Trying To Make A Salad On A Saturday With The Help Of The Dragonfly Cottage Crew...

YOU try cooking in a kitchen the size of a shoebox
when three pugs try to help!





Sometimes I'm cooking with all FOUR dogs
in the kitchen. Moe is a lab-doby-something-
or-other mix. You do the math. Thankfully,
this time he watched from the doorway...





I began chopping raw vegetables. First the cauliflower
and then the broccoli. If the pugs had noses to speak of
they would have turned them up at the vegetables.
They were in it for the meat...





I scrubbed the carrots and got ready to chop them
but I knew I'd hear from the peanut gallery...





Chop-chop-chop-chop-chop-chop-chop...





"Oh fer cryin' out loud, can't a bird preen
without all that choppin' in there..."

Henry, Grey Parrot, who has no use for dogs and
hates chopping because it is so loud. He later
recanted when all of the birds got some of the
salad.





"That bird drives me nuts."

Babs, who is no one to mess with...





I tried to chop the cabbage in peace but Lord, the
racket going on was louder than the chopping...





Coco gave up, it was taking too long for her, and
she went to take a nap on her favorite step...





This is the London Broil for the salad. It is a 2 day
process. I marinated it for 24 hours with salt, pepper,
plenty of fresh minced garlic, and Herbes de Provence.
Yesterday I seared it on both sides and put it in a large
pot with a little water, beef bouillon, and the rest of
the marinade. It baked for 8 hours at 250° and then I
took the pot out and let it cool enough to refrigerate.
Today I heated it, lifted the meat out which was now
so tender I only needed to use a fork to mash it up
in the pan above. Adding back a little of the cooking
liquid kept the meat moist.






"I smell something."






The raw vegetable mix and London Broil will make several
meals. I took a smaller pot and mixed some of the vegetables
and meat, using Annie's salad dressing, an Avocado Parmesan.
I'd never had it before. It is delicious. Tossed together it made
a wonderful lunch, and tonight I had some adding a little more
of the dressing, ripe black olives, and artichoke hearts. I'm
working on a carb and sugar free diet but that doesn't mean
I can't eat well! I can stir fry the vegetables, add grilled
chicken, or any number of things. It's an easy way to make
many meals with a few basic ingredients...






"I don't care how many ways you can
use that stuff, I want the beef now."





Lunch in the red cup, part of my dinner in the green pot,
and enough for a meal tomorrow...





"This is ridiculous. I'm waiting here under
Mom's desk. She'll slip me a treat."

Sampson, who is always right...


I do look forward to moving into a place with a nice big kitchen, but it's nice to have a little help around the house.

Maitri, who won't go hungry for days,
nor will the dogs, the birds, and anyone
else who happens by...