It sure feels like Monday today... I guess it could have something to do with laying about the house for two days this week already. I have work to do, but I just can't seem to get it together today. Petey, the office cat, was glad to see me. Well, he meowed anyway. Tim terrorized him a bit on Saturday after the movies. I wanted help putting FrontLine on Pete to prevent fleas and Tim scared him when he found his hiding spot. All you could hear was Pete's feet trying to get traction on the wood floor. He finally scrambled inside the paper cabinet behind my desk and I got him out and held him while Tim put the flea stuff on the back of his neck. Poor Pete - he's so misunderstood. I just had lunch (left-over beanie weenies) with my friend, Richard. He's working on trying to rent out some of his lady-friend's mobile homes for the upcoming winter tourist season. It is amazing to me what some Yankees will pay for a month or two in a mobile home - just to be in Florida for the winter!
Since it's fall, it's the perfect weather for one-pot dinners. Here's my recipe for Gourmet Beanie Weenies:
1 12-oz can dark kidney beans
1 12-oz can light kidney beans
1 12-oz can great northern beans
1 12-oz can pinto beans
1 12-oz can chili beans (mildly seasoned)
1 12-oz can garbanzo beans
1 12-oz can black beans (rinsed)
2 12-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
2 16-oz packages kosher hot dogs, sliced
That looks like a lot now that I write it down! Anyhow, open all the beans and pour out the excess liquid from everything but the chili beans. Combine the beans in a large pot with the hot dogs. Add both cans of diced tomatoes, along with the diced onion. Now here's the part that's up to you: add chili seasoning, salt and pepper to taste - the way you like it. Some like it hot, so... Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour. Just before you are ready to serve dinner, add the rinsed black beans and stir. If you don't rinse them, it makes the beans ugly and well, no one wants to eat grey food. Yes, I learned the hard way. And no matter what you do, or how long you cook it, the garbanzo beans are never going to get mushy. If you really want to go all out, you can add crumbled italian sausage or sliced smoked kielbasa to the mix. This is guy food - for those of you who still believe that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Personally, I think it's through his sternum with an eight-inch stainless steel knife. I'm just saying.
Our cats had a flea infestation a couple of years back. One of them, Pepper, had it particularly bad. His hair isn't as thick as his brother Jackson's, and you could see the fleas moving around!
ReplyDeleteWe asked the vet how they could have gotten fleas, since they don't go outside, and came to the conclusion that one of them had just a couple of fleas (or one pregnant one!) when we brought them home. Over the months they multiplied until they reached a critical mass.
Gave them flea medicine for years, which they hated. I decided last month that I wasn't going to use it anymore. They never go outside, and any fleas are long since gone.