An American classic

A cheeseburger with Gruyere cheese.

I saw this at the store - 

and I knew I was going to make burgers.

First, I assembled the all the accompaniments for the burgers.

From the bottom left: Anchovies, peanut butter, lettuce, tomato and Gruyere cheese.

I know, the anchovies and peanut butter seem strange but stay with me - it'll all make sense in a minute.

I put some grape seed oil in a fry pan and set it on med-high heat. I cooked my hamburger for 3 minutes on one side then flipped the burger. 

When the patty had been cooking for 3 minutes on the second side, I placed the cheese on top. After the cheese had melted I put it on a plate and let the burger rest for a few minutes.

All dressed up with toppings.

This was awesome! 


And about the peanut butter and anchovies - 

Connor's peanut butter filled burger.

Abby's anchovy stuffed burger.

These burgers were big so the dogs won't be getting any kibble tonight but I doubt they will mind :-)

Breakfast fried rice

I was running a good streak with having kibble in the house.

And then I woke up this morning - open the food bin and there are only 3 lonely pieces of kibble. I shake the bin because maybe more kibble will magically appear????

No such luck. So, this morning the dogs and I had the same thing for breakfast. Breakfast fried rice.

The title of fried rice is not really accurate since there was no frying involved and I did not add in any green onions which are typically included in fried rice. (Remember onions are bad, bad things for dogs 'cause anemia is kind of a bad thing - or so I hear...)

I started with 1 cup of rice in two cups of water, one cup of frozen peas and several pieces of seasoned nori torn into small pieces in a sauce pan. I set everything to simmer away.

While the rice cooked I scrambled 3 whole eggs, 2 egg whites and 1 Tbsp. of soy milk in a pan.

I had some defrosted pineapple so I gave that a rough chop.

I layered the pineapple in the bottom of the bowls.

After the rice finished cooking, I added in 1 Tbsp. of soy sauce and 1/2 Tbsp. of oyster sauce. Then I portioned out the rice mixture into the bowls.

The next layer was the scrambled eggs and I mixed everything together.

The sweet and saltiness of this dish was a great combination.


The dogs were great fans of this dish - they gobbled down everything including the pineapple.

I also had a cup of tea but per usual I forgot to take a picture of it - because some trends are too good to break :-)

Happy Friday!!

It's all about the portions

It was another one of those early mornings.

Something tells me I shouldn't be up before the street lamps turn off...

But since I was awake I decided I might as well get busy.

I put the beans I had soaking overnight on the stove to simmer.

I pulled out this from the refrigerator:

It says it is a portion(s) and I was planning on having it for dinner but I knew it was way too big for one meal.

The dogs got the better end of this portion dilema.

The portion on the right is the one destined to be my dinner. The three on the left will be the dogs breakfast and mine as well.

I cooked up a mix of 1/2 quinoa and 1/2 basmati rice.

The halibut went into a saute pan on medium heat and got a quick sear.

I also had some pine nuts, olives and yogurt in the fridge so I created a sauce for the dog's breakfast.

I did soak the olives in water for a bit - otherwise they would have been too salty for the dogs.

The dog's breakfast pre-saucing:

And post-saucing:

This was my meal.

Quinoa and rice with seared Halibut plus seasoned nori strips, miso broth and some of the cooked kidney beans.

 Check out this post to see how I go about eating this.

I ended up eating all of the fish, most of the rice/quinoa, all of the miso broth and only a couple of bites of the beans.

The beans will be making an appearance later today :-)

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.

Easy peasy

I wanted something fast and simple for dinner.

Why my table cloth looks like it has grown a hump? Someone is hiding under there.

And there he is. Clearly Abby was not the only one excited about a fish dinner.


I mixed a can of tuna with 2 tsp. of mayonaise, ground pepper, powdered garlic and yellow mustard.


I added in a generous handful of pretzel sticks for dipping.


The dogs were thrilled to get this.

Sardines with oven roasted sweet potatoes.

I have big plans for hitting the gym and upgrading my blog this coming week.

Enjoy the rest of the Sunday everyone!

