Georgia Road Trip

The past week has been an extremely full one. Last Monday, Rich started a great new job, and Thursday we took our first road trip in our SUV. It's only 8 hours drive to GA, and so we buckled the dog in his car seat and took off. We really enjoyed spending time with his family. Also the cotton was in full "bloom," and it is so pretty! I cajoled Rich into pulling over by a cotton field so I could take a couple of photos and also steal a piece of cotton. :) 

 Just leaving for our road trip. Rich is a very serious driver!!! 

The best little road tripper, looking out the window from his car seat. hehe. :)

The reason I bought an SUV: to avoid an awkward little tray of belongings on the back of my car. 

We finally found some hills in FL!!! I know, my CA friends, it's nothing. But you just don't understand how exciting these small rolling hills are when the place you live in is generally like the Kansas prairie. :)

On our way to the rehearsal. Did I mention that this is the time Apple maps failed us??? We drove 50 miles out of our way because apparently, Apple doesn't do country. 

Gorgeous cotton fields!

Fluffy cotton! 

The house where the wedding was held. So much property, here we call it a town. 

Bad lighting, I know--but see the cows? Somehow black and white cows seem friendlier than brown cows. Just sayin. 

My perfect little stolen fluff of cotton.

The "handsomest"best man ever! 

Dan and the minister waiting for the bride! 

Rich's Aunt Sylvia and cousins.

Someone is a little exhausted from our long vacation! 

Grass Fed Beef

Today started out beautifully. Perfect weather, sweet drive to work, birds were singing, blah blah blah. Until I strolled into my office with a smile on my face, and stepped directly into the biggest pile of dog poop imaginable. Once it was squished it made the most unbelievable smell on the planet. I spent the morning sliding around the halls in my socks while my shoes dried. :-)

What has this to do with grass-fed beef? Well, allow me to explain. Lately I've been buying only organic, hormone-free animal products such as meat, dairy, etc. A couple of months ago I also decided we would become a grass-fed beef family. I don't cook with beef very often, and I just opened my first pound of ground beef today to make tacos.

Within 2 minutes of cook time, I started noticing a faint whif of poop. I started checking my scrubs, my hair, and all the places on my person where poo can hide. These things just happen when you work with mutts and meows. I couldn't find anything, and then I stirred the ground beef. The biggest whiff of poop I have smelled hit me in the face. I dragged Rich into the kitchen to make sure I hadn't lost my mind.

I have no idea why the grass-fed beef smells like poop. I will not ever be eating it. Beef is grotesque enough without smelling like poo. I have no idea who would eat such a thing.

That is all.

Pork Roast Dinner

This roast dinner turned out great!! I used a pre-seasoned "roast flavor" Hormel pork roast. These come in 2 shapes and honestly I don't know why. :-) I buy the shorter, rounder one as opposed to the long, skinny one... If that helps. ;) I also use medium baking potatoes and full-sized peeled carrots.

Place the roast in the bottom of the crock pot. I usually add some black pepper to mine.

Potatoes & Carrots: How-To
In a large bowl, combine:
3 medium-sized baking potatoes, chopped into ~2" pieces
12-15 large carrots, peeled and cut into 4" pieces
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp herbs de Provence
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
2 cloves garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped
To taste: kosher salt, black pepper

Toss all ingredients well. Pour over the roast and cook on high for 5-6 hours or until roast is fork tender.

I typically buy a small jar of Campbell's turkey or chicken gravy and add the juices from the crock pot to make the flavor matchy-matchy.

Wilted Spinach w/Bacon & Pine Nuts

I badly needed to use up a LARGE tub of baby spinach I bought a few days ago. Normally I have about 2 cups of baby spinach and a cup of kale as my salad base every day, but for some reason I have not been in the mood for cold meals lately. Even though it's 100 degrees outside, it's fall on Facebook and I'll blame my disinterest in spinach salad on that. :-)

I hate cooked/boiled spinach, as the tinny aftertaste and slimy texture leave me wanting to vomit. Let's pretend my previous post wasn't about decadent cupcakes, and I'll act like I eat raw spinach for its health benefits, and not because cooked spinach leaves me spitting and grimacing like a 2-year-old. Besides, just know that getting Rich to eat spinach, period, would take some doing. It might even be impossible.

After some online searches, I rejected everything that came up on google and decided to go back to the basics of tricking grown men into eating leafy green vegetables: bacon. Before you get all crazy, actually READ the recipe. ;) I decided to make a butter mix that was garlicky-buttery-bacony goodness. Here goes.

6 cups baby spinach, rinsed thoroughly.

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp Hormel bacon bits

1 clove of roasted garlic (throw an unpeeled clove of garlic in the oven at 325 for 20-25 minutes, and you'll have a perfect piece of roasted garlic. Squish it out of the peel and smash it.)

2 tbsp pine nuts (put them in a pan with the roasting garlic, but only about 15 minutes. Roasting them is delish.)

