OK so it has been forever. Life has gotten crazy, in ways good and bad, and blogging (and even making lunches) has taken a back seat. We're doing some catch up here for now, and I hope to be better at keeping up with this, as long as more things don't come up. You know, things like...
-Chip traveling for work
-Fostering massive quantities of kittens (they were returned to the shelter 3 weeks ago so they could be adopted)
-Renovating the (only) bathroom (which means using the toilet at the market down the street, showering at the gym, washing my hair in the kitchen sink, etc)
-Our cat, Max, being diagnosed with Feline Interstitial Cystitis
-Fostering lots of dogs, like these guys:
Darcass the Nite ("Nite")
Woody the cocker spaniel mix:
JA's Omar ("Alonzo")
-Throwing a 4-day long wedding at our house over Labor Day
-Cal getting half of his left ear bitten off in a freak accident (this required two nights at the vet and two surgeries)
So yeah. Things have been busy! We're hoping that life takes it easy on us for a while now; we're eager to get back to normal.
Here is Chip's lunch from July 18. On the 17th, we had dinner at our friends' house, and they sent some leftovers home with us, including this amazing homemade pesto pasta, with basil from the CSA we share with them. Yum!
Rotini with homemade pesto and squash/zucchini from Laura's garden, CSA cherries, raw almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, local apple, and a salad with CSA lettuce, organic mushrooms, and local pea sprouts.
Ah, we've been busy since Chip was gone. Just before he left, we took in a litter of orphan foster kittens. Four two-weekers with no mom. We bottle fed them around the clock, and once Chip left, I was operating on some serious sleep deprivation. Seriously, I don't know how actual parents do it. This was traumatic enough for me. Then, we picked up a Lab-mix girl who came in on a transport from Springfield, Missouri. The shelter there burned down, so she'd been living in an outdoor run. On top of that, it's a heartstick shelter, and, well...just google heartstick, and you'll understand why we couldn't let her die there. She is a younger girl, and one of the rowdiest dogs I've ever met. Fortunately, she and Cal are best buddies, and they tire each other out daily.
Since then, our greyhound foster, Starz Artiste, was adopted by a wonderful family. She is such a lover, and I know they enjoy that about her. The kittens have grown out of the bottle feeding phase, which means we get to sleep again. Penny underwent Immiticide heartworm treatment, and is healing very well. And we got one of our old greyhound fosters back: Perpetual Puff. She was having separation anxiety from being left alone for 9 - 10 hours a day. She's doing better with us, and I'm sure she'll be adopted any time now.
My favorite photo of Artiste, gently resting her head on my shoulder:
The kittens...
Carl (named after Chip's dad, because both have mustaches):
Patty the tabby:
Betty (we thought she was a boy until recently; we had named her Benny):
And Bethany (with Betty and Patty), who is so mellow and laid back that we named her after Bethany Hamilton:
And here's Penny. She's just gorgeous, right? We are fostering her through For the Love of Labs Rescue, and if you or anyone you know is interested in her, we can arrange transport to almost anywhere.
And here's Miss Puff (yes, that is Puff spit on my shirt):
And lunch, of course!
Organic Fuji apple, pita chips, spicy red pepper hummus, pecans, organic dark chocolate chips, organic salted sunflower seeds, banana, and organic quinoa with organic spinach.
This Monday, I saw one of those websites that does a weekly list of 7 recipe ideas; one of the ideas was poblano chicken. Most of the ingredients were not vegetarian, so I started doing some googling. I decided to try to recreate the chipotle cream rotini from Betty's, since it's one of Chip's favorite things. I found this site that told me how to make my own vegan heavy cream, and I kind of just winged the rest. It went something like this...
Sauce ingredients:
1 block of silken tofu, firm or extra firm
4+ cups of vegan milk
1 7-oz. can of chipotle peppers in adobo
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons margarine
2 cloves pressed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
In a blender or food processor, puree the peppers in one cup of milk. In a pot over medium heat, melt the margarine; add the flour and cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Slowly whisk in the chipotle/milk mixture. While this is warming, puree the remaining milk with the tofu until very smooth. Whisk this into the pot and warm, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I mixed this with whole wheat penne (it was 5 cups dry) and lots of veggies. It was so good! Very creamy, and indistinguishable from a dairy version. Much lower fat too!
