I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

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“Spoiling” your dogs with Pawstruck

As dog owners, we all love to spoil our dogs. It’s just part of being a dog owner.

I use the term ‘spoil’ very loosely, like how I call all dogs ‘puppies’, no matter their age. A 10 year old dog will still get a ‘ooo puppy!’ from me when out in public.

I have found that the best way to spoil my dogs, Kemper and Brinkley, is to head over to Pawstruck for some shopping.

I discovered Pawstruck when browsing for cow hooves on Amazon. They were listed as a seller, so I started to search them out more online.

Guess what, they have plenty of their own products and they sell other favorites of ours as well, like Red Barn. But the best thing was that buying through their online store meant that I was saying money as their products were significantly less money on there than on Amazon. And when Kemper and Brinkley go through hooves as fast as they do, I am in need of saving some money!

Natural Dog Chews

When Kemper was a puppy we picked up a bag of Cow Hooves for him to try and it’s been true love ever since. Brinkley loves them just as much so now we go through our bags of them twice as fast. The best thing about getting them from Pawstruck is that they don’t smell. We picked up some other hooves in the past and they would smell so, so horrible from their processing that I would toss them even before Kemper got to really enjoy them. Kemper and Brink aren’t allowed on the sofa with them, but at least they are enjoying them without making me gag.

Every now and then we give them an extra special treat of the filled hooves. Oh boy!!!

Besides the hooves, they really enjoy bully sticks. We get the braided ones for them as they take their time when chewing on them. They tend to get a bit more slobbery with them so I generally make them sit on the lanai with them. They don’t mind! Fresh air and a treat is the perfect way to spend an afternoon in their books!

 

Dog Treats

Earlier this spring, we had Kemper and Brink boarded at Tampa Bay K9 Solutions for a 3 week training course. Kemper had previous training when he was a puppy and, since we had gotten Brink right before we moved, we had just hoped she would pick them commands  and behaviors from us and Kemper, but that wasn’t the case. They both really needed to have a major refresher in training. We have been working hard to continue to reinforce what they learned so having plenty of treats on hand is really helpful.

Pawstruck has a variety of dog treats including training treats, crunchy treats, jerk, and dental chews.

Side note- we can’t use the dental chews since Kemper doesn’t understand they are to be chewed so once he munches on them and they break in half or so he tries to swallow them. We learned this a few years ago when Price had to fish it out of his throat a few times when he was choking. ooph!

Dog Food

While at training, Brinkley fell in love with the Red Barn Dog Food Rolls. The trainer would cut up pieces of the roll and use it as a training reward as it was healthy, grain free, and an affordable alternative to dog treats. I would check in to see if they dogs needed me to drop off more food and I’d hear how Brinkley was refusing the ($$$!) food I packed and would only eat the food the trainer was providing as a reward. Thanks Brink…

At least she got hooked on a great product and I soon discovered that I could pick it up affordably from Pawstruck. Again, like the cow hooves, I was finding the dog food rolls for significantly less on Pawstruck than on Amazon.

Supplements

To go along with their daily fish oil pills, I was looking for another supplement that would benefit them. Pawstruck has a new Joint and Hip Supplement that we have added to their daily routine.

They are both highly active dogs so wanting to maintain good joint health is key in them remaining happy and healthy. Brinkley already has a funny gait where her front legs pop out a bit when she walks so keeping her joints flexible and healthy is really important.

We get to continue to take plenty of long walks out of these two for many years to come!

Wellness

One of the things that Brinkley has battled with since moving to Florida is a dry nose. I have found that the best solution to manage and treat it is with Pawstruck’s Ruff Relief Moisturizing Nose & Paw Balm. I apply some every few days to the top of her nose and it has cleared up really well. It’s also great for their paws.

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If you want to give Pawstruck, then hop on over and be sure to use the code KEMPERBRINKEY to save 15%.

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While I was provided with product from Pawstruck for this review, all opinions are my own.  Post contains affiliate links. 

 

Good Bye Frank The Tank

A few weeks ago we lost someone very dear to us.

