Mopey

I've got a case of the Mondays.  I'm not sure why, since I don't have a job or any reason to hate Mondays anymore, but I just feel gloomy lately.  I think it's a combo of missing my honey and not really having a concrete plan.  Not knowing when we're leaving (and knowing it's not in the near future) is really starting to weigh me down.  I'm trying to keep busy, but it's getting harder and harder.

The latest debacle that's keeping me occupied is the Kane situation.  So, I got the prescription for allergen-free food and for a bag this size, I paid $85!

Now this bag looks massive, but keep in mind the bag is only 3/4 full and I have a 70lb dog.  Any normal person would go broke buying this stupid food.  These dog food people are straight up criminals!

So I had a panic attack that night imagining myself eating nothing but Top Ramen for the rest of my life because I'm spending thousands of dollars on dog food.  That's when I came up with the brilliant idea to make my own.  Since the vet recommended duck and potato (and that's the flavor of the food I bought), I decided to buy a duck.  I found a frozen duck at Raley's, but it sure wasn't cheap:

It's about half the size of a chicken and I spent $30!  Mother F****ER!  I wouldn't even spend $30 on a tiny bird if The Queen was coming over for dinner!  However, $30 is way less than $85, so I went with it.  I also got potatoes and carrots to make a sort of stew.
So, I boiled the duck, then removed it and boiled the potatoes and carrots in the broth.  Then I de-boned the duck and cut into pieces:

Then I continued to boil the broth to thicken it a bit:

Here's a bowl of stew:

I added some olive oil because that was one of the ingredients in the bagged food.  Of course, I can't just feed this to Kane without Capone getting super butthurt, so I have to feed it to both of them.  Their new feeding schedule is bagged food in the morning and stew in the evening.  I need a bumper sticker that reads "My dogs are more spoiled than you're kid."

Cooking With Sharmeela

To pull me out of my funk, I decided I needed chocolate.  So, today I made mini chocolate muffins!  YUM!  Here are my ingredients:

We have almond butter (but I think CREAMY peanut butter would be better), 2 ripe bananas, maple syrup and cocoa powder.  Optional: chocolate chips.

Grab your food processor and add 1 cup peanut butter (in my case, almond butter), the bananas, 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/3 cup cocoa powder. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (I didn't take a picture, you're welcome).  Process all your ingredients, making sure to stop and scrape down the sides if necessary.

Here's our batter:

It's gonna be super sticky, so spray your muffin tin:

Then add batter!

I added the chocolate chips right on top, but it would probably be better to either mix them into the batter, or at the very least, push them down more than I did (which was not at all).

Then we bake for about 15 minutes.  

Let cool and then carefully remove (they still stuck to the sides a little).

Mine were really mini, but I love mini things because about 50 of these equals one real muffin.  These were delicious, but the almond butter was sort of grainy tasting, so the texture was a little weird.  My mom also mentioned she didn't like the banana flavor, so if you're like her you can probably substitute with a cup and a half or so of applesauce.  I, however, didn't mind the banana flavor with the chocolate.  Make these today (and bring me some, will ya?  We ate all mine already).

Join me next time when I'll be melting off my skin Agustus Gloop-ing in a hot vat of chocolate (it'd totally be worth it).