Food Love - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Well, hello 200th post.  That's just crazy...

It's been rainy the last few days here in Austin, which means I could stay in bed all day.  AKA, I'm lazy and that is why this is a Saturday post instead of Friday.  I blame it on the rain.

I don't know about you, but I don't use my slow cooker as much as I probably should!  What's not to love about walking in the door to delicious smells and not having to cook dinner.  Real Simple actually did an issue featuring all the great things you can make with the slow cooker.  This particular recipe wasn't from there, but pulled pork is something I hardly ever make.  I honestly would like to cook more with different meats.  I feel like I get stuck cooking the same meats when sometimes it's nice to change it up a bit.  Really though, you can't mess up this recipe.  There is hardly any prep, other than mixing the 14 spices (or just buy your own at the store).  You are going to love this!  It's yummy hot or cold, and I really spoiled my hubby with potato salad and beans to complete his barbecue fix. 

via

 The Yummy Life's pictures is way cuter than mine and  check out her homemade sauce to go along with it! 

Since I am really stuck inside most of the weekend, I have a few other recipes that I might just have to try out: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and these for the pups!

Love B

Photo Shoot

Last week one of the oh-so-talented photographers in town emailed me about Steel being in a photo shoot she was doing.  She saw a picture of him on Facebook and thought he would be the perfect subject for the look she was aiming for.  He is pretty cute, so I agreed to bring him to the shoot. 

He is pretty good at listening when there are not distractions.  He was so ADD during the shoot and would only sit for a treat for about 5 seconds.  He is still a puppy after all, not that he looks like it.  We were downtown at the Chateau Bellevue, so tons of traffic, and all he wanted to do was eat the rose petals off the ground.  Silly pup.  She did get this amazing picture of him and the model. 

Isn't he beautiful??  The poor model - he can pull like no other if he wants to, so I told her to just let go if he gets to be too much.  It's an art to look good and man handle a 90lb dog. :o)  You've got to see the rest of the pictures she posted - amazing!  I love them!!

Before we left, she also snapped a few candid shots of Steel, because she is just that sweet.

Now an update on our sweet Bella bear... Her surgery leg is doing much better, and she is walking a ton better on it.  The swelling has gone down, no more bruising, and now we just have to wait until Monday to get the staples removed.  Sounds great right?  Yea, except Bella is never that easy.  I compare her to D and all of this random health surprises..

I know I mentioned her other back foot was swollen in my last post.  Well of course that didn't just go away nicely.  The swelling started to go down, but then her pads started peeling off.  At this point I was really worried about an infection and who knows what else.  We took her back to the specialty hospital last Saturday and had an internal medicine doctor look at it.  I go through the run down of events and say that she hasn't been licking it, but it is leaking (the best way to describe it) from the bottom of her paw.  She takes her back and Bella was not running a temperature, but she says she thinks it's just from the swelling and that it's peeling because she has been licking it.  At this point I was extremely frustrated, because I just sat there and told her that we've been watching her closely and she HADN'T been licking it.  Ugh. So we leave with some antibiotics and I keep watching it.  Well the pad was not getting better.  In fact most of the large pad was completely off and the full pad was off of one of her top toes.  We asked if we should cover it or clean it and they just say to keep it clean by wiping it with a warm water rag.  Okay we were doing that - still no change. 
Finally on Monday, I take her out and wipe her foot off and see this.  {warning - it's not a pretty picture)

Immediately I thought, this is not right.  To me it looked like some kind of growth, terrible bacteria, grossness!  I had Scott help me take this picture, because it hurts her to touch her pad.  I'm talking about that black/brownish thing on the pink tissue, not me pulling back the pad.  I send this picture to D and I send it to the specialty clinic via email.  I get a call that afternoon and they still don't think it's really anything but an infection.  Again, no additional treatment, just the antibiotics.  When it continued to peel off and still nothing had changed in that day, I finally called my regular vet.  I tried to describe it to him and he had me send him this exact same picture to his phone.  He called me back and said that it was not normal and asked what medicine she was on.  All 4 of them are good, but he said we needed to get an antibiotic cream to get rid of something like this.  When I asked him if we should be wrapping it or cleaning it, he said absolutely.  He understood that it's impossible to keep her foot clean and actually get this heeled. 