Salt & pepper

Smash the garlic clove with a wide wooden spoon in the bottom of a medium-sized pot. Add the butter, and turn the heat on low. Stir until the garlic is creamy. Add the bacon bits and the spinach. Lightly salt and pepper the leaves and toss them gently until they begin to wilt. Do not overlook!!! If your spinach leaves turn that deadly dark green color, there's a 5-year-old voice inside me strongly suggesting you don't even eat it.... Lol :)

Once the greens are wilted drain off ALL excess liquid (from the washing of the greens, and extra butter!) and top with roasted pine nuts. This was a winner at our house tonight. :-)

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Amidst all the posts about pumpkin spice lattes, I decided to make something I've never made before. Salted caramel seems to be the item of the season. So, after a reading a few blogs, I decided to go for salted caramel cupcakes.

Now the cupcake really wasn't the star of my show. This was all about the frosting. Also, my first attempt at this particular flavor. One thing I've been noticing lately is most baked goods taste too sweet. I specifically looked for a "not so sweet" frosting that would be very light and fluffy. This was pretty labor intensive but ended up being pretty good.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 stick salted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup caramel sauce
Kosher salt for garnish

Whisk together the flour and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a small bowl and put into the fridge. Set a timer for 18 minutes. Every 3 minutes, remove the mix and stir well with a fork. The mix must be kept as smooth as possible.

While your flour/milk mix is chilling, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together on medium-high at least 5 minutes. Once the mix is cool, stir it into the butter/sugar and mix 3-5 minutes more. You are looking for a very stiff texture. It will not have the creamy smooth texture of jar frosting, so don't be surprised. Once the frosting is mixed, carefully fold in the caramel sauce. You do not want to completely blend it but want ribbons of caramel throughout the frosting.

After you frost the cupcakes, drizzle with caramel sauce and a few grains of course salt for garnish. I also added candy pearls on the photo-op cupcake :-)

Enjoy!!!

*note: for the cupcake, I used a yellow cake mix + 1 cup apple sauce + 1 can puréed pumpkin. Bake @ 325 for 25-29 minutes.

Veterinary Truisms

1. An estimate, in the mind of the client, is an exactimate.

2. The person who feeds tablescraps or overfeeds the pet will not be the person currently in the exam room with you.

3. If a client has to ask their spouse, the pet's treatment will not happen.

4. You will be held accountable for what you say, what you don't say, how you say it, and what the client thinks you said.

5. The client who is late to their appointment will be in a hurry.

6. The additional pet brought to an exam who is "just along for the ride", isn't.

7. An owner who tells you they will be "waiting by the phone for your call", are "easily reached" at the given number, or "always have my cell phone with me", will not.

8. If you tell a client when test results will be ready, you will be wrong.

9. Always double how long someone tells you their pet has been ill.

10. Anyone who is late to their appointment or know you're near to closing will always be "only five minutes away". Corollary: When they say this, assume, at a minimum, they mean football minutes.

11. Clients can relate a problem to anything that was previously done at your clinic regardless of how much time has passed. Example: "(problem: ie tumor, coughing, limping, etc.) has been present ever since (spay, nail trim, boarding, etc.) back last (week, month, year, decade, etc.)."

12. People will always double what they say they spent at the vet's compared to what they actually did.

13. If you are told a pet "doesn't like men", you'll find the truth is it doesn't like anyone.

14. If you have to carry a pet to and/or from a person's car, they will have parked as far from the front door as possible.

15. If the owner is asking if it is ok to give "Substance A" to their pet, they've actually already given it.

16. If you have the most accessible, easy-to-hit, Alaskan pipeline-sized vein, the pet will be the most uncooperative and fractious patient. Conversely, the sweetest, most easily-handled, cooperative pet will have the tiniest, movable, hard-to-find vein to hit.

17. The client will tell you the most valuable piece of information in diagnosing their pet while you are using your stethescope.

18. You will always be told that the poor dog with the smelly, matted, oily, tangled mess of a coat is scheduled for grooming "tomorrow". This will be stated no matter when in the year or how often you see this dog. Also, all of the problems with the dog's coat is not what it will be in for.

19. The word "not" is the most widely client-misheard word in a veterinary setting. Consider the following examples:
What is said: "This problem will come back."
Client hears: "This problem will not come back."
What is said: "Do not allow Bongo to run after surgery."
Client hears: "Do allow Bongo to run after surgery."

20. Client definition of "expensive": It costs something.

21. Scheduling Paradox: It is not important for clients to be on time, only for you to be on time.

Banana-Pina-Colada Cake

I was in a baking mood today... and I wanted to use up some ripe bananas. I found a recipe online that suggested using 4 bananas, a yellow cake mix, and 2 eggs to make "banana cake." Instead I decided to use the following....

2 large, overripe bananas
3/4 c sweetened, shredded coconut
1 can crushed pineapple (in juice), reserve a few tablespoons of drained pineapple for the frosting
1 egg
1 box yellow cake mix

Drain the pineapple juice and stir into the coconut in a small bowl. Allow to soak for about 5 minutes while you mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg in a small bowl, and pour it into the bananas. Add in the pineapple, and stir everything together. Then stir in the cake mix. Pour into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

For frosting I just used a canned white frosting with about 1/4 cup of crushed pineapple and one small piece of diced crystallized ginger. Next time I'd use pineapple fluff... a container of cool whip with some crushed pineapple mixed in.