A Chili Cheeseburger and Meathead Returns

Remember Meathead?



My grandmother has once again allowed this poor animal to become hugely overweight. This beagle should be around 15 lbs--she currently weighs in at around 50. Seriously, the dog is FAT.

And so she's back at our house for an undetermined amount of time to lose weight, get her nails cut down and maintained properly and for overall health protection. Evidently granny just couldn't deny the dog unlimited amounts of food--and you see the result.

We confiscated the animal. I got tired of hearing, "Oh, she's fine," knowing full well that she wasn't fine at all. Poor Meathead wheezes instead of breathes, has to make 3-point turns and has to stop for a breather when en route from living room to kitchen.

Of course the old woman means well. At least that's what I keep telling myself. The heart that kills...

Needless to say my life has become more complicated. It couldn't happen at a worse time, either--smack in the middle of my very first fertility treatment, hormones a-raging and trying to keep everything ship-shape around here, hoping for success on the first try... well, a dog that knocks over the trash in search of goodies and lacks certain training... you can imagine my turmoil. That being said, I must add that Pickle is a much happier dog having a doggie friend over.



Food has been a catch-as-you-can affair here since the dog arrived. Last night I threw together some hamburger patties. I've become quite the fan of gently--gently--patting them into shape, to allow for a very tender, fall-apart-in-your-mouth kind of burger. I topped them with a chili-bean topping I made from the navy beans I have hanging around in the freezer. About 2 cups went into a saucepan with tomato sauce, water and chili seasonings (chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and salt, to taste) and let them cook until they were reduced and thick, sort of like refried beans without the mashing. That was super-tasty atop our burgers with a slice of cheese and the buns dressed with a smidgen of bbq sauce from the fridge. Sweet, spicy, salty... ooh, yeah.

And the dog didn't get a bite. Not for lack of trying, though.