Frank the Tank.

 

He was our car. Our awesome the little engine that could car. Our gritty rode tough car. Our I probably took that turn too tight car. Our over packed car.

I’m not gonna lie I cried walking away from this car.

Way back in 2005, I was debating my mom and stepdad about bringing my ’97 Jeep Wrangler up to Boston, where I was attending college. I wanted to bring it up so badly but that was a hard ‘no’ in their book. They didn’t want me to have issues with it getting broken into with its soft top and it’s essential lack of trunk for any sort of transporting of things, and it was ‘old’ with a ‘bunch’ of miles on it. Plus, it was standard, which would suck in Boston traffic.

I was pissed.

My stepdad was even offering to get me a new car. I was still pissed.

I did the asshole like 20 year old thing and shit talked all the cars he suggested. Poor guy tried so hard with emails of types of cars and I had to be like “Oh that’s cool, but how about this one?” sending back some other car to every car that he sent. Again, I’m an ass.

The real kicker that he has never let me live down was that when he suggested the Scion XA, I responded with “umm, that’s not my style.” Come on, it is weird looking. It’s like a bug, and not the VW kind.

I test drove a Cruz and the Scion XA, ultimately agreeing with him that the Scion XA was the better car for me, even if it wasn’t my style.

Price named it Frank the Tank, a la, Old School, the movie staring Will Ferrell. It was a dorky purple car, but it partied hard and kicked some ass.

We took this car EVERYWHERE!!! It did EVERYTHING.

We drove it all over New England for adventures down to The Cape and up to Maine. He ventured through the snow to go to Satan’s Kingdom.  We took him to the top of Mt. Washington for a fun sunrise trip up the mountain. He was overloaded with too many bags of soil on several occasions. We did a road trip down to Charlotte. He spun out in the snow when I coasted way too fast down a hill on a ski trip once. He was on the track at Watkin’s Glen. And Price loaded him up with my dried wedding bouquet, the 2 dogs, and the last of the important, fragile things for our move down to FL.

But just a few hundred miles shy of 150,000 miles. RIP.

Price was driving it home from work when it just stopped working. Thankfully, he was able to get over to the shoulder safely since the transmission was not working and no matter how hard he tried to get it into gear and for it to go, it was not going anywhere.

I’m bummed that Frank didn’t make it to 150K miles with us, but at least he will live on with the next owner. One of the guys at the repair shop where Price had it towed to, offered us $500 for it since he could easily put in a transmission in there in his spare time to give to his mother in law. At least, she gets a car and he won’t get junked since us paying $1,300+ for a transmission on a car that already needed a bunch of work didn’t make much sense for us.

So, Price got to work and found a great car to take the place of Frank. We drove it over to drop some things off with the mechanic taking the car. It felt like we were betraying Frank to have the new car there. Poor Frank.

But I now get to look out for it in case we ever see it on the road again. I really hope I do one day, and I will probably get choked up seeing it.

Frank the Tank. RIP

 

Dear Hunter @ 4 Months

October 2017

Dear Hunter,

Oh, what a month!

This month was brought to you by the letter S. S FOR STORM AND SICK!!!

First Hurricane Irma hit and then our house was hit with a stupid cold that gave you the deepest saddest cough ever. But you’re a champ and we have powered through it all.

While you won’t remember your first Hurricane I gotta say that you did amazingly well for it all. Thankfully you don’t understand weather forecasts on the news or you probably would have been crazy stressed about the track that was coming right for us. The week before was stressful and tiring for Dad and me. We had so much work to do to prepare for it from getting supplies, moving things around and putting up hurricane shutters. I even went out and picked you up an exersaucer thinking it would help keep you entertained as we dealt with things after the storm, possibly without power.

Autumn understood we kept yalking about a big storm buy didn’t understand what it really meant, she was just excited about us cleaning out the closet under the stairs for us to stay in the night it hit. Slumber party time!!!

