Sabotaged by Bacon...ALMOST!

I knew this would happen at some point...sneaky meat. We went out to dinner with our friends last night to this new Italian/Polish pub, and I was very excited to have some pierogi! I ordered a few potato ones, and a few mushroom ones, along with a lovely little panzanella salad (loving the Italian/Polish combo). The pierogi came on a bed of warm sauerkraut, and as I dug into it...BAM! Little red bits...of BACON! uuuggggghhhhh!!!!! I had a few bites, but it became too much of a pain to inspect each forkful. Luckily we had more than enough food (as usual), so I certainly didn't go hungry.

I volunteered at the Admissions/Intake part of PAWS shelter today, and had a great time! I got there at 9:30, and was informed they were very under-staffed today. I went into the dog area, and most of them hadn't even been taken outside yet :( There just aren't enough people to help! So I definitely got my exercise in, walking maybe 5 or so dogs all around Little Village (it's a huge Latina area...very fun to walk around!). I fell in love with this little guy, Dobbs. 6 months old and a big goofball! Look at those ears!!!! I don't think Hort or Morris would appreciate him, so hopefully he will get a good home SOON!!!


Dinner tonight is looking like veggie burgers on the grill, and this Greek-ish salad I made (I saw it in the prepared section at the deli, but the line was too long and I got tired of waiting, so just decided to throw it together myself!). It's just made up of cucumbers (peeled, seeded, and chunked), a few tomatoes chopped up (some of the seeds and guts removed), some red onion, and feta cheese crumbled in. Then I tossed it around with dried oregano, mint, salt and pepper, and some olive oil and rice wine vinegar (only vinegar I have at the moment). I took a sample taste, and it's pretty darn tasty.

***One more thing! The Cooking Channel has arrived!!! It is on the same channel that the Fine Living Network used to be (on Direct Tv, it's channel 232). I am really enjoying it! Meat still dominates, but there are a lot of ethnic-based shows now too, so I'm hoping I'll get a lot of vegetarian ideas (or at least flavor inspirations!).

Have a great week everyone!

Memorial Day challenges...maybe not so challenging!

We had a little cookout with some friends...the usual suspects were there-Brats, burgers, you know the rest. Though I'm normally not a fan of soy products that parade around as something else (if it's a veggie burger, I like to see the veggies), I decided to try Morning Star Farms grillers prime (I think that's what it was called). It was supposed to have that true "flame broiled" taste. I decided to put it in the toaster while the meats were on the grill. I topped it off with some sauteed onions I made, some cheese, a pickle, and a little ketchup. Not bad! It still had that smell that some soy products have, but the toppings masked it pretty well. Not sure if I would buy it again, but it was nice not to have a completely different meal than everyone else. Sides were easy- caprese salad and chips of course :) I felt good about being meat-free today...no urges for a burger, definitely not for a brat. It was also the first time that I went out of my way to make sure my pretend burger wasn't cooked next to the real burgers...as more time passes being meat-free, the more unappetizing meat becomes to me. I did briefly forget that I was vegetarian when Jen mentioned her dad wanting to make a deep fried turkey, but I caught myself, and ended the excitement (and by ending the excitement, I mean stopped jumping up and down)...there's just something so wrong, but so right about a deep fried turkey....

ANYWAY...

I also had my first day of volunteering at the PAWS spay/neuter clinic this morning. It went really well! I spent most of the morning cleaning ears, cutting nails, helping dogs and cats to wake up from anesthesia, and pulling out a few breathing tubes! Overall I really liked it and felt good about it...all except the dog that came in to be spayed, and turned out to be pregnant. Of course I peaked into the OR just as the vet tech was giving the euthanasia shots to all the tiny puppies (they didn't really look all that much like puppies, but I still knew, and it was still really sad). I made myself feel better by playing with the tiny fluffy gray kitten named Rupert, which is such a great name for a fluffy gray kitten!

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!