But before we get into my latest beef about the barking dog, I'd love to share the story of how Hamilton Turner Camp came to be a part of our lives. (Why yes, he has a full name. And yes, it is incredibly preppy.)
A few months after we got married, David and I decided it was time for us to take our marriage to the "next level" and become parents of a furry baby. Okay... I really wanted a dog, and David agreed. After all, he wouldn't want to upset his new wifey. Around this time our friends Josh and Hayley had a brother whose dog was having puppies. So naturally we decided to adopt a love child from Luke and Molly (Ham's biological parents). David really wanted to name our pup "Lewis," the first name of David's favorite Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton. I vetoed "Lewis," but said "Hamilton" was a go! And so on Memorial Day 2010, Hamilton was brought to our front door, and our lives haven't been the same since. He was thought to be a sweet, lazy puppy... until he moved in with us. Then the crazy set in. We quickly learned we had to "Hamilton-proof" our house. Nothing was safe. Although now he is calming down and doesn't chew on much, he can't pass up the temptation of dishtowels, undies, socks and TV remotes. He is David's "guy," and my snuggle-bug. He is a great protector of our home, which brings us to...
Our slobbery, lovable, eighty pound furry baby... has become the most audible dog on the block. He barks at EVERYTHING. At first we didn't discourage barking. If someone were to threaten our space, we wanted Hamilton to step into a protective role and warn all of the bad guys that he means business. But lately it's gotten a little out of control. Immediately after entering the backyard each morning, the neighborhood is awakened with a "wooowooowooowoooowooooo!" Sometimes he barks at cars, other times cats. Tonight it was a kid on a 4-wheeler driving down our access road. Sometimes it's just to hear his own voice, I think. Lately if it moves, it's apparently bark-worthy. I am afraid to admit... we have officially become "those people" with "that dog." Fun. :)
For lack of a better segue into my next topic... it's on to healthy burritos! Or in our case healthy mini burritos/soft tacos. I found a recipe on my Whole Foods Recipes app for black bean burritos that sounded super yummy. I'm all about my fiber these days, so I thought I'd give it a try... and they were delish! I will say I tweaked the recipe quite a bit, which is often disastrous, but in this case worked out just as well, I think.
I cooked 1 cup of organic brown rice (which ended up making about 2 cups of cooked rice), and added one can of black beans. I tried my best to rinse the beans to reduce the amount of salt. I made some salsa out of organic diced tomatoes and a Mrs. Wages salsa packet (thank you Mom!) I made the mistake of not buying petite diced tomatoes... those definitely make better salsa! Oh well! I then made a "dressing" out of 1 squeezed lime, 3 tablespoons canola oil, 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper, garlic salt and a little pepper. Once the rice was cooked, I added the beans and dressing and mixed together. I cut up an avocado and mashed an eighth onto a whole wheat tortilla. Topped the avocado with the rice/beans mixture, and added a little shredded cheese and salsa. And... YUM. So tasty. I will admit I added just a tad bit of ranch dressing to my mini burritos... but overall, I feel so good about this meal! I will definitely be making them again in the future.
And I definitely recommend that app! I'm not tooooo app crazy, but this one has a lot of neat recipes. You can sort by which type of diet you prefer (low sodium, high fiber, etc), which courses you're cooking and meal types. Then it makes a shopping list for you.
Neat-o burrito.
