Now, back to the dogs:

I cleaned the saute pan and added back in some fresh olive oil. I sauteed them until they were crispy and brown.

Connor had started to keen constantly at this point - insane anticipation? It isn't pretty.

Crispy Yuba.

Evidence that the dogs were excited:

Was Abby excited? Check!

Another "Where's Waldo" shot of Connor:

Yup, that is the tip of his nose in the lower left-hand corner. Was Connor excited? Check!

They were both bouncing in place they were so excited:-)

And this is why I never make assumptions about what my dogs want/need in their diet. If you listen they will tell you every time.

So, now you know, dogs (well, my dogs at least) LOVE tofu skin - who would have thunk it?

Woot! it is Friday! Happy Friday everyone.

Fruit soup

The workers told me yesterday they will be cutting down the tree in my patio.

I love this tree. It is one of the reasons I rented this apartment. But, apparently, there is a new policy in the complex that forbids trees in the patios. Sigh.

I am hoping that the tree guys:

1. Are unable to work in the torrential down pours that are happening today.

2. Are too busy chopping down everyone else's trees and don't get to mine so that I get to enjoy my tree for another weekend.


The next item up on the soy front? Soft tofu.

I combined a good size chunk of the tofu with an apple, an orange, some blueberries, Kyo-Green and some Udo's oil. 

 

It turned out to have the consistency of a thick, fruit soup.

Topped with almond slivers.

The combination of fruit was spot-on and the tofu added a nice creaminess to the smoothie without interferring with the taste of the fruit.

And coffee.

A healthy serving of protein plus tons of fruit? I think I will be making more of these!


The dogs enjoyed this:

Apple slices with a large dollop of peanut butter.

A good start to the day for all of us :-)

Salmon and sweet potato fun

I had a great time making the treats for the dogs.

But it all started with my dinner:

Pan seared salmon over a bed of spinach.

I marinated the salmon fillet in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic.

Then the salmon went into a pan on medium heat - meat side down.

Six minutes later I slid the pan under the broiler (set on low). Another four minutes and the fish was done.

Then the I started on the dog's treat.

Sweet potatoes.

 They went into a pan of boiling water for 15 minutes.

Then I added 2 Tbsp. of greek yogurt and a tiny bit of water and pureed them smooth. 

Then came the fun part.

A dollop of pureed sweet potatoes with a topping of salmon on a small square of nori.

I wet the edges with some water and pressed them together like I would a potsticker. You might need to keep the seals pinched until it dries just a bit and hold well.

First wet one side and pinch the middle section to form a roll.

Then bring in one of the ends and fold it till it sticks together. Do the same with the remaining end.

The dogs loved, loved, LOVED these! 

I think it was a perfect combination of fish (for Abby) and a little bit of sweet (for Connor) so that it was a huge hit for both of them :-)

Yes, I did sacrifice a bit of my salmon fillet for the dog's treats but I think it was well worth it.