Most of the dogs have collars with tags and phone numbers, so we’ve been able to directly call their owners and that was the case with the sweet dog Sadie and I found on our walk today.
I noticed her when Sadie started pulling on her leash as she slowly army-crawled toward the lost dog. I was pretty sure I recognized her as a neighbor’s dog and Sadie and I sat down in the grass as I called to her with my hand outstretched for her to sniff.
The lost dog was rather timid, but her tail wagged when I called to her and after about 10 minutes of baby talk, I was able to get her to come close enough for me to read the name and number on her collar. Now she’s safe and sound!
I had to laugh at one point during the whole incident when Sadie’s princess tendencies came out to play. Sadie got a little jealous of the new dog and tried her best to wedge herself between me and the lost dog at all times.
(Check out how well her surgery scar is healing!)
Sadie is all about being face-to-face under normal circumstances, but if you put another dog in the picture, she becomes extra needy. It’s intense.
Lunch
Once we made it back home, it was time for lunch. I prepped a large batch of chicken, figuring I could have it for lunch and dinner since I have a Junior League meeting tonight and will be heading out early this evening.
When I was in Sanibel, I snacked on some leftover chicken that my mom and grandma had late last week and raved about the delicious flavor. Apparently they got the recipe for the chicken from a woman at the condo pool and I was shocked to hear that the sauce only included two ingredients: Orange marmalade and Catalina dressing! (If you want to make your own Catalina dressing, I found a recipe for it on Cheri’s blog.)
My sister and I agreed that it tasted like orange chicken, so that’s what I’ll call it!
Easy Orange Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1.5 – 2 pounds chicken (breasts, drumsticks, thighs – anything will work)
- 1/2 cup orange marmalade
- 1/2 cup Catalina dressing
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Combine marmalade and dressing in a bowl.
- Place chicken in baking dish and cover with marmalade mixture.
- Bake for 50 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. (If you’re cooking chicken breasts, they may need a full hour in the oven.)
- Serve and enjoy!
I paired my orange chicken with roasted cauliflower and an apple. Quite a satisfying lunch!
Question of the Afternoon
- Have you ever stumbled upon a lost pet? What did you do?
The first lost dog I ever found in Orlando was an adorable maltese. He was such a sweetie and Ryan and I brought him to the Humane Society. I followed up and found out that he was adopted very quickly!
To learn more about what you should do if you find a stray animal, please check out The Humane Society’s article: What To Do If You Find a Stray Pet.
Lauren @ Eat Like An Elephant says
Aww poor Sadie if you guys ever had a baby she would need some serious puppy love!
Avery @ Southern Belle Living Well says
There’s a dog that lurks around our neighborhood all the time. I don’t know her name, but call her Bella. She’s such a sweet girl, and I love playing with her when she drops by!
Kristen @ notsodomesticated says
I so need to try that chicken! I always have Catalina dressing in my fridge b/c it’s the only one my husband likes! Thanks for the idea!!
Sonja @ The {Happy} Travel Bug says
That chicken sounds great! My kids would LOVE! We found a dog on a walk one time, but it would never let us get close enough to get any information. Then it ran away. I worried about it for days, until I saw it being walked by its owners. 🙂
By the way, I commented on the Sanibel restaurant post and it says comment awaiting moderation. That has never happened before. Is it because I included a link? Am I not supposed to do that? Just wondering…
Abby says
Aww too cute! That chicken looks to die for, too – I can’t believe it’s that easy!!
Valerie says
how do you think this would do in the crock pot? I had the same thought process you mentioned having a few weeks ago when I read this….new recipe? sounds easy…I wonder if I can make it in the crock pot? hopefully with the right adjustments it’ll work, it sounds delicious!!
Katie says
I LOVE Downton Abbey and am so glad you found it too! My mom got me hooked on the show and it has become our weekly ritual ever since I was introduced. We live in different cities so it’s nice to have the show to chat about:)
I love your blog btw, I have become an avid reader ever since I stumbled upon your site. I wanted to say a BIG “Thank You!” for posting your workouts as I now follow them most days and am always happy with the variety. Thank you again!
Brittany Peters says
I have found a few dogs before. I always turn them to their owners 🙂 that orange chicken looks great btw!
Pamela Young says
I found a stray puppy last April and did everything I could to find it’s owners. I still have the puppy named him Ace. Black jack russell mix. I also have two other dogs so now I have three!