Also, today we said goodbye to a foster dog whom we've had for almost three weeks. On a whim, I offered to temporarily foster a blind senior cocker spaniel for a friend's rescue group. I am not a little dog person, and I'd never had a blind dog, and was starting to regret my offer until Fudge arrived. I was instantly smitten, and he was such a happy, wonderful addition to our household for the time he was here. He is such a sweet boy, and he really took everything in stride. Within 48 hours he knew the layout of our house, including the stairs, the couch, and the water bowls. He leaped onto furniture and leaped off, which amazed me, since he had no idea where the floor was. We both agreed that if we weren't planning an international move, we would've kept him (moving our own 4 pets is enough). I cried a lot when I dropped him off for transport today, but I know his forever family will love him so much. Safe travels, sweet Fudge.
Here's Fudge with Cal. He took his cues from Cal, and followed him everywhere.
Here he is today, thinking he was looking right at me:
And lunch:
Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic carrot, Campari tomato, and local alfalfa sprouts, organic applesauce, organic flame raisins, banana, and homemade chipotle cream penne with tofu and vegetables (organic corn, organic mushrooms, organic green bell pepper, and red onion).
I got onto a big vegan kick yesterday, even before I watched the latest "Oprah" (with the 7-day Vegan Challenge). For the record, I found it informative and interesting, and appreciated that veganism was presented in an accessible way.
However, I was annoyed with how glib Michael Pollan was about eating humanely raised meat. He said something like animals can live on farms happily and have one bad day. Seriously? Slaughter is just a "bad day?" Kathy Freston followed that up with saying that she doesn't feel comfortable looking at an animal and saying that its suffering and life are worth less than her appetite. She said it doesn't sit right with her soul, and I agree. For a show about veganism, it sure came off as meat-centric, and they definitely skipped any discussion of the environmental impacts of raising animals for meat. Obviously I understand that there are good and bad ways to go about eating meat, and I never EVER criticize people for eating it. But, I do think that a vegan or vegetarian diet can benefit people, animals, and the planet, and it's worth looking into.
Anyway, off of my high horse. I saw this tempeh at the local co-op, and when I saw that it said, "fakin' bacon," I knew I had to have it. I was prepared for it to be nothing like bacon, because really...what is like bacon, except bacon? I fried it in a small amount of olive oil, and it turned out wonderfully! It definitely didn't feel just like bacon, but it had that salty, smoky quality to it that bacon has. I made it into a BLT (TLT?) for Chip today. Neither of us can stand mayonnaise, so I spread some avocado on it instead. I had a half sandwich for lunch, and Chip had the whole one below. We both loved it! I'm really glad to have found one more vegan food that isn't just OK, but is great!
In other news, our latest foster greyhound went home this past Saturday, so we have been foster-less for a few days. For my birthday last month, Chip gave me the gift of fostering kittens! We haven't fostered kittens in three years now, and I really miss it. They are so cute, and relatively easy. We were approved by a local rescue, and have just been waiting on "the call." This morning we got an e-mail that their shelter had lost power in this crazy storm, and they needed temporary fosters for all the animals until power was restored. I hopped right in the car and drove over; I picked up a 3-year-old hound mix named Tamale, and a litter of three 8-week-old kittens.
Here's the pup. She has super-long houndy ears, and is a very sweet little thing. She was pulled from a rural shelter here in Ohio.
And here's one of the kittens. How cute is she?!
And lunch:
Sandwich on organic whole wheat bread with organic tempeh, organic avocado, Campari tomato, and organic Boston lettuce, homemade vegan blondies, raw almonds, organic applesauce, and a banana.
Even more avocado here. I kind of forgot about avocados for a while, and am so glad I rediscovered them! And even more tomatoes from our garden. I keep thinking that the tomato plant has bitten the dust, but it keeps resurrecting itself. On November 13th, I picked about 30 ripe tomatoes, and those may be the last. I gave away some to friends, and we've been going through the remaining few little by little. I hope the 'matoes do this well next year!
Oh, and Cuda "helped" me while I was taking the photo. He was pretty close to snagging a piece of apple, but I was able to fend him off in time.
And lunch:
Sandwich on organic whole wheat bread with organic avocado, organic redleaf lettuce, Roma tomato from our garden, and green bell pepper from our garden, brown rice pilaf, organic Thompson raisins, organic cauliflower, and an organic Gala apple.
This is the first time that Chip packed his whole lunch himself, and took the photo. Of course, he packed up leftovers from the dinner that I prepared, but he still did it himself. This rice is Chip's favorite. It has surpassed his childhood memories of chicken flavored Rice-a-Roni, which I never thought possible. Fried rice with lots of salt and butter...it's hard to beat that!
I breaded the tofu with this seasoning. We don't have it often, and it's a really special treat for Chip. He usually doesn't like peanut flavored stuff, or spicy stuff, and this is both. Tofu has to bake for a really long time to get that nice chewy texture, but it's definitely worth it.
Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce our latest greyhound foster, Gabe Cuda ("Cuda"). He is a baby by retired racer standards, as he broke his leg at 17 months old. Greyhounds typically begin their careers at 18 months, so he has never officially raced (though he did schooling races). He's in some pain from a surgically repaired fracture in his right hock, but we are working on scheduling him to get some of his hardware removed. In the meantime, he is enjoying the fluffy beds in our house, and the companionship of our dog Cal.
And lunch:
Brown rice pilaf, CSA Gold Rush apple, organic Thompson raisins, organic dark chocolate chips, organic dried cranberries, steamed organic broccoli with sea salt, black pepper, and lime, more broccoli, and baked organic spicy peanut tofu.
Wow...another Monday. This weekend flew by! It was full of greyhounds, time outdoors, cooking (made marinara sauce for the first and probably last time), time with friends, dog play dates, and housework.
We picked up our latest foster today: Rainier Runbonn. Bond is 10 years old, and his family decided that after having a baby last year, they don't have time for him anymore. Like most returned dogs, he's a bit worse for wear, but I'm sure we'll have him healthy and fit in no time. He's a very sweet boy and seems very happy, if a bit confused. He had an awesome time playing in our backyard with Cal and Darci and our friends' Lab, Moly. I hope someone can see past his age and adopt him, because he really deserves someone to care about him for the rest of his days.
Chip and I spent three solid hours making marinara sauce on Saturday. I chose to plant Romas because I knew we'd have a lot, and I knew they were good for canning and sauce. What I did not know was how much work is involved in making sauce. First we had to remove all the stems and score the bottoms of the tomatoes. Then we dropped the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then they went into ice water for five minutes. Then the skins came off. Then we removed the white flesh around where the stem had been. Then we had to slice them in half horizontally and scoop out the seeds. Then I diced tomatoes while Chip diced onions and carrots, pressed garlic, and picked basil from our garden. Finally, it all went into the pot...and was not nearly as much sauce as I'd expected. It turned out really delicious, but very much not worth all the time and effort.
47 tomatoes...3 hours...ugh...
And since lunch didn't get made til 11 tonight, I didn't even get a glamor shot with natural light. Boo!
CSA apple, banana, organic raw cashews, steamed organic broccoli with sea salt and black pepper, and organic whole wheat tri-color rotini with roasted organic portobellos and homemade marinara sauce (with CSA carrots, CSA onion, Roma tomatoes from our garden, and basil from our garden).
We had a really busy day yesterday, but I was able to pull off a decent dinner. We had pad thai, which is great because we always have leftovers. I spent 7 hours yesterday driving stinky greyhounds around, and then I brought home our latest foster: J Ditto's Darci. She's a teeny little thing, and pretty nervous, but is doing well overall. Once we get her some antibiotics for her UTI and skin infection, and then get her spayed and her teeth cleaned, she'll be all set.
I gave Chip a choice between 6 peanut butter and jelly rolls and a small container of applesauce, or 3 rolls and a whole apple. He told me (and this seriously surprised me) that the peanut butter and jelly rolls are his favorite thing to find in his lunchbox, so he wanted 6. His favorite thing of all...more than chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, and pizza. PB&J rolls. I learn more about this man every day.
Oh, and Chip will be in California all week, so we'll be taking a short break here.
Pad Thai with organic tofu and broccoli, organic banana, raw almonds, organic raw cashews, organic applesauce, and whole wheat rollups with natural peanut butter and jelly.
This lunch is a first, in that I needed a lidded container for each part of the meal. It is also the first time that I offered Chip a sandwich or a salad and he picked salad. I was so sure he'd want an avocado sandwich! This is our second time trying kiwi fruit. Last time, he ate it, but wasn't thrilled with the consistency. Maybe this time he'll like it a little better.
Also, meet Frank! He's a beautiful young boy who retired at an early age from racing. He's a big dumb lug, and I just love him.
We were also surprised today with another foster: WWW Kojak ("Jack"). He's an owner surrender, and has not been well taken care of for the past few years. I hope I can love him back to health and help him put on a few pounds. He's a very sweet guy who seems really confused as to why his previous owner tied him to a man's front porch and then drove away.
And here's lunch:
All packed up (the utensils are under the dried fruit):
Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic carrot, grape tomato, local Cheddar/jack cheese, and avocado, organic quinoa with vegetable broth, garlic, cumin, and chipotle, organic dried cranberries, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic kiwi fruit, and steamed broccoli and organic cauliflower with butter and sea salt.
