Diets and Happy Thoughts for Zoey!

Okay, so yesterday I started my beach diet.  I read the 17 Day Diet book last week on Kindle.  I wasn’t expecting to want to follow it. I actually enjoy reading nutrition books, including books about fad diets.  I got halfway through the book and really thought it sounded worth a shot. I will give it a whirl!  Right now I’m polishing off the unaccepted foods (and booze!), while keeping my calories in check. I will start later in the week. Excuses, excuses.

On to more important matters…  My baby Zoey was spayed this morning.  I am so sad for her, and I hope she isn’t in too much pain or discomfort.  Last night we took up her food at 6:00 p.m.  She cried because she was hungry.   This morning she was sad looking for her food, too. 

 

Seth called me before lunch to update me on her status.  She is such a happy excitable puppy! When he took her to the vet, she was stoked! Her tail was wagging so hard that her whole body was wagging. She does that any time there are new animals to play with, and even more when there are new people to play with!  She had no idea what was coming!  So please send happy healing thoughts her way!  They are keeping her overnight.

 

 

I will miss my little buddy hogging up the chaise this evening.

Although, I think Miss Kitty will enjoy some time away. She does not approve.

… not sure why all my puppy pics are so grainy! Oh well!

Happy hump day!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

I can’t say that I haven’t been training…

or that I haven’t been eating foods fun enough to blog about…

I can’t say that my social life has been nonexistent,

or that puppyhood hasn’t been interesting enough to blabber on and on and on…

I have no excuse. I just haven’t been motivated to blog. I have opened up Live Writer on numerous occasions… only to stare at the screen. No words.

That being said… pup is good, food is good, life is good.

I can’t wait for nachos and beer tonight!! Or maybe I will branch out and have a margarita!

and maybe, MAYBE, I can train Zoey to blog for me! Maybe?

Carrot Crazed

What do you do when you when you find FOUR POUNDS of baby carrots for $2?! 

Eat them!

Duh!

I knew they would rot before I ate them all if I kept them in their natural state.

I shredded up half a bag and went to town making carrot muffins! YUMMO!

Unfortunately, these did not turn out as well as I had hoped. They are good, but they aren’t carrot cake good.  I’ll have to tweak the recipe a bit, but I do have high hopes for the final recipe, assuming I actually try to perfect it!  Note to self:  Shortchanging a recipe on raisins is not a good idea.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying them slathered with butter.  Butter has this seemingly magical power that transforms the most unexciting foods into something, well, fabulous to the taste buds!

I stored the remaining shreds in the freezer and used two pounds in another recipe… Spicy Carrot Soup!!

Oh yeah. This stuff is GOOOOOOOOD! 

It basically involved sauteeing olive oil and garlic, tossing in a bunch of spices that sounded good at the time,

tossing in the carrots, covering with water, then cooking until the carrots were soft. Once mushy, I blended it all together!  I used my pressure cooker to speed up the cooking process.  However, this could easily be accomplished on the stove!

Spicy Carrot Soup

Ingredients

1T olive oil
1t chopped garlic
1/2t onion powder
1/4t chipotle pepper powder
1t curry powder
1t white pepper
2 bay leaves
1/4t turmeric
32oz. baby carrots
6c water
4 low sodium chicken bouillon cubs
2 beef bouillon cubes

1. Sautee olive oil and garlic.
2. Add all ingredients to pressure cooker.
3. Cook for 15 minutes.
4. Once finished, remove bay leaves.
5. Blend soup. I use a stick blender to blend it right in the pressure cooker.

Serving Size: makes 8 one cup servings
Number of Servings: 8

Nutritional Info

Fat: 1.8g

Carbohydrates: 11.1g

Calories:65.8

Protein: 1.4g

Good stuff!

In other news, Seth asked me to sketch a tattoo idea… I sketched it for him YEARS ago, but he misplaced it. Unfortunately, I could not find a sharp pencil to save my life (and who owns a pencil sharpener nowadays, anyways?!), but I guess that’s okay since the dull lead added character!  (You can see where I erased the original writing on the banner… Seth didn’t like the ‘font’… as he called it! LOL!)

I hope your week is off to a great start! I’ve made some dietary changes this week (that go against my initial instinct!), and I am interested to see how it plays out. I love these little experiments.