"Beef" Stew

This is a really easy seitan stew if you are willing to put the effort into making the seitan (it’s easier than it sounds.) The seitan recipe is from the Veganomicon. The spices are mostly ripped off from a beef stew recipe. You need a crockpot for this.

1 batch Seitan, lightly pan fried in Sriracha and a minced garlic clove

5-7 small red potatoes, quartered

2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped, or  ½ cup to 2/3 cup prechopped carrots

1 white onion, diced

½ container baby bella mushrooms

½ cup frozen corn

1 can chickpeas

½ bag green beans, snapped in half

1 clove garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce, (an example is Annie’s)

2 ½ cups water

2 ½ cups vegetable broth

Put all ingredients in the crockpot and mix thoroughly. Cook for 12 to 24 hours on high. Enjoy!

When I make this again, I might add 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch at the beginning to thicken it. Chauncey said it would be better a bit thicker. Just a side note.

More Bêlit

We've been running back and forth to the vet over these few weeks trying to get the puppy better. She still has one parasite out of the four she had and her pakcell levels went from the original 11% to 25% to now 21%. This means she is losing blood, possibly because the hookworms died and their release actually caused a bit more bleeding. Now we have her on more medicines.

We are seriously considering a health care plan for her and have this at the moment, at least for sixty days. The paperwork hasn't come to us yet though. We can afford these visits and her regular maintenance far less than even up to $100 a month. That's the top plan. It even includes kennel stays if you are hospitalized for a period of time.

Bêlit rotates between being weird about food and no energy to eating heartily and having energy. We just took her for a very long walk to the park because she wasn't going to the bathroom, which was successful. She ate afterwards, which made my boyfriend and I very happy. It should be a good day.

School starts on the twenty third. I am very nervous about my accounting class. We had some pre-homework and I didn't have a very good retention rate when I read the first chapter. It just didn't stick with me. I am going to have to really work hard for this. I have no idea how I'll do accounting 2. Plus, there was a wonky math problem, one I didn't understand at all. That makes me even more nervous. Oh well, we'll see.

The puppy goes to the vet in a little under a week, assuming all goes well. Hopefully it will.

Late Night Update

So it has been an interesting few days.

First off, the puppy is absolutely wonderful, and so cute. She is a little shark, and wants to eat our hands, feet, fingers, and toes all the time, along with anything else she can grab. She spends half her time sleeping and half her time playing and does both as adorably as possible. Also, she loves to have her belly scratched.

However, the breeders scammed us. I won't talk about what recourse I have, other than there are rules about this in Florida, because I may be taking them to small claims court, but they sold her to us with a chronic case of hookworms, along with at least three other parasites that required her to get an emergency blood transfusion. It pretty much cost us the price we paid for her to begin with. They are refusing to pay for the bills at this point. I will be making sure they have a very hard time selling their puppies from now on. I'll go to every site I can find and hunt them down and I intend to alert the AKC and Better Business Bureau. So regardless of how the case goes, they will have a hard time of it, I will make sure of that. Poor Bêlit nearly died.

Still, I am glad we got her, she is an absolute gem. She is also a holy terror, and keeps both of us up all night with walking schedules. but that is par for the course for puppies.

I am worried about her relationship with the cats. Finch has already smacked her with her claws. We were scared she got her eye, but she didn't. Still, Bêlit cried like crazy, and I don't want her to see cats as a threat to the point she becomes a cat killer. I need her to avoid them, is all. We have to socialize her with my mother's clawless cat, Nala. Nala likes dogs and has even headbutted Bêlit in greeting. The puppy was lethargic from lack of blood at the time though, so they need a new meeting. I worry for Nala. She'll now have to face the shark. We'll keep an eye on them though.

Bêlit Time!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!!!

We have a malamute puppy waiting for us, she is the cutest thing and we have named her Bêlit! Awesomely, there is also this reason for the name Bêlit.

We visited the breeders before, and they have a great set up, with air conditioned kennels, and long waits between pregnancies for the bitches. Kalua, the mother, had nine puppies, two boys and seven girls! We are picking Bêlit up a week or so early, with their permission. I haven't seen her in about a month, I wonder how big she has gotten.

Yesterday we went out and bought a ton of dog supplies, mostly in pink. I got her a collar instead of a harness until I know whether she will be pulling on the leash, and what size will fit her. I will be training her personally with the help of a few books.

Of course this means potential mental scarring for the cats, and we have to watch them around her because they have claws. Hopefully, giving them lots of love will let them know they are just as good and we love them just as much. My cats are fairly dysfunctional, so I expect a good bit of adjustment time.

But pictures!

First Bêlit and then a group picture of the girls.

 

Then the mom and dad. The mother is Kalua, and the father is Sampson. Such beautiful examples of malamuttery.

I can't wait! I just hope she rides well in cars. It should be fun though. I will update with more pics once I have her.