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“So I’ve been told before,” she said, bending over to pet George who’d flopped at her feet.
9
Above And Beyond
“Sorry we bought so much food,” Gillian said when they were unloading the groceries. That was what they ended up doing rather than buying dinner and she felt horrible.
“Nope,” he said. “Don’t feel bad. I need to get groceries anyway and what better way than with my dietician who can tell me what is good and bad. Talk about going above and beyond for service.”
She laughed. “We can look at it that way if you want.”
“That is what I’m going to do,” he said. “I did try the overnight oats. They weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be.”
“That’s great,” she said. “What are you putting in them?”
“Oats and milk,” he said, grinning.
“Obviously. Anything else to flavor them?”
“In the morning I’ve been putting in banana and blueberries. They are easy. I did put some maple syrup on it one day. I tried peanut butter, but it didn’t taste right.”
“Mix the peanut butter in the night before with the milk,” she said.
“I’ll try that,” he said. “But we’ve got more fruit and some granola I can add to it. I did read doing the oats alone should lower my cholesterol.”
“That has been known to happen.”
As she helped him pull the food out, she’d been impressed he’d bought some whole grain bread that he said he’d tried and ran out of. He’d been using it for sandwiches and toast. He wasn’t giving her lip service she could see as she unpacked things and found some healthier choices in cabinets that he’d opened.
“If you want to pull out everything for dinner, you can,” he said. “Then tell me what I need to do.”
“Not much,” she said. “I’ll get it all lined up and figured out and we can cook together. You’ll have leftovers too.”
She was happy to see he was pretty much open to anything when they were walking around talking about food. In the end they got some chicken breasts and premixed seasonings. It was barely five and he said he wasn’t that hungry yet so it would work in their favor to let everything marinate for a bit.
The red peppers came out along with the quinoa, frozen corn, black beans and stewed tomatoes. It’d be a nice side dish that would give them a good mix of everything and be flavorful on top of it.
Rick finished putting away the rest of his food and then turned to her. “Show me the first step.”
“How about getting George first?” she said.
“Oh shit,” he said. “I’m a horrible father.”
She laughed. “You’re not. You’re just not used to having a puppy. Keeping him in the crate while you put groceries away is smart. I would have done the same thing.”
Rick had moved the crate into the spare room as she’d suggested and when they came in, the puppy couldn’t see them and didn’t seem to get too excited or anxious that he wasn’t getting attention.
She followed Rick to the room off the family room and saw that George was just waking up and getting excited and Rick was ready with the leash to hook him up and bring him out.
Once George had done his business, Rick blocked off the house so that George stayed where they could see him.
“I’ll give him a toy and he’ll play with that, then he’ll settle down. I think he’s still tired from the walk.”
“I’m sure he is,” she said. “First things first, we are going to coat the chicken breasts in some olive oil so the spices stick and the chicken stays moist.”
“Oil?” he asked.
“A small amount of olive oil. It’s good and adds flavor. The same with these seasonings. There is a lot to choose from in the store.”
