National Mutt Day

 A day to encourage us to celebrate dogs of mixed breeds.  This day encourages people to adopt a mixed breed dog from a shelter or a rescue.

A mutt or mixed breed dog are available in all sorts of colors, sizes or patterns.  They are a mix of long or short snouts, pointy or floppy ears, curly, straight or stubby tail, and long or short legs.  

We have the Dr. Seuss mutt:  (abnormally) long legs, long body, small head and a curly tail. 

How to observe #NationalMuttDay

Volunteer at a shelter

Adopt a mixed breed dog.

Donate to your local animal shelter.

I will be spending the day pampering my weird dog Pippen.   Lots of treats and a walk or two.

National Months - August

 It's that time again.  Time to see what crazy month long holiday we will be celebrating in August.

Here we go:

Dog Month

Well, this is a given in our house.  I think every day and every month should be National Dog Month. There are scientific studies that prove that dogs make us happier, less stressed and more optimistic.  The companionship and love we share make their lives better, too.  How to celebrate #NationalDogMonth:  go for a nice long walk (with your dog, of course), give Fido an extra treat, play fetch or donate to a local animal shelter.  Grab your leash, Pippen, we are going for a walk!

Happiness Happens Month

A month dedicated to the pursuit of happiness.  Happiness is a choice.  It is not a lifelong destination but a lifelong pursuit.  Enjoy everything and anything that makes you happy.  Choose to be happy.  Find the happy moments in your life and post to social media #HappinessHappensMonth.

National Golf Month

I mean, I've talked about Golf a lot on this blog, so, I think we should celebrate it this month....by not watching it on television.  If you must celebrate, a game of mini golf is acceptable.

Which holiday are you going to celebrate this month?

Dental Journey

 I don't have dental insurance.  I thought it was about time to make a visit to the dentist.  I decided to go to a dental school.  We haven't had much luck over the years with dentists.  We have had some "interesting" experiences with dentists.  A couple of them with RT and one with the kids (all different dentists).

The one thing I learned about going to a dental school is time.  These are dental students, and they are still learning and practicing their skills on us (don't worry, my teeth are pretty good, I just need a cleaning).  

I have been referring to my dental visit(s) as my dental journey.  You see, since they are students, it takes them a little longer to do things. I have had two appointments already:  a consultation and x-rays.  My final appointment is in a couple of weeks (a cleaning).  Glad I'm able to help out the dental industry.

Vegan Diaries - Mediterranean Farro Salad

 It's amazing what you can find in your pantry if you really take the time to look around.  

I did the scary clean out of our pantry the other day.  Shocked at some of the things I found.  I'm good about not having expired food products, but I can't control the multiple open packages (of the same item).  Luckily, it's pretty easy to combine these packages into one and move on.

I found a couple open packages of farro (I'll take the blame for that one).  I thought I would try to whip a salad up using farro, and hopefully using up one of the packages.  

I'm not going to bore you and go on and on about the making of the salad, but I will tell you that I think this turned out to be the best salad I have ever made.  I will definitely be making this again!

Here's the recipe:

Mediterranean Farro Salad

ingredients:

1 cup farro

1 sm bell red pepper

1 cucumber, seeded and diced

pint of grape tomatoes, halved

1 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

black pepper - to taste

8 ounces vegan feta cheese, crumbled

directions:

Cook farro according to directions until tender.

Drain farro and rinse with cold water.  Set aside to drain.

Combine pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, onion and olives into a large bowl.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together garlic, lemon juice and olive oil.  Feel free to add salt and pepper at this time.

Add farro to the large bowl of vegetables and combine ingredients.

Add dressing and mix.

Serve topped with feta cheese.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*for the bell pepper, I used an orange bell pepper because that is what I had on hand.  

Enjoy!

National Tequila Day

 It's a great day to mix up a margarita and soak up the sun.

I read up a little on the history of Tequila.  You might want to pour yourself a shot of tequila and read along.  

Tequila is mezcal, but, mezcal is not tequila (another sip of your drink and reread that again).  When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they didn't like the mezcal (fermented wine).  They supplied some copper stills and the distilling process became popular.  In the town of Tequila, in Jalisco, Mexico, they decided to distill Blue Agave.  The ideal growing conditions lead to a larger and sweeter tasting agave.  According to Mexican law, Tequila is Tequila only if it is made in Jalisco.  Fun Fact:  Jose Antonio Cuervo was the first to hold a license for making Tequila.

Celebrate #NationalTequilaDay by sipping a margarita.  Maybe try a Tequila Sunrise.  Or just savor a good tequila like whiskey.  

Most importantly, remember to drink responsibly.

Cheers!

My Weird Dog

Just a little update on my baby my weird dog Pippen and his teeth beautification project.  

Pippen is always happy to see me, but when I picked him up from the vet after his dental appointment, I think he was smiling.  He also pulled me to the door (he was ready to leave) and he had no problem hopping into my car.

Pippen had a couple of teeth extracted and his teeth cleaned.   He is on soft foods and meds.  I'm just wondering who thought it was a good idea to make large pills for dogs to swallow?  Luckily, we have some cheese and peanut butter in the house (can you say, spoiled?).  He has been a little clingy to me, which means he is back to normal.  Hopefully he will let me brush his teeth so we don't have to go through this again.

A big shout out to RT for approving the dental project.  He knows how much Pippen means to me and, most importantly, he is happy our house doesn't have that bad dog breath smell.

National Nude Day

Today is a great day to get out of doing laundry!  

Today is National Nude Day!

Nudists, also known as naturists, take this holiday seriously.  A day to celebrate your body in its natural state.  This holiday is placed in the warmer months for a good reason.  Who wants to walk around naked in January?  

