[Tolstoy clears his throat:]

We gave our 11 month old Walker/Blue Heeler Iams puppy kibble for the day and at night she gets a pouch of Moist & Meaty mixed in with a large can of some sliced meat looking wet dog food.

Yet she is ALWAYS hungry/foraging. We figured that was the breed. We had been warned, after all

Yesterday Jason asked when was the last time I gave her kibble. I said I hadn’t given it to her for like a week. I thought he had been filling her bowl. He hadn’t given her kibble in like a week either, but the bowl sat there untouched. Apparently the food she had been fine with for all these months was no longer acceptable  - to the point of ONLY eating gooshers once a day.

We went out that morning and got her something new [cheap and on sale, it's not a pay-week!] and she ate 2+ cups of it, begged for more, ate two more cups of it. We figured she must have been starving, though she hadn’t been losing any weight at all.  She wanted more, but we stopped until it was gooshy food time. Of course she got poop-sick all over the rug about 3am [and I don't blame her!]

But since she went from not touching kibble at all to becoming a fiend about it [and her breed being a foraging/eating machine type as it is] I have no idea how much she *should* be fed. Was she overly hungry? Did she just really REALLY like this new stuff? Is it just her instinct to eat til she explodes? [that could be true too, I guess]

She is ~11 months [1 year on 2/11/12] Walker Hound/Blue Heeler mix, so all muscle and energy. 50 pounds as of yesterday, ALL hard muscle, and like I said – we weigh her every week out of pure curiosity and she has never even MAINTAINED, let alone lost weight. What do??

Best Tuna Salad EVAR
- 3 big green onions
- 4 small sweet peppers
- 6 or so sprigs cilantro
- 1 big tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tsp water [I used the liquid from the garlic jar]
- 1 pouch Starkist Lemon Pepper Marinated Tuna
- 1 6oz tin chunk light tuna in water, drained
- Kraft Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Mayo [to taste]

Chop up your green onions, sweet peppers and cilantro and put them in a small pan. Add garlic. Stir carefully [so you don't spill!] over a medium heat until things start to sizzle. Add one tsp of the liquid and heat a bit more. When the onions and cilantro start to cook down a bit add the other tsp of the liquid. Don’t cook it to death! You want it to be slightly reduced and fragrant. Remove mixture from heat and place your mixing bowl.

Add in the marinated tuna and mix well. It may require a bit of chopping. Then add your drained regular tuna. Mix/chop until it is well combined. Place the mixture in the fridge until cooled.

When ready, add the mayo to your desired level of mayo-ness. I don’t like all that much in there, but opinions on this vary

To finish your sammy, mayo up some soft italian bread with the cracked pepper mayo and pop the salad mixture on top. If you like [and I do!] sprinkle a bit of McCormick’s Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt over the tuna before adding your top slice of bread.

Bag it. Done.

Directions:
In a large pot, dry fry the curry powder over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

Transfer to a small bowl, add a little water and set aside.

Add oil to the pot and raise heat to medium-high. Add onion and sweet peppers, and heat until onion is transluscent.

Add garlic and chicken. Heat until chicken is cooked through, stirring regularly.

Add tomato paste, yogurt, curry paste and liquid from the can of tomatoes. Mix until just combined.

Add the potatoes and tomatoes. Stir well.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are cooked through (about 25 minutes).

Remove from heat and serve over jasmine rice.

Directions:
Bring a pan of water to a boil, and cook the soba noodles for 3 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

In the noodle pot, add the sesame oil and seeds. Put the drained noodles back in and toss well.

Heat the olive oil in a large wok or skillet. Add the onion, cilantro, and shredded cabbage mixture and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the sweet chili sauce and meat to the wok and work together for another 2 minutes.

Add the noodles in with the mix and stir for another 2 to 3 minutes. Enjoy!

Luau Stew
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1 tsp. Asian Spiced Sea Salt [McCormick's]
1 [6oz] can pineapple juice
1 1/2 c. chopped mango slices
2 chopped green onions
3 mini sweet peppers, sliced
2 tbsp flour

Directions:
Turn your crockpot on High and pour in the pineapple juice.
Stir in the spiced sea salt & cover.
Cut up the mango and stir into the juice. [cover]
Chop up the green onions and sweet peppers. Stir into the juice. [cover]
Cut the chicken into quarters and stir into the juice. [cover]
Turn the heat down to low and heat for 7 hours.