Thankfully the track of the Hurricane shifted further east than originally planned so we lucked out. And as the wind dies down I meantally checked off that you had your first Hurricane over and done with.

Soon after, you experienced your first cold. Unfortunately, as I write this, you are still coughing from it. It’s the cough that will never end!

Autumn got sick, then you, then me, then Dad. You even went to the Dr twice. They cleared you of RSV, but later said you had the croup virus,but not full fledged croup. My poor muffin.

So you had been sleeping really well and then it all got flipped upside down because of you being sick. We are still working on things at night but more often than not you are up 2 or 3 times. I really try go get you settled back in the back and play next to the bed but there are some nights when I hold you to keep you propped up or just because I’m so tired I doze off again. And then there are the nights I just bring you right into bed to nurse. You are so accustomed to that now that once you are in/on bed you twist and turn to get into position, even if I’m not laying down with you.

I absolutely love to snuggle with you. But, you do get pretty sweaty, even with the A.C. blasted (making me super cold!) and light clothing on. You’re just going to have to get used to this Florida heat one day!

I am looking forward to you getting better and seeing what the next month holds for you.

Love,

Mommy

 

Super Quick Pull Apart Cheesy Garlic Bread

It’s October!!!!! I am soooo excited!!!!

We are finally out of the 90 degree temps. The high yesterday was 89 degrees yesterday and the 10 day forecast shows temps as low as 86 for the high. I love the heat but I am thrilled with this.

It is finally cool enough to go out on long enjoyable walks at night now. Last night my friend and I went out as the sun was setting and we chatted as we quickly did a 2.25 mile loop in our neighborhood. That was great, but it was also great to wrap it up and  feel refreshed, not feeling absolutely gross and drenched. #floridaproblems

At least it meant the day ended on a high note as I had to watch my Giants lose yet another game. And on the final play as well. GET IT TOGETHER GUYS!!!

At least there are great things in life like this pull apart garlic bread.

I am a sucker for garlic bread, but this is so much better than your average garlic bread. It’s quick to make, super buttery and flaky. And the cheese, is the thing that takes it to the next level. It gives it those slightly burned edges, that are extra tasty. yum!!!

I made my garlic bread in a 9×5 loaf, but if you have mini loaf pans then you can use that instead. I would use 2 loaf pans instead of 1 large one. I as well would cut back on some baking time, but, honestly, I don’t know how much since haven’t tried it. I’d check it after 15 minutes and see what ya think.

The worst thing about this bread is that it will disappear so quickly. Once you pull a piece off, another will follow, and there another hand sneaks in and grabs another piece, and before you know it you are just licking your fingers planning the next time you make it.

Super Quick Pull Apart Cheesy Garlic Bread

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 8-ounce package Crescent dough sheet
  • 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 heaping Tablespoon finely chopped parsley
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/3 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • chopped parsley for garnish

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan or 2 mini loaf pans with non stick cooking spray.
  2. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out so it is 24″ x 12″.
  3. Combine the melted butter, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Mix well.
  4. Spread the butter mixture over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle with the cheese.
  5. Cut into even sized 24 pieces, then stack them up and lay that pieces on their side in the loaf pan. You will need to spread the pieces out a bit.
  6. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

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Having fun at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

I still can’t believe that it is September! The year has sped by and that just means that the holidays will be around the corner before we know it.

I love living here in Florida but I have to admit that I do miss the fall season in New England. The cool mornings are refreshing, the color changing leaves are stunningly beautiful, and the decor is spot on. At least we can enjoy the decor here.

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Dear Hunter @ 3 Months

Dear Hunter,

It already seems like you have always been a part of our family. And yet its only been 3 months. I couldn’t imagine our family without you now.

You are such a great baby. You are so happy and smiley. The only real time when you get upset is when you are very hungry or tired and are struggling to relax to go to sleep, but in either case, those crying spells are short.

You have rolled over a few times to avoid doing tummy time. It’s not your favorite thing to do, so you were quite sure that you needed to get out of it so getting yourself to roll over was your mission. Even then, you didn’t fuss too much about and just figured out how to shorten it. Besides rolling over from your stomach to your back, you and rolled over from your back to your front a few times by twisting your body around, getting on your side, and giving a good flop. And then of course you are on your belly! Ha!

