Lentil Soup and Kale, Tomato and Feta Salad

Lately, I've been on a real health kick. And by lately, I mean for about three days. My mom loaned me this great book called Power Foods with fantastic recipes and information about the healthiest foods out there. Last night for dinner we made the easiest lentil soup and an even easier sautéed kale salad. Lentils and Kale are delicious and nutritious.

Vegetarian Optional Lentil Soup

The recipe for this soup calls for vegetable broth. Instead, I used chicken broth to give it more flavor. Also, I am not a vegetarian.

You will need (4 servings):

1tsp EVOO

1 small onion, diced

1 large carrot, sliced

4 or 5 mushrooms (I added these because I am a mushroomaholic)

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup dry lentils

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

dash salt

1 tbsp lemon juice (as I type that, I'm realizing I forgot to add that last night. It was still delicious!!!)

In a big pot, sauté onions, carrots and mushrooms in EVOO until onions are translucent. Then add everything else. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until lentils are soft (30-45 minutes). Add lemon juice just before serving.

Sautéed Kale, Tomato and Feta Salad

We found this recipe on budgetbytes. Its super easy, super delicious and incredibly good for you. Kale is a fantastic superfood (loaded with vitamins A, C, and K and have tons of Omega-3 and 6 Fatty Acids). As are lentils (hello protein!). These recipes are healthy, delicious and so easy, your dog could make them.

Happy, healthy eating friends!

C

Trip Home

I'd have to say Lucy and Eloise are simultaneously my number one reason for going home.

Here's why:

Cracker sharing with Grandpa.

Lucy has a crush on boyfriend.
Lucy would like to go swimming. Now.
Fists are delicious.

C

Pitcher Cover

Hello my name is Cara and I am a caffeine addict. I could drink a pot of coffee in a day. Its true.

So to help enable my iced coffee addiction, I made a cover for my pitcher so the hot coffee can cool on the counter and look adorable doing it.

I used a paper towel for a pattern because originally I was using a paper towel and hair tie to achieve an uglier version. Add a little lace and you're good to go.

Happy caffeinating!

Mosaic Table

I recently took one of our antique side tables and gave it new life. Using old wine bottles and antique china (Seriously antique. The pattern was discontinued in the 1920's.), I made a really interesting piece that I'm super proud of!

You will need:

Old wine bottles (best to steam off the lables), broken plates, a hammer, brown paper bag, towel, grout (the adhesive kind works best), gloves (optional. get messy!)

Start by breaking your glass. This part can be dangerous. Place your glass one item at a time in the brown paper bag and use the hammer to take a whack at it. Do this outside. Put the broken glass in a bucket or bowl of sorts. Be super careful because wine bottles can really splinter. I used a smaller brown paper back to further break up the bigger chunks of glass. You can do this inside by putting the glass in a paper bag, and then between a towel.

Play around with a pattern. I didn't really need one for this project, but draw one out if needed.

Next step: slather on the grout. Push glass pieces into the grout and be sure to cover the sharp edges. Once dry, you'll sand down the bumpy parts so don't worry if it looks messy or if grout gets on the glass.

Finished product coming soon! Have fun, get messy!

XO
C

Hello, my name is Jenn and I am addicted to rhubarb-strawberry crumble.

Hello, everyone. I am very happy to be joining the Dog On Lap empire. My first recipe is extremely easy to make and even more easy to eat! This recipe comes from one of my friends, Ellen, who is an AMAZING baker. She can whip up the most delicious treats in minutes and this recipe is among her best.
Before we get started, let me make you aware of my cooking/baking way of doing things. I am not one for measuring unless I am trying a difficult, new recipe. Most of how I cook/bake is EYEBALLING. So here it goes...

Ingredients
1 pint of strawberries
4 or 5 sticks of rhubarb
~2 Cups of Granola (any kind that sounds good to you). Use more or less depending on your preference

Step 1. Grease a medium-sized pan. I used an 8" cake pan
Step 2. Chop Rhubarb and Strawberries and put in pan
Step 3. Bake for 30-35 minutes on 3750F
Step 4. Let cool and EAT! I do not have a picture of the finished product, because I couldn't wait to devour it!

That's it! Since the fruit has natural sugar, you do not need to add extra sugar (unless you want something REALLY sweet ).

J

Tiered Serving Trays DIY

Tiered trays fit for a queen! Using mix-and-match plates, saucers and tea cups you can make fabulous trays for next to nothing!

You will need:

• Three decorative plates in different sizes (perfect excuse to run to the thrift store)
• Two tea cups
• Pencil
• Gorilla glue
• Rubber gloves (as per gorilla glue instructions)

Start by playing around with your plates and cups to see which combinations you like. For extra sturdy towers, stack your plates largest at the bottom to smallest at the top (see above.) Find the center of your plate and following the gorilla glue instructions, glue a tea cup between your two largest plates. Gorilla glue recommends clamping the items your gluing. This is tough to do with china. Use heavy books instead. In about two hours you'll have a beautiful tiered tray! I used mine for jewelry. Enjoy and have fun!

Wait! Useful tip: Always carry your tray from it's base!

XO

C

Se Vende!

Now for sale on etsy..... everything!

Dog On Lap Concepts

LUNCH!

Sauteed mushrooms and red peppers with black beans, turkey bacon and cucumbers. In a pita.

• Sautee turkey bacon in evoo until crisp.
• In the turkey bacon evoo, sautee mushrooms and peppers. Add a little balsamic.
• Drain beans, chop cukes.
• Mix together and plop in pita.

I have to say, the cucumbers made this fantastic. Fantastic, I say! Next time, I'm adding cheese. Experiment and enjoy!

C

Puggalina and Scoobalina.

Scoobie had a visit from her cousin Lily the puggle this week!

It simply exhausted her....

Cork Dork.

Working at a restaurant yields many things: sore feet, appreciation of wine and food, late nights and many, many, many unwanted corks. The upside of this is that corks are fantastic for crafting!

Cork is super easy to cut, a simple kitchen knife will suffice. Using a hot glue gun, you can cork your face off. My HGG can basically do or fix anything. Seriously. I'm pretty sure hot glue guns cure cancer.

This is about one quarter of my cork collection. I am not proud of this.

I corked my lazy susan! Now she's a trivet, too!

Cork coasters. Soon to be sold on my etsy page!

Apron Preview...

Only because you asked so nicely...

...And many more to come! Stay tuned!

Aprons on the Way!

BOYFRIEND is the best and just took a million photos for me of all my new aprons. Seriously, I've been on a rampage. Four aprons in a day and a half. That's got to be some kind of record. Expect some fantastic cooking clothing in your future....

Save Cardboard!

As the summer months melt on, we're quick to give up our hot coffee and pay double for a wonderful cup of iced coffee. In need of a coozie idea? Well look what I made!

Isn't she adorable? Save cardboard this year and make yourself reusable and washable coffee mug sleeves! Patterns located at your nearest Starbucks, just add seam allowance! My next coozie will be made from an old towel to soak up all the condensation from those extra sweaty iced coffees.

Threadbanger has some great knitted tutorials, if you're interested. I wish so badly that I was a competent knitter.

A Collaborative Effort

Ladies and Gentleman,

Please welcome to Dog On Lap the one, the only, Miss Jennifer Lampa:

As I move forward with Dog On Lap, Jenn will add her input, sass and recipes to my little blogspot. She is a wonderful lady and my best friend in the whole world. A history buff and a fantastic cook, Jenn oozes wisdom and class. I mean, she's Sammy Davis!

Here's to you, roommie. Welcome to the blogspot.