WE HAVE A NEW ADDITION!

Funny how things work out, isn’t it? We had no intention of bringing a new basset hound into our lives so soon after losing Dassi. We were content with smothering Irene with lots of love. Yet here we are with a sweet new member of the family: meet 21-month old Kyra!

A simple call to the breeder to let him know what happened to Dassi and to ask him to put us on a waiting list for a slightly older puppy (8-10 months or so) turned into a rescue/adoption of sorts.

As you can see Kyra has a weight issue. The breeder had originally chosen her, the pick of the litter, to keep for breeding. She however had other ideas: Not. Gonna. Happen…twice. She just wasn’t interested, go figure. So he had her spayed and was going to put her up on his site but then he had a medical emergency of his own which put him out of commission for quite some time. Thankfully he’s doing well. Whether it’s an overeating or thyroid issue is yet to be determined but upon his return Kyra was overweight.

I was, at first, a bit annoyed that I was being shown pictures of a dog so soon but then I took one look at her face and it was all over. I cried.

Call it fate, say it was meant to be, whatever you want. There was no way we could turn her down. Maybe it was the idea that she needed to be saved, I don’t know but I think my husband and I need this as much as Kyra does. Besides, she’s a red and white like Dassi, her features and body shape (so far as we can tell) are much like Irene’s and her birthday is the same as the first Basset Hound we had, Betsy.

A trifecta!

I woke up at 3am last Saturday (April 6th); desperate attempts to get two more hours of sleep were miserably thwarted. I lie awake thinking. In truth, this was both a happy day and a sad moment for me. I tried to quell the tears, getting out of bed to hide them from my husband. When I returned he pulled me close, held me tight and said “I miss her too”. More waterworks.

We drove from Long Island out to Centre Hall, PA, checked into the same dog friendly motel we’ve used on each trip, then went up to the breeder a few miles away to pick up Kyra. She’s even more beautiful in person.

Although our intent was to spend the night and leave the following day, we realized Kyra’s restlessness would not allow us to get a good night’s sleep. We packed up the van, strapped the dogs into their seats and off we went, caffeine and bad food in tow; we got back home around 11pm that night.

We are on a mission to get Kyra healthy. She’s much too heavy to carry up the stairs and she can’t manage them herself, so for now she and Irene are sleeping downstairs, bonding.

I am going to chronicle Kyra’s weight loss progress on my blog approximately once a month, or when we can get her to the vet for a “weigh-in”. With that said, her starting weight is 83.7 pounds, yikes! We figure she should be around the same weight as Irene (or maybe a wee bit bigger) about 55 pounds.

Update: After one week of finicky eating, she’s lost 2.7 pounds!

Paw Prints on My Heart

January 12, 2007 – March 6, 2013

Oh Miss Dassi, you put up a good fight. Through it all you were such a trooper. You never complained about the pills or doctor visits. You looked up at daddy and I with those beautiful trusting brown eyes that said, “I know, don’t worry, I love you”.

Through it all you wagged your tail and kissed us with total abandon.

We did everything we could for you baby girl, mommy and daddy tried.

But cancer sucks.

When we rushed you to the emergency room last night we knew.

Even in your last hours you managed to melt the hearts of the hospital staff. You touched so many lives Dassi, everyone who met you fell in love with you. Such a beautiful soul.

Daddy and I are struggling with your loss but we know that you are now at peace. Oh Dassi you have etched a permanent place in my heart; you have left paw prints on my heart.

Go find Betsy and Trinket sweet girl, they’re waiting for you.

I love you Dassi Doo, my baby girl. Rest in peace.

Dassi Doo Part Deux

Dassi got thru the surgery like a trooper. I stayed home with her for two days because she needed to be watched. The pain meds make her loopy and wobbly. At least she timed it well, the second day we had a blizzard!

But she has not been without several ups and downs. You’ve been keeping us on our toes ever since we first brought you home.

We cam home from work on the following Monday to find blood on her neck. Somehow this resourceful houndie contorted her body so she could get her little tree trunk hind leg into the e-collar and scratch at the itchy incision site.

We cleaned her up, put on an antibiotic and I cut up an old t-shirt to make bandages. We wrapped her neck and used a different kind of collar called “Bite-Not” that looks something like a human neck brace. I’m not sure which collar she disliked more…I’d say it was a tie.

