sand and water

Been a rough week or two in Casa de Panda.  My husband, who has some serious PTSD, lost his sole surviving relative early this week.  Pappy, his 90-year-old grandfather, was more than just a grandpa ... over the past two years, we've become his support system and his source of entertainment.  I adopted him as my grandpa too, caring for him and visiting him when Panda was too sick to go (he has a host of other health issues, on top of the PTSD).

Anyhow, it's been tough.  I've occupied nearly every free minute with trying to keep my poor husband from spiraling into a crippling depression, and that's involved a lot of cooking.  I have tons to share, so I better get typing.  However, it is very very painful.  I'll show you why, after the jump.  And be warned - photos of ouchies will be shared.  Don't whine to me if you get icked out ... I told you what was coming.

i'm just one short of "crazy cat lady".

I love my pets.  In our house, we have the following menagerie:

1 dog.  Coco is a Yorkie-Bichon mix and he's just about the cutest thing going.  That's his little face on the blog's header.

3 cats.  Sammie wandered in our house two days before Panda and I went off to Jamaica and got married ... we think that her former family moved and dumped her.  She was living on bugs and rain water.  Max is adopted from the Logan County Humane Society, and he charmed me with his purrs and kitty-flops on my birthday (April 4) of 2009.  Dooney charmed Panda with his super-lovey routine and we brought him home from the LCHS too.

2 snakes.  Baby Panda (my 10 year old daughter) has an albino corn snake.  It's a lot like her ... little, fast, brightly colored, and demands attention.  Panda Jr. (my almost 13 year old step-soon-to-be-adopted daughter) has a ball python.  She's pretty shy, just like her owner.

1 praying mantis.  We had a different one, but Coco decided to knock the cage down and eat it.  No, I'm not kidding.

So yeah, we have a bit of a zoo around here.  And so it greatly upset me when I heard about this:

 

We had the Canyon Creek treats in our house, and the Beggin' Strips!  Nice.  I threw them out, because I didn't want to kill my pets.  It was a shame too, because the cats and the dog just loved them.  So, now what's a quasi-domestic furmomma to do?  Much like Cheech And Chong, I just decided that it was best to roll my own.

 

 

I'm a budget shopper.  I refuse to pay full price for just about anything (my Bowers + Wilkins subwoofer excluded).  So, I put my mad coupon skillz to good use.
 

I had a 20% off coupon to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I took my happy ass in there when they were having a sale, and I bought a dehydrator.  I did some research, and the Nesco was the best value at the sub-$100 price point.  So the regular price for the Nesco dehydrator was $59.99.  I then whipped out my 20% off coupon ... BAZINGA! I was out the door with tax and everything for less than $55.00.  And of course, I had to stop and get some meat to try it out.  My first try included some chicken breast and some stew beef.  I chopped them into thin strips, laid them out, turned on the dehydrator, and waited for the magic to happen.

And oh.  Did the magic EVER happen. 

Now, when I'm running low on treats, I stop down at Mosley's and get a pound of stew beef for about $5.  I get home, trim the fat and cut it into 1/2" pieces, and let the dehydrator do it's work for about 6-8 hours.  I then have bagfuls of treats for about $6, including the electricity it took to run the appliance. 

Not to mention ... I like to dehydrate bananas for the dog.  And the kids.  It's a quick (and cheap) treat for them.

If you have pets, and want to keep them healthy, I can't express how easy and quick it is to make your own treats.  No sodium.  No additives.  No chemicals from China that are going to kill them.  Just delicious treats, made with love by the momma.

i can just hear my ass growing. soon it will need its own zip code.

For those that don't know, my husband is referred to in my house as "Sad Panda" or just "Panda".  When he is crabby, it's "Pissy Panda".  And when I'm mad at him, it's "Dammit Panda."  Just wanted everyone to understand that I'm not talking about an overly large and lazy bear that eats bamboo and won't get busy with the hot lady bears.  I'm talking about my awesome husband.  He is not lazy, overly large, bamboo-eating, or not-busy-getting.  TMI?  Sorry about that.

Anyhow, Panda's grandfather liked to buy all sorts of crazy shit.  A grill that operated on nuclear power (OK not really, but it did require two propane tanks ...), one of those stupid Ronco rotisseries (SET IT! AND FORGET IT!), and several chain saws.  But the one thing he bought that I was very "meh" about was this Rotofryer thing.

It's made by DeLonghi.  It has a wire basket that you put down in the hot oil, and a mechanism inside the heating element makes it spin while cooking.  At first, I was all "we don't need a fryer."  Then I was all "WTF, it spins?"  And finally I was all "DUDE WE CAN FRY THAT SHIT!  WATCH THIS!"  I swear, I'm not a redneck, but the primal need to dunk things in the simmering vegetable oil is so hard to overcome. 

It's very easy to clean, too. It's got a little tube thing that comes out from under the handle (the vertical thing in the photo), and it drains into a filtering oil container.  Seriously, it rocks my socks.  I can OCD-clean the oil and wipe it out every single time I use it!  Win.

If you are a family that fries things, I highly recommend this little beauty.