What Do The Hounds Eat? Nutro & Giveaway!

The hound dogs in the house, Devie and Hawise, eat a lot of things: scraps Lil drops, food they lick from the dishes, birthday cakes, chicken poop, grass, peas from the garden, basically anything they can get their paws on.  I only feed them one thing: Nutro dog food. I have fed Nutro's Adult Lamb and Rice formula for years. It keeps the dogs' coats looking lustrous, they eat it well, and their stools are firm.  Did I just write that?  Well, it's true, and a decent measure of food quality.

Recently the fine folks at Nutro offered me a sample of their Ultra Holistic Food.

When the bags arrived, Devie approached cautiously, sniffing the bags all over.

When Hawise entered the picture, Devie claimed the bags and growled for her to go away. Neither of them could tear into the bag alone so we helped them out with a little dog food day reenactment.

The dogs love the Ultra formula as much as any food, which is to say they gobble it up as if it were their last meal.  Like the lamb and rice formula, Ultra Holistic keeps them looking fine and their digestive system continues to seem great so far as I can tell from what's coming out the other end.  The Ultra formula differs most from the Lamb and Rice with the addition of nutrient rich superfoods like avocado, salmon, blueberries, pomegranates and more to support immunity, heart health, and sharp vision.

In an ideal world, I would make my own food for the dogs from all natural local humanely raised meats, whole grains and vegetables.  Right now, there isn't room in our food budget nor my busy schedule for doing so.  Nutro suits our needs and my dog's health very well.

Now for the fun part: Nutro wants to feed your pup you too! Leave a comment with your favorite dog's name. I'll pick five random comments at 8 pm next Monday May 10 to receive a sample bag of Nutro Ultra! Be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

The contest is over!  Congratulations to winners Tracie, Tara, Lisa, Jen, and Betsy!

Disclosure: I received the Nutro samples for free. I am not being compensated  for this review and giveaway.

Watch me on 10 TV!

10TV is filming a live segment with me at 7:50 am this Sunday.  Set your DVRs for my first extended television appearance, one that will hopefully not involve too many 'umm's, 'err's, or stumbles. I'll be talking meal planning, cooking as a family, and doing a cooking demonstration.

If you just can't wait for Hound video, check out this example of what Lil learns from listening to Alex:

Pi Day Pies! Spinach Feta Pie Recipe

Today, 3.14, March fourteenth, is Pi Day.  Pi Day is to honor the beloved constant or 3.1415926535… or the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle. What better way to celebrate Pi than with pie?

One of my favorite vegetarian savory pie recipes, Spinach Feta Pie, is below.  Share your favorite with the Mr. Linky or in a comment!

[print_this]Spinach Feta Pie Makes: 8 servings Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes baking

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

1 large white onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 pound fresh spinach, chopped roughly

1 1/2 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup bread or cracker crumbs

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp dried herbs (we like oregano and basil for this recipe, dill, tarragon or thyme would be good too)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

8 ounces frozen phyllo sheets, thawed and sliced into 1 inch squares  (can be reduced to 4 ounces if you want to lower empty calories)

1.Heat oven to 350 deg F.

2. Sweat onions and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil until translucent.  Add spinach until wilted.  Allow to cool.

3.  Stir together feta cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, and spices.

4. In a separate bowl, stir phyllo and 2 tbsp olive oil together.

5. Optionally, line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment for easy cleanup and no spills in the oven.  An easy way to do this is fold a piece of parchment into a square, then fold into a triangle twice holding the center of the paper as an endpoint.  Match endpoint to the middle of the spring form, cut a semi circle shape where the endpoint meets pan side, and open to reveal a circle like form.  You just approximated a radius (half a diameter)! Multiply the diameter times Pi and you have circumference!

6. Combine cooled onions, garlic and spinach with the feta mixture.  Press into prepared 9 inch springform pan.  Place pan on a cookie sheet.

7. Top pie with the phyllo dough pieces.  Drizzle a little more olive oil on top for extra crisp deliciousness.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Note: This pie is a great recipe to make double and freeze.  The frozen pie will take 1 hour 15 minutes to bake.

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I hope you enjoy some Pi Day pie today. Please share a pie recipe, memory about pie, or pie making tip in the comments!  If you participate in the blog round up, please let your readers know and link back to this page.

If These Webs Were To Break

Should the Internet fall to pieces, or service be interrupted for extended periods of time, or I find myself in a land without access, I would miss it. I would be without all the phone numbers and addresses I save in my Google contacts.  Photographs stored on Flickr and words from this blog would be inaccessible.  Recipes, museum information, and maps online would vanish.  The social networking tools I use to stay in touch with friends would be gone.