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.

When it's really, really good you know you are going to want more...

The coleslaw I had for lunch was delicious.

For dinner I decided to add in a little protein to the mix.


I went 'round the corner and picked up some dried salami.

Normally, I would make this dish with Aidell's apple sausage and trust me the combination of the apple sausage (crisped up in a saute pan) with the cool creamy coleslaw? You will be instantly transported to a state of bliss.

But, as usual, I made do with what I could gather in a few minutes.


The dogs enjoyed this:

Dried salami wrapped around apple slices.

 I crisped up some salami slices in a pan and added them to the coleslaw.

I hope everyone had a great Sunday.

And the answer is...

I have been getting questions about what I feed the dogs and Annie's (@ les ouefs brouilles) recent question inspired me to write a post just about what the dogs eat.

Annie's question was:  "Do your dogs eat everything?"

Answer: They pretty much do eat everything - but they do have their particular likes and dislikes. Abby is not a big fan of bananas. Connor - well, Connor does eat just about everything.

But everyone should keep in mind - I have had Connor since the day he was whelped (Lucky me!) so he has been raised eating things other than kibble from the get-go.

The owner of Abby's mother has always fed her dogs things in addition to kibble - so she was used to it before I brought her home.


Introducing any kind of new food (especially if a dog has only been fed kibble) should be done slowly. But that is good advice for anyone - if you have only been eating (for example) oranges - and you suddenly decide to go on a meat-fest - your stomach is not going to be happy. 

I am going to try and tackle the 'feeding the dogs' subject one question at a time. So if you have a question, are wondering about feeding your dog something or anything else - just leave your question in the comments section - I will do my best to answer it.


I did see something I haven't seen in a while this afternoon -

When the moon appeared in the sky in the afternoon my mother called it, "Children's moon."
 

A dog's dinner

I am not hungry tonight.

Too many hot dogs and a heavy breakfast this morning.

But I did make the dogs this:

Kombu, brown rice and dehydrated duck breast.

I simmered them in a pot with a bit of extra water to help the duck breast break down.

The dogs were very excited about this dinner - Connor couldn't help himself from taking  nibble.

Abby's dinner - both dogs had a healthy topping of tobiko.

I really can't express how tired I am after 7 consecutive days of noise.
 
Yes, I did bring the dogs out on a walk - but a short one - 1.5 miles. 

I really just need to sleep.

Potstickers

Me and the dogs are feeling better after having spent some time away from the noise.

I almost forgot that I needed to stay at home to wait for a FedEx delivery so after we left - we just ended up walking up and down the length of the complex so I could keep an eye out for the delivery man.

Since I was stuck staying home - I decided to make these for lunch:

Potstickers!

 I chopped up half a carrot, half a celery stalk and one green onion.

I added in one of the sweet Italian turkey sausages that I had left over from the insane meat shopping trip a while back.

One turkey sausage mixed with one egg yolk, a dash of soy sauce and the veggies.

And now for the tough part - making the potstickers:

A small bowl of water, potsticker wrappers (covered with a damp towel) and the filling.

I found a great tutorial for folding and cooking the potstickers here.

As you can see, I did an OK job - not a great one - But, all in all, not bad for a first try methinks.

I put half of the potstickers into a plastic bag and they went into the freezer for another meal.

Next, I heated up a saute pan over medium heat. I added in 1 Tbsp. of oil (I used grape seed oil). When the oil is hot, place the potstickers in the pan and saute until the bottoms turn golden brown.

Then I added in 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water into the pan (be careful of the steam), cover immediately and wait.

I usually turn down the heat a bit at this point.

When most of the water has evaporated and the potstickers have steamed - pull them out of the pan and arrange on a plate.

I think a nice golden brown crust really makes the potsticker.

I mixed 1/8th of a cup of Ponzu sauce with 1/8th of a cup of soy sauce for a dipping sauce.

I did set aside some sausage meat so I could make the dogs a snack:

A very cute, teeny tiny turkey sausage ball nestled on of a bed tobiko - all on top of a sweet and crunchy slice of apple.