FINALLY.  I felt like we were headed in the right direction.  I don't think it was that hard of a stretch to understand that something was going on with her foot.  So, it will still take a while to fully heal, but I feel better about it.  The more we see our regular vet, the more I love him. 
xxoo B

Happy Valentines Day

...better than anything else you could get on this holiday!  Hope you are spreading the love to all of those you care about.
Love B

Food Love - Red Velvet Cake

Happy Friday!  It's been a long week and I can't wait to get home and just relax.  Quite possibly drink a glass of wine, or two... I pinned this recipe the other day and realized I have never made a red velvet cake.  With the holiday of love right around the corner, I thought it would be quite fitting to make.  I might try to make these with mini muffin tins and make mini red velvet whoopie pies. 

The image of directions was so cute, I decided to just put it on the blog and give all credit to the wedding chicks blog.  To see the full recipe, click here.

via Wedding Chicks

via Wedding Chicks

xxoo B

Recovery

{warning - this is long and has some not so pretty pictures of Bella's surgery}

On Monday we had to take our little girl in to get her knee fixed.  We met with a specialist, and he strongly encouraged us to move forward with surgery.  She was diagnosed with a torn left cranial cruciate ligament or CCL.  He gave us our two options, and of course, there wasn't just one right answer.  I'm going to rant for a moment...

It is so frustrating to go to a doctor, spend a ton of money, and not get specific answers.  I know they have to be that way to cover their asses, but come on.  All I want is to hear the best way to move forward.  I have no idea what I'm doing here, that's why I came to you! 

Okay, I think I'm done.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the doctor we have and the place we went, but I just need some guidance. 

We had two options to fix her knee, and of course, we went with the more expensive one.  Thanks, Bella.  No, we both agreed that we would feel more comfortable knowing that she had a plate and screws holding it all together and not just scar tissue.  The procedure is called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy or TPLO. 


I had to drop her off that morning, and it was SO sad.  Steel and I had to say goodbye to a fluffy friend the day before, and they make you sign all those 'worst case scenario' lines where 'death may be possible'.  I was strong and made it out of the office before getting teary eyed.  The kicker was when they make you take off everything, even her collar and take it with you.  She just had this look on her face when I left, and of course, pulled away from the nurse when I was leaving.  Tear.  But I took a deep breath and had to remind myself that they do this all the time and she really needed this to get better.


Later that afternoon I got a call from our doctor that she made it through like a champ.  She actually had about 80% of her ligament torn, so they went ahead and clipped it entirely.  Apparently, if left in fragments, it can cause problems or pain in the future.  She spent the night at the hospital and then D took yesterday off to get her.  I didn't get to see her until the afternoon, but I was glad he got to spend some time with her. 


Her leg looks pretty beat up.  I thought yesterday was bad, but today is even worse.  She is on pain medication, but still seems to be in some pain.  She just can't get comfortable and changes positions a lot. 

Her recovery plan involves 8 weeks of keeping her quite and confined.  No jumping, running, playing, etc for 8 weeks.  We have to ice her leg for these first 3-4 days, because of the bruising.  Then in about two weeks, she gets to go get the staples removed.  

It's going to be a long 8 weeks...

Bella didn't get to say bye to our fluffy friend Fez, but Steel had the BEST time.  It was a rainy day, but the dogs were loving it.

We will miss all your hyper, growling, playful self! Love, B, Steel and Bbears.  

Project Love - Cedar door mat

Well, I finally did it.  I made the pretty wooden door mat that I posted about last month.  I love the way it turned out and was a pretty easy project to do.  Even those that aren't super crafty could rock this project!  Just make sure you have the tools to make it and you are good to go!  It went pretty quick and I finished it in one afternoon.   

Here was my process and the final results:

What do you guys think?
Love B

Food Love - Superbowl

I like watching football, but you know you really go to Superbowl parties for the food!  Well, that and the Puppybowl. 

What goodies are you planning on bringing?  This week I'm sharing my front runners for the Superbowl party we are going to.  I'll let you know how they fare. 

It's not a party with out a dip... 

Picture from SimplyRecipes

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  And because I HAVE to bring something sweet: 

Picture from Pixelated Crumb

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I must say, I'm quite glad it's Friday! 

Love B 

February

It's the month of LOVE

Images taken from pinterest