You have just discovered your hand and how awesome it is jammed into your mouth, or how great my hand is in there. I’m thinking that you will be teething before we know it. Stop growing up so fast!!

Autumn loves you so much, and loves to show her affection to you, but I apologize as she is really rough. But I think you will be able to pay her back for those loving hand and leg squeezes when you get older. I want her that pretty soon you ar going to be as big as her. It is hilarious to us how different you guys are in size. One day the little brother will be the bigger protector.

Two big things have happened this month! Your first trip to Disney and your first hurricane. Thankfully, the trip to Disney was a lot more fun than the prep for Hurricane Irma. You did fantastic through both experiences. Our little rockstar!!

I’m not happy going back to work and leaving you at daycare. You have done a great job so far and the teachers love you, which is great, but reality really hard to hear. I want to be spending my day with you, and your loud mouth sister, not stuck in an office. But there is a trade off for everything so at least you are doing well at daycare.

We just take things one day at a time savoring things with you and your sister from feedings to baths together. I am looking forward that the next month has ahead for us, but of course I don’t want it to come either as time just keeps speeding by.

I love you.

Love,

Mom

Instant Pot Monkey Bread

Guys!!!! We have power!!!!! I still can’t believe it!!!!

Did you hear that yelling?! That was me in utter excitement that we still have power even after Irma has hit FL this weekend.

We occasionally lose power during an afternoon thunderstorm. It might just blink or we might lose it for 1-10 minutes, or a few hours. So I was sure that we would be without power for several days. It surged about 8 times last night, but we certainly lucked out and didn’t lose it.

At one point over the weekend, I pulled up a hurricane tracker and it basically had the eye of the storm going right over our community and continuing right on up through Tampa. I could zoom in enough to the map to see that the black spaghetti line was within walking distance to our house and you could zoom in and see our lot. WTF. That was scary to see.

I’m really glad that Irma changed its course and continued hits northerly trek up the state of FL further East of what was predicted, keeping us, and Tampa, on the West side of the storm, which is the weaker side. While it worked out well for us, I know a lot of people still effected here in the area, and elsewhere. I have a lot of friends without power in the Tampa area and I know people in Miami that have a lot of clean up to do. Shoot, my mom had a tree fall on her house! Thankfully, it landed on the part of the house that house where her garage is, but it still caused some damage. Plus, it scared the shit out of her when it happened! OMG!

Since I had thought that we wouldn’t have power for at least 3 days, I prepped and prepped and prepped for that. We had plenty of water, iced teat, juice, seltzer and soooo much food to get us through it. I bought bread and frozen it for PBJ’s. I organized the fridge so that I could know where everything was so I could open it, grab something, and close it immediately. I had prepped tons of meals that I frozen anticipating them staying chilled or thawing out and then we could just reheat them on the gas stove. My instant pot was my best friend during all of this.

I having been using my Instant Pot for everything that I can think of. Soup! Rice! Spaghetti! Taco Meat! Pulled BBQ Chicken! The list goes on and on. I really love how quickly everything comes together and there is so little clean up. I still love my slow cooker but there are times when I want something, like a roast, done in an hour or so and the Instant Pot is perfect for that.

Using a 6-Cup Bundt Pan, I made monkey bread in my 6-Quart Instant Pot in just 20 minutes. Normally it takes 45 minutes for a monkey bread in the oven, and you make a biiiiiig one. But this guy was a mini version and took half the time. It was great that I didn’t need to heat up the oven, which always makes our house so hot, and it was a smaller sized monkey bread.

The one thing that I would note is that it does have a spongier texture compared to the monkey breads I make in the oven. I certainly didn’t think it was a bad thing, still really enjoyable, but I wouldn’t be a good blogger if I didn’t give ya all the facts, now would I?

