yummy winter food!

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe here but these were so good I felt I needed to share. The first is a Moroccan Lentil Stew adapted from this recipe. The second is the veggie dish I made for Thanksgiving. Both are vegan (if you use olive oil instead of butter for the latter) crockpot recipes. Great for winter!

Moroccan Lentil Stew

-3/4 cup dried lentils
-1/2 can garbanzo beans
-2 sweet potatoes chopped into 2 inch chunks
-an equal amount of another veggie (I used broccoli but zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, peas, etc. would be good too)
-3 1/4 cups water
-1 veggie bouillon cube
-1 t cumin
-1 t ginger
-1 t salt
-1 t pepper
-1/2 t cinnamon
-1/2 t coriander
-1/2 t allspice
-1/4 t cloves


Chop up all of your vegetables and add them to the crockpot. Drain and rinse off the beans, add to the pot. Add the dried lentils and the dried spices. Stir in the water and bouillon (or use broth instead). Lentils will be softer if you add any tomatoes and salt at the very end.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Soup tastes best the longer you cook it, and it is even better the next day.



Roasted Root Veggies

-1 rutabaga
-1 bag of whole carrots
-2 parsnips
-1 bunch of chopped fresh parsley
-4 Tbsp butter (I didn't measure so I'm guessing at this amount)
-1/4 chopped white onion
-2 or 3 finely chopped garlic cloves
-salt and pepper to taste


Peel all of your vegetables, and cut into 2-inch chunks. Saute onion and garlic in the butter on the stove until they are soft. Pour over veggies and parsley in a big bowl and mix well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour it all into crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.

pugsgiving

We took Meiby to Nick's grandparent's house on Thanksgiving again this year. Last year we took her crate with us and locked her up while we ate. This year she's not so tolerant of the crate. She doesn't sleep in there anymore and she's trustworthy to leave loose when we are gone now so she's never locked up. Instead, I concocted a special treat for her to keep her busy while we ate:

I filled a hollow bone with carrots. Worked like a charm!

wordless again

Wordless Wednesday

nares surgery

Yesterday Meiby had her nostrils widened to help her breathe... called laser nares surgery. Basically they use a laser to shave off the inside of her nostrils. She did very well with the surgery. It went quickly and smoothly and actually cost us way less than they had estimated. The inside of her nose (which is now quite exposed) is still very pink and swollen. It should heal within a few days and the pinkness should return to it's normal black color. She looks pretty funny (not that she didn't always) and is making funny noises as she gets used to her new nose and deals with the sensitivity.

This is before:


and after:


you can see a bit of pink when you look at her straight on but her deep fold puts her nose in shadows most of the time anyway so you wouldn't notice with a quick glance. I'll post a photo of the healed view in a few days (or however long it takes to heal.)