Treats for Kids and Dogs

March 1! Ah, spring is – almost – in the air. I say "almost" because we just had a mother lode of fresh snow a few days ago, so no good-byes to hat hair and heavy boots quite yet. However, there's something about this time of year that makes me want to clear out all the clutter and cobwebs and get the house spring clean. Cleaning clutter is what I had planned for the afternoon, but I'm procrastinating by cooking a few new things in the kitchen. It's just more fun to cook than clean!

Two chicken dishes are on the burner right now: My daughter Emily has asked for a long time when I would make another batch of chicken satay, so she can take some to school for lunch, and I've always wanted to try making all-natural jerky as treats for our dogs, the buddies. So I started marinating chicken strips for a new recipe of chicken satay and started poaching one chicken breast to be cut into small strips and turned into jerky. It is important to precook poultry before drying it into jerky because the temperature of the dehydrator will not go above 155˚F, too low to kill salmonella.

All-natural Chicken Jerky:

Bring water to a boil and add skinless, boneless chicken breast. Simmer the chicken for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken breast. Remove chicken from poaching liquid and slice about 1/4-inch thick. Pat chicken slices dry and arrange on a dehydrator tray. Put into a dehydrator at 155˚F for about 4 hours to retain some "give" and chewiness. There are no flavorings whatsoever involved, just the meat, to avoid adding anything that would not be healthy for the dogs to consume.

But now on to the recipe for chicken satay. Usually, when I make this for the kids, I just sprinkle a little paprika on the chicken strips and sauté them in a little olive oil and serve them with a simple peanut sauce for dipping. Today I found a recipe for chicken satay by Tyler Florence on FoodNetwork that sounds a little more sophisticated and "adult," but still seems easy to prepare. Here is my slightly adapted version based on what I had in the fridge:

Chicken Satay:

Marinade:

1 cup low-fat plain yogurt

1 tsp. freshly grated ginger

2-3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 Tbsp. curry powder

1-1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced

Mix ingredients for the marinade (it will be very thick, actually) and pour over thinly sliced chicken breast, about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure to cover all chicken strips from all sides. Cover and let marinade for about two hours.

Preparation:

Heat a very small amount of oil with a high flash point in a non-stick pan and add the marinated chicken strips. I decided not to skewer the strips, but just sauté them without. This works fine for our family. Sauté strips 3-5 minutes on each side, until the meat is seared and looks lightly browned.

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

Combine:

1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter

2 Tbsp. tamari or shoyu (Japanese-style soy sauce)

1 tsp. red chili sauce

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

2-3 Tbsp. hot water

Mix all ingredients well and serve as dipping sauce for chicken strips. I will serve this dish with rice and cool cucumber salad.

What I learned from this cooking adventure:

1. Next time I make all-natural jerky for the dogs, I will try to slice the meat into thinner and longer pieces, rather than smaller, thicker pieces like today. Thinner pieces might be less of a choking hazard for little dogs. This is, of course, totally unscientific and not researched at all, just my very personal observation from making jerky and watching a large and a small dog consume the treat. Our little dog, Lenny, incidentally received his nickname "Herr Heimlich" after coughing, gagging and hacking when food got stuck in his throat the first time, and we thought we needed to brush up on our skills to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

2. Although my kids liked eating the chicken satay and peanut dipping sauce, both agreed that it made their lockers at school smell "like a skunk" when they opened it at lunch-time. (And I do always pack an icepack in their lunch boxes to keep things cool…)

Of Dogs and Dinner

Today Louie and I went back to obedience training, where we haven't been since before Christmas. It was good to get back into the swing of things. I'm proud to report that Louie and I haven't forgotten anything, and even learned a few new tricks to practice at home. Working on tricks is good to keep him from getting bored, especially on days when it's too cold to spend a lot of time outside.

On the way home, Louie took a little snooze wedged between the back seats in the car, and I started feeling hungry, so, naturally, I began thinking about food. Lunch was coming up, dinner had to be planned and squeezed in between the dentist, choir and confirmation, I still had a few items in the fridge that needed to be eaten, so driving in the car seemed to be the perfect setting for planning the next meals.

I remembered four perfectly ripe avocados in the fridge and a pint of cherry tomatoes on the counter. The word "guacamole" took shape in my head. This led me to thinking about tacos. Voilà! I planned to stop at the grocer's to get a pound of ground meat, taco seasoning, tortillas, cilantro and parsley. Tacos for dinner would please everyone and make great use of the avocados.

Ready to start cooking, I opened the fridge and–how lucky can a person get in one day?–found two nice pieces of ahi (yellowfin) tuna that I had just bought the day before. How could I have forgotten?! Change of plans, then. Seared ahi tuna, served on a bed of baby greens with a side of Japanese rice, became the plan for dinner. Tacos will have to wait.

I often prepare seared ahi tuna quite simply with just a little salt and pepper rubbed onto the surface of the fish and seared in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat for just 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. The inside will still be raw. Sliced thinly, about a 1/4 inch thick, it can be served with salad greens, mango-avocado salsa, or dipped into a little soy sauce with or without wasabi.

Today, however, I was looking for a recipe with an Asian-style marinade that I could prepare ahead of time and found one on Simply Recipes. I modified it a little and it was excellent. Here's my adaptation of Simply Recipes' seared ahi tuna:

Seared Ahi Tuna

Marinade 2 8-oz. tuna steaks for at least one hour in a mixture of

2 Tbsp. soy sauce (I like naturally brewed tamari, but shoyu is nice, too)

2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil

1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger

2 cloves pressed garlic

1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 minced scallion

Preheat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and sear the tuna steaks for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Slice thinly and serve. See above for suggestions.

Swedish Meatballs

Tomorrow, eh, today (it got a little late), is Christmas Eve and I'm supposed to bring Swedish Meat Balls over to my sister-in-law's house for appetizers.

Well, they just got done, all 120+ of them (doubled the recipe), they're all loaded in the crockpot and sort of freezing on the porch–we live in a cold climate, after all. I can't believe I'm still up, with my doggies, while everyone else in the house is sleeping. I hear dear hubby moving on the level above me, so probably not every one is sleeping. :)

The Swedish Meat Balls recipe came to me via my OTHER sister-in-law, courtesy of one of our local grocery stores. Click on the link to get it for yourself! It's pretty delicious!