Let’s hope that we don’t have any other hurricanes for a long time, but at least now we know how to best prepare for it. Or how to get the hell out of dodge if it’s going up the West Coast of FL. With my Instant Pot with us, of course!

Instant Pot Monkey Bread

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 large can of Grands Biscuits (16.3 ounce)
  • 1/3 Cup
  • 1/3 Cup
  • 2 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/4 Cup butter, melted

Process

  1. Spray a 6-Cup bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Pour 1 1/2 Cups of water into your 6 Quart Instant Pot. With the handles folded under, place the trivet into the pot. Pull off about 6″ of tin foil and fold it over 2x to create a sturdy handle to help you remove the bundt pan, set aside.
  3. Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces.
  4. Combing the sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the cut biscuit pieces to the sugar combination. Coat well.
  5. Sprinkle some nuts into the bundt pan, then place a layer of the coated pieces into the pan, sprinkle with more nuts, add the remaining the coated pieces.
  6. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture over the filled bundt pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over the pieces.
  7. Place the filled bundt pan into the pot on the trivet, with the piece of foil under it, with edges extending up for easy removal. Fold over so they don’t interfere with the lid.
  8. Seal and then set on MANUAL on HIGH for 20 minutes. When done, do a quick release.
  9. Remove and carefully invert onto a plate. Enjoy!

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Post contains affiliate links

Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy and Short Rib Tacos

I just started going back to work from maternity leave with Hunter. Man, it’s been a rough week. Oh shoot, it’s just been 3 days. Wahhhh!!

I am thankful that starting on Tuesday has meant that it is a short week for me. Same with next week with Labor Day. Starting off slow is much better than being thrown into the deep end.

Hunter has been great but I have been a useless mess. I have sobbed driving to work every morning.

I even ditched Price on the first day by dropping off Autumn and leaving him standing at the door to Hunter’s classroom with a puzzled look on his face as I ran our through the main doors waving a frantic bye among other kids trying to get out and get on a bus. I then followed that up with a text in the car apologizing but explaining how I couldn’t go in the room. Very much like the post it that Berger left for Carrie in SATC “I’m Sorry. I can’t. Don’t hate me.”

I’m hoping for a better week next week, but lets be real, it will probably suck too. Gotta keep some realistic expectations over here.

Besides that, it’s all about adjusting to the new morning routine and how to get prepped for the day. I already had 1 issue with forgetting nipples for Hunter’s bottles and my neighbor saved the day by dropping off some at his daycare. It takes a village!

One of the things at makes life a bit easier is having dinner ready when I get home. I do love using my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, but there is something so nice and familiar about using a slow cooker. Plus, it’s awesome to come home to a house that smells so good.

Short Ribs are my go to meat right now. I love them in tacos and in marinara sauce. Last year I shared another short rib taco recipe using a slow cooker, but I swear this one is different! I love finding new-to-me spices and ingredients so I was excited when I grabbed a bag of Chile Guajillo peppers. They are a mild to medium spiced chili that is often used in salsas, sauces, and rubs to flavor meats.

I wanted to try them with the short ribs by allowing them to flavor the meat as it cooked all day. To cut some of the heat, I used some orange juice for sweetness. And the beer is another great way to add some flavor. If you prefer, you can sub our the beer for stock as that is just as flavorful, in a different way. I think it worked out so well. yum!

Hoping you enjoy these tacos just as much as we did!

 Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Short Rib Tacos

Makes 8 Tacos

Ingredients

For the Short Rib Filling

  • 2 pounds of boneless short ribs
  • 1 Cup Orange Juice
  • 1 Cup light beer or beef stock
  • 3 dried Guajillo chilies
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the Tacos

  • Flour Tortillas
  • desired fillings such as greens, avocado, tomato, diced onion, cheese

Process

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a slow cooker.
  2. Cook for 8 hours on low.
  3. Discard the bay leaf and chilies.
  4. Shred the short rib meat, discarding pieces that are too fatty. Return short rib meat back to liquid in slow cooker.
  5. Assemble tacos with desired toppings.

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