Dassi was so happy when she had the staples removed and didn’t have to wear that stupid collar anymore. She seemed to be back to herself.

Ah but that wasn’t all. About a week later she began to mope, she felt warm, she was running a fever. She became listless so we rushed her to the emergency room early in the morning and there she stayed overnight. She apparently had an infection, probably from opening the wound.

They took very good care of her and when we picked her up the next day we learned that she’d won the hearts of everyone there. I’ll bet she batted those beautiful irresistible brown eyes of hers at everyone who came to care for her.

She came home with more meds and edema in her neck. We put warm compresses on the swelling throughout the day and it started to subside. Dassi looked like Dassi again.

She saw the doctor that weekend and we got a good report, whew. But then about a week later she’s in distress again. Breathing heavy, not wanting to eat…not again.

Although neither of us said it then, both my husband and I did the same thing, we assumed the worst. Off to the doctor again. He believes she’s having gastric problems from the meds and put her on Pepcid AC. Who knew?

This last episode was today.

You can imagine as a result I’ve been a wee bit preoccupied lately so my apologies for having gone missing. I’m hoping Dassi will get settled and our lives will follow. Thanks to all who’ve been asking about her, I can’t tell you how much your kind words and concern have meant to me. ((HUGS))

Dassi Doo – Sweet Houndie Girl

My sweet baby girl Dassi.  She’ll kiss your face till you laugh so hard you can barely breathe, she’ll curl up in your lap and take a snooze, and she’ll cuddle with you when you’re not feeling well.  She’s way smarter than any other dog I’ve ever known.  She’s tuned in in a way that is really quite remarkable.
 
She’s full of spit and vinegar.  Opinionated, demanding.  She actually stamps her feet when she wants your attention and she’s not getting it.  She has many “words” and uses them strategically to get what she wants. There’s not a bad bone in her body.
 
She knows her commands (and even listens on occasion, especially when there is food involved) and  can do some tricks: sit, stay, come, speak, roll over, find-it; put a cookie in front of her, tell her to leave it and she does until you release her.
 

She complains when she knows you are about to clean her ears but endures it.  She runs to sit on top of her mommy (in bed) when her daddy is ready to put her in her crate for the night.  Mommy let me stay.
 
Dassi is a sweet, affectionate bundle of happiness, joy and love. She wags her tail so intensely her entire tush wiggles along with it; sometimes her tail wags in circles. She looks right up at you with all the love and trust in the world. I love her to pieces.

She is 6 years old and she has cancer.
 
We thought she was out of the woods.  We’d been here before, a bit over a year ago.
 
She’s been through so much in her life.  And through it all she’s been a trooper.
 
Now she needs surgery again to remove a tumor from her neck.  The surgery is tomorrow.  My husband is taking her and I will stay home with her the following day or two.  Neither of us will sleep tonight.  Nor will we sleep tomorrow night.  Despite the pain meds she will be hurting.  And that rips my heart out.

I love you Dassi, be strong my baby and fight!

What’s Been on My Needles?

The real question is what has been on again, off again on my needles. (Grammar fail)

I’ve been in such a knitting rut I’m starting to twitch. It seems that everything I start to knit lately either gets ripped back significantly or frogged all together.
It all started with this hat. A REALLY nice pattern, not difficult, quick, a good knit me in the car kinda thing. The knitter on the other hand, moi, was the problem. When I finally got to the decreases, I realized that I neither had a second 16” US 10 lace needle, nor did I have a longer US 10 lace needle for magic loop. And of all the double points that are collecting dust (me no like) NONE were 10’s. Let me repeat that:

NONE were US 10s!!

The only ones I had were crappy bamboo…BAMBOO! Ich! Though I tried in earnest, the chunky pointed sticky horribleness that is bamboo (my apologies to all you bamboo lovers out there), resulted in me screwing up the top of the hat royally. It’s been sitting ever since. I just couldn’t look at it.

I finally ordered another 16” US 10 lace needle, which arrived recently.

So I’ve taken a break from my knitting to recover. I started knitting the One Row Handspun Scarf pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee since I figure there isn’t much this boneheaded knitter could screw up. Consider this my therapy scarf. LOL

It’s a little more than halfway done. So far, so good:

But what I REALLY want to knit is Cilantro by Amy Swenson. The two skeins of yarn are from the same dye lot but, well you know as these things go, I can clearly see they don’t really match…woo hoo, gonna knit from both at the same time. I think I need an adult beverage.