Yet so much remains in a life without the Internet.  My family, dogs, and gardens exist firmly in the real world.  My kitchen, center of my home, remains in constant use with or without computer assistance.  I can write letters on paper, make notes in cookbooks, and print pictures.  Newsletters, books, and yes, the much maligned Yellow Pages, convey much of the same data found in online search engines.

The information super highway is indeed a powerful tool.  But it's only that, a tool.  There are other tools that can be used to form community, publish stories, and research information.  Indeed, magazines and newsletters, novels, and photo books, maps and printed guides held together communities for many years before the world wide web was invented.

I encourage those I meet online and in person to live simply and engage with the physical world.  Get dirty.  Watch birds.  Eat from the earth.  Walk your dog.  Talk to your neighbors.  Catch rain.  Grow something.  Preserve your experience in a jar of jam, a photograph, or a story.

If we ever find ourselves in a time and place without the Internet, I am convinced my life and yours will remain rich and full.

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This post is an entry in the Mabel's Labels BlogHer'10 contest. Their writing prompt was 'Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?'  If the judges choose my post, I win a trip to BlogHer '10 and a year long blogging contract.

FEAST and Kindness

You know that I love playing with food. I recently submitted a grant proposal to the Couchfire Collective FEAST program. I want to hold a day long open workshop for all ages where we create art with our food (and then eat it!). Instead of a stodgy review process, the $1000 grant winner will be decided by diners who come to an exclusive party at Haiku restaurant in the Short North.  For $40, you can reserve a seat at the amazing 5 course dinner. (Dinner details, including a menu and reservations, here: http://www.thecouchfire.org/feast/feastdinner.html) You'll also be given 3 votes for proposals.

I'll be there representing the Play with Your Food idea.  My detailed proposal is here: http://www.thecouchfire.org/feast/playwithyourfood.html.  You can even donate directly towards a Play with Your Food event if you wish.

All the action happens next Monday night February 22 from 6:30 - 9 pm. I hope to see you there!

<3                  <3                        <3

Did you know that February 15-21 is National Random Acts of Kindness Week?  Panera Bread is celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Week with a new campaign called "Panera It Forward."  I participated as a Secret Good Will Ambassador.

I headed to my favorite store, Sprout Soup, and found a busy bunch of moms and kids getting ready for the store's Sprout Swap.  I handed out coupons for a free Panera coffee and bagel to each family.  I encourage everyone to perform more random acts of kindness.  You never know how you might be rewarded!

Olympics!

We are a sports loving family.  Ohio State Buckeye football receives our attention in the fall and we follow the Tour de France every summer.  The pinnacle of our sports watching is the biennial Olympic games.

This year, we hosted a party for the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony.  Because we can't pass up a chance for fun food, we asked guests to bring a dish from their favorite country.

By the end of the night, our multicultural spread included Japanese snacks, French cheese, home dry cured French style sausage, Indian chickpeas and rice, Swedish cardamom bread and pepparkakor cookies, American oysters and more.

Beer from Bell's Brewery in Michigan, homemade Italian style Limoncello, and French wines were also served.

Are you an Olympics fan?

Cursed Fruitcake

I am reading happy Xmas posts on other blogs.  All in all I had a good day, but I am feeling a bit cursed. Between celebrations number two and three we stopped home to feed the dogs, drop of gifts, and pick up new ones.  We were headed to my parents and packed up some food to contibute to dinner.

About half way through our short journey, I realized I had forgotten Lil's stocking stuffers.  We turned around.

I ran into the house and saw this:

ACKKKK!!!!  My beloved fruitcake!  The one I carefully baked, stored and basted!

Apparently when Alex grabbed the bag of food to load the car, he forgot the fruitcake.

Maybe I should have checked the car.  Maybe the dogs should be better trained.  Maybe I should not attempt such a touchy expensive confection.

At any rate, after coming home tonight I sliced off the dog-mawed parts and helped myself to a piece.  I wouldn't serve a dog licked anything to anyone else but I at least had to taste the fruitcake myself.

And of course, it is delicious.  I wish I had a whole loaf to enjoy.  Maybe next Christmas...

Having a Cool Yule

The goose was cooked and enjoyed.  Devie watched all proceedings to make sure no bit was wasted.  Look for a post later this week related to the Rose Bowl about how to cook duck and goose.

After snuggles and stories, Lil went to bed.

Lil's big present this year is an indoor swing.  We installed it (well, Alex installed and I tested) between the dining room and living room. Yes, I do hope I get a robe for Christmas that doesn't make me look like a five year old.

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays.  May your gifts be plenty and treats be delicious!