Before serving, turn heat down to Warm. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well, breaking up the chicken into smaller chunks or shreds.

I served it over mashed potatoes, but would be fine on its own too!

Wee!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning [Ortega low sodium - no MSG!]

1 box Jiffy pizza crust

2/3 c. enchilada sauce [La Preferida]
2/3 c. tomato sauce [La Preferida]
1/3 c. black bean refried beans [mine had roasted chiles too]

4 oz shredded lettuce
1 c. mozzarella cheese

1 c. shredded taco mix cheese [or cheddar]
2 green onions, chopped
6 cherry tomatoes, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.

Mix the ground beef and the envelope of taco seasoning. Brown, making sure it is cooked all the way [I made it in the Foreman grill and didn't add water as it directs you to on the package.]

Prepare the pizza crust as directed on the package.

Mix tomato sauce, enchilada sauce, and black beans. Pour onto prepped pizza crust. Next layer on the beef, then the mozzarella.

Bake for 18 minutes.

Remove from oven. Top with lettuce, then taco mix/cheddar cheese, Sprinkle chopped tomatoes and green onions over the top.

But my instinct says to wait until she can communicate better. And until she can drink from a cup since she won’t be able to use a sippy cup or straw for a couple weeks. Also, I don’t like the liquid vicodin that they said they’ll put her on for pain if she’s on 6ml of clonazepam per day [and 8ml of Topamax]. I don’t like the chances of bleeding/aspiration when she is anemic. I don’t like the idea of putting her off food when she doesn’t eat enough as it is. Plus I just don’t want to put her through surgery!

I don’t know what the right answer is. Any thoughts?

So, armed with a recipe name, I took to the internet. And HOLY CARP I had no idea there were so many ways to make coleslaw. Like thousands. But NONE of them seemed to be the recipe I was looking for.

However I did come across a recipe for Asian Coleslaw. I made some adjustments and added some ingredients to make it more sweet & sourish. Though this is not really anything like what I had it’s still pretty good. This is the recipe I used for a cookout a work, so this makes a whole lot. You may want to cut it in half unless you are really in the mood for coleslaw!

Sweet & Sour Asian Coleslaw

• 2 tbsp. Simply Jif creamy Peanut Butter [since it didn't add sugar & salt]
• 3/4 c. Olive Oil
• 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
• 1/2 c. Seasoned Rice Vinegar [with garlic]
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger [probably better fresh, though]
• 1 tsp. Asian Spiced Sea Salt [McCormick's]
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 2 Green Onions
• 4 sprigs Cilantro
• 4 c. Green Cabbage, shreaded
• 4 c. Red [Purple] Cabbage, Shreaded
• 2 c. Carrots, Shreaded

Finely chop your green onion and cilantro and toss them into a medium bowl.
Add the olive oil, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Mix it up.
Add the ginger, sea salt and sugar. Mix some more.
Add in your peanut butter, and whisk really well.*
Toss the cabbages and carrots a large bowl.
Pour in the dressing and toss it well to get all the cabbage coated. Yay!

[At this point I stuck the dressing in the fridge overnight. It thickened up a bit and marinated nicely, but this probably isn't necessary.]

1 tube Pillsbury Big & Buttery crescent rolls
1 tsp brown sugar + a little for sprinkling
1 tsp Heath bar bits
1 tsp chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350•

Mix brown sugar, Heath bits and pecans in a small bowl.

Unroll crescent rolls.
Spoon mixture onto the large end of the crescent’s triangle.
Roll up into its crescent shape, tucking the filling into the first roll.
Press down the ends to seal the filling in.
Repeat with the remaining 5 triangles.

Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on the tops of the prepared crescents.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 16 minutes.

Remove from the cookie sheet and allow to cool since the filling will be like freaking napalm.

Brush your teeth promptly after consuming!!