Given my track record you can see why this has been tabled.

So anyway, I will fix and finish this damn hat when I’m ready and then I will reward myself with Cilantro…I think.

In the meantime I will continue working on my one liner.

Grapefruit Poppyseed Bundt Cake #Bundtamonth

I begin this post with a heavy heart. One of the founders of #BundtaMonth has suffered a personal loss. My heart goes out to her and her family. I know there is nothing I can say or do that will ease her pain, only time will help to temper that sting. All I can offer is support, peace and healing thoughts from afar. Be strong my friend.

As far as I’m concerned grapefruit is an underused fruit when it comes to baking. Truly, it is a rare thing when I happen upon a cake or pastry that uses grapefruit as the citrus element rather than say lemon or orange. And I happen to really like grapefruit…so does my husband for that matter.

So I decided for my January #BundtaMonth posting I would use grapefruit as my citrus element. While we’re on flavors I favor, poppy seeds are a crunchy little favorite of mine too, so move over lemon poppy seed cake and say hello to Grapefruit Poppy Seed Bundt Cake! Mwah!

I started out with the aforementioned lemon version and tweaked the recipe just a tad, replacing the lemon with ruby red grapefruit and the crème fraiche with a sour cream/ half and half combo (you could use heavy cream, I just didn’t have any on hand). I also modified the leavener a bit. I was hoping the ruby reds would give the cake a pinkish glow, no such luck.

I decided to give the cake a flavor boost by brushing a soaking liquid onto the just-out-of-the-oven-stabbed-with-a-skewer-cake and the topped it off with a wee bit of glaze. I had fun.

I picked up a new pan for this one, it’s the blossom Bundt and while I like the shape I’m not sold on this gold tone pan. My cake came out a bit darker than I like but not over cooked. I’ll give it another chance before I relegate it to the back of my closet.

Interested in joining the citrusy fun? Here’s how you can be a part of Bundt-a-Month:

• Simple rule: Use mandarin, orange, lime, yuzu, lemons, Key lime or ANYTHING citrus – and bake us a Bundt for Tangy January
• Post it before January 31, 2013.
• Use the #BundtAMonth hashtag in your title. (For ex: title should read #BundtAMonth: Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt)
• Add your entry to the Linky Tool below
• Link back to our announcement posts
• Follow Bundt-a-Month on Facebook where we feature all our gorgeous bundt cakes. Or head over to our Pinterest board for inspiration and choose from over 350 Bundt cake recipes!

Grapefruit Poppy Seed Cake
Adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson”

Ingredients – Cake
3 cups AP flour
1/4 cup Poppy Seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar in the raw
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated grapefruit zest
1/3 cup sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup half and half (you can use heavy cream if you have that on hand)

Ingredients – Soaking Liquid
1 cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar

Ingredients – Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
2-3 teaspoons grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon half & half (or heavy cream, or milk)
Pinch of salt

Instructions – Cake
1. Grease and flour your Bundt pan, set aside
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F
3. Whisk the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
4. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the eggs one at a time mixing between additions.
6. Add the vanilla, grapefruit juice, grapefruit zest and combine.
7. Turn your mixer down to low. In three installments each, alternate adding the flour and sour cream/half & half mixture to the butter mixture (Begin and end with the flour).
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes, checking at the 50 minute mark for doneness by inserting s skewer into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.
9. While the cake is baking, make the soaking liquid.
10. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, take your skewer and poke holes into it without going all the way to the bottom. Immediately brush the glaze all over the cake. I used about half of it.
11. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
12. Invert onto a plate.
13. Drizzle Glaze over cake and serve.

Instructions – Soaking Liquid
1. Add the sugar and grapefruit juice to a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring gently to dissolve.
2. Lower to a simmer, stirring occasionally until it has reduced to about half. This should take approximately 10 minutes.

Instructions – Glaze
1. Whisk 2 teaspoons grapefruit juice and 1 teaspoon half and half into confectioners’ sugar. Add additional juice if needed to get a thick but flowing consistency.

