iwantmk.comLuanne Storer,IBC

No joke, I made dog food. My pooches love it! Store bought food is expensive and I’m not sure what kind of nutrients they are actually getting from it. I thought I would find some good nutritious recipes and give it a shot. I looked up tons of recipes online and almost all of them had these ingredients in common: veggies (any kind, but it seemed that corn, carrots and green beans were preferred), oats, brown rice or pasta, and meat or broth. I was ecstatic. I had all of these ingredients in my freezer and/or as leftovers just waiting to be thrown away.

My first batch was a few chicken tenderloins (leftovers), several packages of frozen veggies (my grandmother gives them to us and my family prefers fresh, she gives us so many, sometimes they end up thrown away), some water to help with the chopping in the blender, and then after it was poured in the bowl, I added some oatmeal (we have tons of oatmeal).

Voila! Dog Food! 

I gave Bunny, our large dog, two cups mixed with 1/2 cup of dry dog food. I gave Dudley, our terrior, one cup with about 1/4 cup of dry dog food. I gave it to them early in the day so I could, you know, monitor their digestion or lack there of. They did great. I gave them a second serving later that evening. When the dry dog food is gone, hopefully we can stick to homemade alone.

My subsequent batches have been made with tuna, veggies, and oats, and then today I made a beef batch from veggies, pasta, and leftover beef gravy. As you can see, they are under my feet when they see me making it. I’ve never seen them like a food or treat better. From what I understand, it will make poop duty easier too because of all the quickly bio-degratable ingredients in their food.

It works for me, and Bunny, and Dudley.

For more great ideas, go to rocksinmydryer!

Pooch Smooch!

I’m sure none of you experience stress. Whatever! We are all bogged down with every day task and then those ugly monsters that creep up and we don’t see any way around them. Check out my last two posts and you will get where I’m coming from. Anyway, every Wednesday at 7:45am, my girlfriend has to drop her son off at school five minutes away from my house. She doesn’t have to be at work that day until 9:30am. She stops by my house and we sit and have coffee, talk, laugh, share, pray, cry, and catch up on our week while everyone else is sleeping. I can’t explain what that hour and a half means to me. If there is anything that chills me out, calms me down, but at the same time, picks me up and sets me down on the right foot again, it is a good friend.

Are you stressed? Get together in the wee hours with a friend. If you have to do it before hubby leaves for work, do it. A good friend and a cup of blueberry coffee works for me.

Kisses!

This coming Saturday morning my friend Katie is having a wedding shower. I have the privilege of being one of the people making Quiche for the event. I was told I could make any two Quiches I wanted to. Sounds easy…huh? The problem is, I do want people to love my cooking and I really don’t like to be like everybody else. I have been through about a bazillion recipes. The best recipes always seem to surface on allrecipes.com. LOVE IT! The site is easy to navigate…easy to save favorite recipes and, after you save your recipes, you can print out a shopping list. LOVE IT! Anyway….the quiche recipe that ended up “working for me” is called EASY BACON AND CHEESE QUICHE:

Easy Bacon and Cheese Quiche Submitted by: DAWNROBYN Rated: 5 out of 5 by 86 members Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour Yields: 6 servings “This is an easy, delicious quiche that will take no time to prepare and your friends will ask for the recipe! I have made this for numerous office gatherings and everyone raves about it!” INGREDIENTS: 1 (3 ounce) can bacon bits 1/2 cup chopped onion 5 ounces shredded Swiss cheese 3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese 1 (9 inch) deep dish frozen pie crust 4 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup half-and-half cream DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 2. In a medium bowl, mix the bacon, onions, and both cheeses. Place this mixture in the thawed pie crust. 3. Mix the eggs and half and half in a bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese mixture. 4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 35 minutes, until top of quiche begins to turn brown. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 10/28/2008

You can add 1/2 c. of anything else that sounds yummy, spinach, cheddar cheese, ham, shrimp, salmon. It is an easy base Quiche for anything else you can come up with.

I really started out this post to tell you what quiche recipe works for me but truth be known, what really works for me is allrecipes.com.

For more great WFMW ideas go to http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/

If you are looking for easy Quiche, follow this link. http://whatagirlwants.brothersstudios.com/blog/?p=74  Sorry, I posted the wrong link on Rocksinmydryer.

My dh and I are trying to lose some extra poundage by doing a “JENNY CRAIG” diet on a budget. We have cereal in the am, “Lean Pockets” and salad for lunch, a “Lean Cuisine” for dinner, two fruits, and 2 snacks. When it  comes to snacks, the problem always seems to be portion. Buying the 100 calorie packs are a big help, but they are also expensive.

During this Halloween season, there are many snacks that are being sold in packs that are convenient to hand out for Halloween. They cost any where from $3.98-$4.98 and they have anywhere from 18-30, 100 calorie packs to a bag. This is a lot better than the boxes of six that cost around the same. These bags are not marked 100 calorie, but most of them are (except the Goldfish and they are only 50 calories/pack.) Keep in mind, these are seasonal so stock up! Pre-proportions works for me and cheap always works for me!

Kisses!

Luanne

 It is from the episode titled “Five Ways to Make Your Life Easier” on the Tyra Banks Show

The clip features Makeup Artist Luis Casco. It takes about 3 minutes to download clip.

DOWNSIZE & ORGANIZE CLIP

Enjoy!!

For more information about the compact or to purchase go to www.marykay.com/lstorer