Chip worked from home on Friday morning. We share one car, and he has a motorcycle that he takes to work when the weather is conducive. We got some rain on Friday, and we had annual vet appointments for all of our pets, so we needed the car at home. When we got back from the vet, Chip ate his lunch before he headed out to work. And I sneaked a photo! Well, I sneaked one photo, and then he noticed what I was doing and I got the one below. I always imagined it was pretty adorable to see him eating his little lunchbox, and it really was!
The verdict on this lunch was that it was great! The cookies went first, and the sandwich went last. Chip said he saved the best for last. I was surprised that he thought the sandwich was the best!
In other news, Queenly was adopted today! We are so happy for her, and know she's going to a wonderful home. We'll miss her silly face!
We'll be taking another break from the blog this coming week. We're headed to Maryland for the week on Tuesday to visit our families. We'll pack some snacks for the road, but probably no lunches. We'll be back in action on July 19th (and with a new foster in tow: Soy Franco, aka "Frank").
We're back! Chip returned safe and sound from the Netherlands. He got to be at the first stage of the Tour de France, which was an awesome experience. He had a productive and exhausting trip. He saw lots of bikes, ate tons of tasty food, visited his uncles (who live in Den Haag), and even met a greyhound!
Which reminds me. While Chip was gone, another foster fell into my lap (meaning: Chip wasn't here to tell me no). Meet PTL Black Prize. He is a big, gentle, sweet boy, and he fits in here so well. He came to our house last Saturday, and it was the first time I'd had four dogs here. He's really easy, and I think Cal likes having a male buddy around. In other greyhound news, our foster Queenly will be adopted this weekend, and we're really excited about it!
Here's tomorrow's lunch. For the next few days I imagine things will be pretty boring here, because Chip and I are headed to Maryland next week to visit our families. Impending vacation = eating the perishable food that's around and not buying more. The one wrench in these plans is that we pick up our CSA this Saturday. Perhaps Monday we'll have a lunch full of apricots, cherries, lettuce, chard, and sage. Unfortunately there's only one thing on that list that Chip eats. Then again, Branny hides foods her husband doesn't like...maybe I could make some kind of smoothie out of those things? I'm sure it would taste awesome. Ha!
Local green beans, organic steamed edamame with sea salt, Kashi trail mix bar, organic "crispy almonds," organic Sultana golden raisins, organic raw cashews, Speculaas (Dutch cookies that Chip absolutely loves), barbecue sauce, and Gardein 7-Grain Crispy Tenders.
We had a terribly sad day today. One of our former fosters, Roxie, became very ill recently, and she died today. She was only with her forever family for three months - not nearly long enough. She was a beautiful, spunky girl, who had a very tough life. Run free, sweet Roxie. You were dearly loved by so many.
Okie Galena, aka "Roxie" September 27, 2002 - June 21, 2010
Tuesday's lunch:
Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic baby spinach, organic cucumber, Campari tomato, and local cheddar jack cheese, homemade banana bread, organic string cheese, organic fair trade milk chocolate with hazelnuts, organic Sultana golden raisins, raw almonds, hummus, and blanched vegetables (organic red pepper, local green beans, asparagus).
We're back! And it's June! Chip had a productive trip to California, but he is so glad to be back. He got in on Tuesday evening, and we've spent the last several days recovering. We've done lots of resting, a few little projects around the house, and decompressing.
In greyhound news, we have two new fosters. The first is Queenie (PTL Queenly). She is a wonderful, happy, big girl. Something tells me we won't have her long at all. The second is Emmy (MJ Rowdy). Emmy is the sister of our first foster, Sally (MJ Sally Mander). We specifically requested that Emmy be pulled from Daytona when she was done racing and sent up here to Ohio (normally retired racers are received by a rescue group at their home track and then hauled to rescue groups throughout the country more or less at random). She's been such an easy dog, but her medical issues are difficult to deal with emotionally. She's healing well, and is really mellow and chatty.
Here's Queenie:
And here's Emmy:
So now it's back to the grind for us. Here's Chip's lunch for tomorrow. Special thanks to our friend Pete. We attended a barbecue at his house this evening, and we were able to bring home the leftover grilled veggies. Thanks for an awesome evening, Pete (and Ellyn)!
Grilled vegetables with balsamic marinade (organic red onion, organic yellow pepper, organic green pepper, organic zucchini, and portobello mushrooms), organic Michigan applesauce, organic fair trade dark chocolate with almonds, organic Sultana raisins, banana, local pepper jack cheese, and Ancient Grains crackers.