Almond Clementine Bundt Cake by Carrie from Poet In The Pantry
Citrus Bundt Cake with Sparkling Wine and Fiori di Sicilia by Laura from The Spiced Life
Citrus Cocktail Mini Bundt Cakes by Renee from Magnolia Days
Citrus Lust Mini Bundt Cakes with Lemon Curd by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
Dried Tomato Cherry and Yuzu Cake by Ann from Anncoo Journal
Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake by Alice from Hip Foodie Mom
Grapefruit PoppySeed Bundt Cake by Deb from Knitstamatic
Grapefruit Yogurt Bundt Cake by Kate from Food Babbles
Lemon Bundt with Lemon Curd by Holly from A Baker’s House
Mini Orange Bundts with a Grand Marnier Glaze by Tara from Noshing With The Nolands
Orange Chocolate Marble Bundt by Paula fromVintage Kitchen
Orange Olive Oil Cake by Katerina from Diet Hood
Orange Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Bundt Cake by Anuradha from Baker Street
Soaked and Glazed Lemon Cake by Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious
Zesty Lemon Bundt Cake by Anita from Hungry Couple NYC

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Molasses Wheat Quick Bread #TwelveLoaves

First Thing First: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Whew! Now that the indulgent months are behind us I so want to get back to “normal” food. Simple, uncomplicated, healthy eating.

Clean Slate is such the perfect theme for this month’s #TwelveLoaves posting. I suppose that slate means somewhat different things to different people and um in a different context it could mean a whole lot of different things but let’s stay focused here.

For me it means enough already with the high fat, fancy shmancy foods, it means remembering to take care of myself and eating properly instead of picking at all the wrong things along the way.

I was looking for a simple, healthy grab and go type breakfast item, one that I can easily take with me in the morning if need be; something that would be filling enough to sustain me in the morning without leaving me feeling bogged down or fill me up with empty calories. I’d been sitting on this quick bread recipe made with whole wheat flour, flax seeds and blackstrap molasses and honestly kinda forgot about it until I stated thinking about this month’s challenge. It just seemed right.

All in all I think between the iron, calcium and potassium in the blackstrap molasses, the omega-3′s, fiber and lignans in the flax seed and the folic acid, protein and antioxidants in wheat germ this recipe is not too shabby on the nutrition scale. Not to mention the whole wheat flour.

I only made a few minor tweaks, adding raisins to one of the two loaves and using ground flax seed rather than whole which require grinding. BTW, I learned there’s a 1:1.5 ratio of whole to ground flax seeds…just in case you need to do the conversion like I did.

The bread is a bit on the tart side from the blackstrap molasses and so I found pairing it with some strawberry jam seemed the right thing to do. A small piece of cheese would also be a nice accompaniment.

Interested in joining us? Here’s the deal:

#TwelveLoaves January: Clean Slate. Bake a bread, yeast or quick bread, loaf or individual. January #TwelveLoaves is all about a clean slate. After the holiday indulgences, we are starting the year with simplicity. Have fun baking with whole grains and other flours. Share with us your favorite basic bread recipes. Let’s get baking!

Just follow the rules, it’s as easy as pie:
1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone’s posts. Please make sure that your Bread is inspired by the theme!
2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

Molasses Wheat Quick Bread
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2/3 cup toasted wheat germ (plus more for sprinkling)
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
3 cups buttermilk
2/3 cup raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon (plus more for sprinkling)

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 9 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Whisk in the ground flaxseed and wheat germ.
3. In a large measuring cup (or a bowl) combine the buttermilk, blackstrap molasses and canola oil. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combined.
4. Place half of the batter in one prepared loaf pan. Even out top with an offset spatula and sprinkle with extra wheat germ if desired.
5. Gently fold the raisins and cinnamon into the rest of the batter. Don’t overmix.
6. Pour the remaining batter into the other prepared loaf pan. Even out top with an offset spatula and sprinkle with extra cinnamon if desired.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven an let sit in the pans for 10 minutes or so the turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Alabama Light Bread by Dorothy | Shockingly Delicious

Basic White Bread by Renee | Magnolia Days

Classic Oatmeal Bread by Liz | That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Grandmom’s Dinner Rolls by Jennie from The Messy Baker Blog

Italian Potato Bread by Rosella | Ma Che Ti Sei Mangiato

Molasses Wheat Quick Bread by Deb | Knitstamatic

Orange Date Nut Loaf by Katerina | Diethood

Pandoro by Paula | Vintage Kitchen

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread by Alice | Hip Foodie Mom

Whole Wheat Pita Bread by Holly | A Baker’s House

Whole Wheat Sea Salt Bagel by Lora | Cake Duchess

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