What My Dogs Taught Me About Carrots

Jake, on the left, is a skinny fellow with a lax appetite. (He is the only one like this in the entire household). Juliette, as you might deduce from her picture, is, um, big boned, and lives for her next up-close and personal encounter with food. When Juliette’s zaftig figure blossomed just too far (and wide), we replaced her afternoon biscuit treats with carrots. At first, we cleaned carrots and cut them into 1-2 inch lengths. We gave the dogs a piece at a time, often having them do simple tasks (sit, up, lie down, look cute, breathe, etc) to earn each treat. All was going swimmingly until one day when the dogs refused the carrots. They did the required tricks, but they kept spitting the carrots out. Clearly, my husband wasn’t cutting the pieces properly. I elbowed him to the side and took over. But they refused even my perfectly cut pieces. We decided to try again the next day… and they once again spat the carrots out (no matter if they were washed versus scraped, cut in small slices or chunks). The next day, David picked up a new bag of carrots, and that afternoon the dogs resumed their usual carrot-eating vigor.  We chalked the incident up to a “bad batch”. But about a week of carrot bliss later, it happened again: they both spat their carrots out in doggie disdain. I’d like to take credit for what happened next, but—well, David figured it out. This time when he went to the store to buy new carrots he carefully examined the bags before he chose… …and bought California-grown carrots rather than Canadian. Yes, our dogs differentiated between where the carrots were grown, not out of any loyalty to the concept of “locally grown”—but because California carrots are that much sweeter. My dogs are so smart!

[print_this] Fettuccine, Carrots and Edamame with Lemon Dressing

8 ounces fettuccine

12 ounces carrots (about 5-6 medium), cut in 1/3-inch pieces (about 2 cups chopped)

1 14-ounce bag frozen shelled edamame

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Lemon zest for garnish (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a vigorous boil. Add the fettucine and cook for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook another 5 minutes. Add the edamame and cook 2 minutes, or until pasta is al dente. Drain.
2. While the pasta cooks, combine the lemon juice and salt in a small bowl; whisk in the olive oil.
3. Toss the pasta and vegetables with the dressing and cheese, garnish with lemon zest if desired, and serve immediately.

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