The benefits of a nudist lifestyle?  Less luggage to bring on vacation and smaller loads of laundry.  

How to observe #NationalNudeDay.

Well, first of all, please don't take any nude pictures and post them to social media. 

How about an open air bath?  That's where you open the windows and sit naked in a room and let the wind circle around you.

Visit a nudist colony.

Participate in the privacy of your own home.

If you do plan on participating today, please obey the laws.  I'm not going to bail anyone out of jail today.

National 7-11 Day

 The convenience store chain, 7-11, conveniently celebrates the day with specials on their Slurpee.  What a great way to beat the heat!  Head over to your nearest 7-11 and get in line (because it can be a long one, trust me!) and get a free taste of their famous Slurpee.  Oh, yea, don't forget to creatively post about it on social media #National7ElevenDay. 

My Weird Dog - Goes to the Vet

 For most people, taking their dog to the vet is a simple task.  Heck, getting their dog into the car is easy.  Unfortunately, my weird dog Pippen does not like going for car rides.  So, the idea of taking him to the vet turned into a two person job.  Yes, I had to bribe one of my kids to go with me.

Pippen finally hopped into the car and immediately proceeded to hyperventilate.  A short car ride turns into an extremely long drive when your dog is in the back seat panting.  Don't worry, he did finally calm down just as we were turning into the vet's parking lot.  

Pippen had to get a couple of shots and have his blood drawn.  Because he is a big baby might bite we have to use a muzzle for part of the visit.  He is not fond of the muzzle and walks around trying to get it off his nose.  He is unsuccessful and ends up laying down on the floor (which makes the visit go a lot smoother).

He will be going back next week to have his teeth cleaned (and maybe having a tooth extraction).  Will keep you posted on how he is doing.

Dead Bird

 I let Pippen outside the other day and had to let the gate up.  He likes to hang outside on our deck, all times of year.  The only problem is that he still gets a little psycho crazy excited when other dogs walk by our house.  I put up a baby gate on the deck to prevent him from running back and forth along our fence trying to eat a neighbor's dog.  As I was walking to the stairs, I noticed a dead bird on the deck.  I did what any other normal person would do, I screamed.  Just kidding.  I grabbed a bag and shovel, said a few kind words about the deceased and disposed of my fine feathered friend.  This reminded me of another dead bird story, and I thought I would share it with you.

Years ago, when N was playing baseball, I would watch the games with A.  A and the other younger siblings would play on the sidelines.  One day, the kids were looking at something on the ground.  One of the moms told them to get away from there and washed her kids hands.  I realized that the attraction was a dead bird.  The other moms were being a little strange about the whole thing.  Yelling at the kids to stay away from the bird, not letting the kids play.  The dads were just standing around staring.  You would think that one of them would do something.   Of course that didn't happen, so, I grabbed a plastic bag and picked up the bird (like I was picking up after a dog's business), tied it and tossed it into the trash.  Well, the other moms thought I was psycho for touching this dead bird.  They told me that I could get some weird disease.  I tried to explain that my hand never actually touched the bird, my hand was inside the plastic bag and I just reversed the bag once the bird was inside.  I even said, "I disposed of it safely.  The kids aren't going to go in the garbage can.  They can still run around and play."  The other moms still thought I was strange.  Here I thought I was being the adult in the situation and handling the problem, safely.  

Alas, I didn't win any friends that day, but I did give the bird a proper burial.

Fourth of July

 Celebrating our country's independence from Great Britain.  Wearing, decorating and eating everything red, white and blue.  Oh, yea, and releasing our inner pyromaniac by lighting as many firecrackers as we possibly can at one time.

I'm all for celebrating the fourth of July.  Love a good barbeque and all of the festive foods and decorations.  I even enjoy a good fireworks show.  What I don't enjoy is the affect the sound has on my child my weird dog Pippen's ears.  I know it's one day a year, but around here, people are celebrating every night for a week leading up to "the big day."

So, tonight I will be luring Pippen outside a little earlier than usual to do his business.  Cozying up inside with the doors and windows shut.  And, possibly putting the TV volume up a little higher.

Vegan Diaries - Vegetable, Tempeh Teriyaki Dish

I decided that it was time for me to give tempeh a try.  

I don't know why I have been avoiding tempeh.  I have heard such good things about it and how easy it is to work with in various dishes.  It was time for me to test the waters.  As a first time tempeh experience, you can't get much simpler than this dish.  The tempeh was very easy to work.  The teriyaki sauce came out wonderfully.  I was very pleased how this dish came out and can't wait to try more tempeh dishes.

Here's the recipe:

Vegetable Tempeh Teriyaki Dish

ingredients:

1 8oz tempeh

1 medium head of broccoli, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 small zucchini, chopped

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup soy sauce*

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp brown sugar

2 TBSP rice vinegar

1 TBSP sesame oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 TBSP corn starch

1/4 cup water 

directions:

Oven 375F.

Lightly grease a baking sheet.*

Cut tempeh into 1/2" cubes and place on baking sheet.  Add broccoli, pepper, zucchini.

In a medium saucepan, combine soy sauce, water, sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

In a small bowl, mix the corn starch and cold water.  Whisk until smooth.  

Pour cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and whisk to combine.  Simmer for another five minutes until sauce has thickened.

Pour sauce over vegetables and tempeh on baking sheet.  Mix to make sure evenly coated.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve over rice, quinoa or couscous.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* can use liquid aminos

*You can add or substitute other vegetables.  I added mushrooms.

*I used freshly chopped ginger for this recipe.

*I used a 13x9" baking dish for this meal

If you make this dish, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Enjoy!