Victoria @ Reluctantly Skinny says
A few years ago we found a dog wandering around the neighborhood, but it didn’t have a collar or tags. We ended up driving it door to door, but never found an owner. I was all about ready to adopt it when hours later, a car from a different neighborhood drove by and claimed it. Glad they found their dog, but I was beginning to get attached.
Leslie says
My Sadie (yellow lab and beagle mix) was found by the pound on the side of the road and she had no information, so she went up for adoption and became my baby! She’s also super jealous, and always gets between me and my mom when we’re trying to hug. =)
Brooke @ Running In Heels says
Hahahah aww Sadie! Our vizlsa gets in between any cuddle time between me and the boyfriend.. it’s impossible!
Caitlin says
Hey Julie, I have a random question for you…what do you eat before you workout in the mornings?
Alice@livefitlovechocolate says
That chicken looks delicious! I have orange marmalade in the fridge so I’ll definitely have to try that! Also I love Sadie’s breast cancer collar! That is the cutest thing!
Erin says
Hmm, do you think this recipe would be nice with tofu?
I found a lost dog the other day…he was super old and feeble and was trying to cross the road but obviously wasn’t used to traffic, so he was being really hesitant and was almost hit when I spotted him. I pulled over, grabbed him and called the owner, who was out of town, but described which house to go to and how to lock him up in the backyard. Apparently her son was supposed to close the gate and forgot… I’m just glad I saw him!
Bek @ Crave says
I wouldn’t be able to do that with my dogs, they’d go crazy over it probably- Sadie is so well behaved, give her an extra snack from me 😉
Emma says
Does everyone know about Tagg the Pet Tracker http://www.pettracker.com It is basically lo-jack for pets. It’s a tag that you attach to your dog’s collar that contains a GPS device and you can track their location from your smart phone or computer should they ever get lost. I love it and feel it is totally worth the price. It’s $99 to buy the tracker (this includes 3 months of free membership). After the first three months there is $7.95 per month membership.
Lyric says
My dog has those exact “protective” qualities. Whenever another dog jumps on my lamp, he is right up in my business and hops up, usually ending up on top of the other dog. It’s hilarious. Funny story about lost dogs: the other day my neighbours dog was in his backyard, he escaped the fence but still stayed in behind the fence and was trying to get back in. Someone found him their and took them to the SPCA stating they found the dog hanging around a house and yard all day. I found it funny, but I would’ve been grateful for someone to take the dog to the SPCA juuust in case.
Shannon (Healthiful Balance) says
Need to try this! Yummy! 🙂
Jenny@thewellnessjourneyblog says
Aww! Little Sadie. <3 My Rango is like that too! lol I'm definitely trying the chicken! I haven't come across a lost dog myself, but I did have quite a scare with my boxer Jakey being lost! Thankfully he was in the neighborhood and the people that found him loved boxers!
Karen says
This reminds me of how ridiculous another lady and I looked trying to save a dog that was “living like someone left the gate open!”. It was rush hour coming home from work. This lady stopped her car in the middle of her lane (on a 2 lane road – not too well traveled) and people on my side kept driving by… hello doggie in the street!! So I stopped traffic on my side and this lady and I all dressed in heels and full work attire proceed to scoop up the little darling! This pup swears we are playing and have a great time! If this adorable pup could talk she would’ve told us how silly we looked all bent over and spouting our baby puppy talk. Apparently at this point, all people are parked and watching were quite amused at the display of doggie love happening. Finally, she ran into the lady’s arms and we delivered her back to her owner in a nearby neighborhood. I am super glad the beautiful girl had her tags. I’d stop my car any day to return a lost little furry family member. 🙂
Mrs. Z says
My Sadie (7 month old Doberman) does the same thing…she always needs to be in the middle of all the loving. It does not matter if it is 4 legged loving or 2 legged loving! 🙂
Maybe its a “Sadie” thing?! Whatever it is, we wouldn’t have it any other way?! 🙂
Missy @ Life After Morning Coffee says
I’m glad that the dogs you have found have names and numbers on their tag. My pup and I found an adorable dog on a walk this past summer with a nice collar on, but no tags. I ended up having to call Animal Control and they picked him up saying that they have picked him up several times before. Wouldn’t that be a lesson to put some tags on your dog so that I could just call you?! Grr people.
Sally says
I tried the orange chicken last night and was thrilled how easy it was to make! It was excellent and will make again soon.
Dee says
We once found a pitbull puppy that we took in for a day..she didn’t have tags or a collar, so we planned to take her to the humane society to check for a chip. She had a few skin irritations, and seemed very weak 🙁 when we took her in to get checked out, they immediately informed us that she had parvo (they said they could smell it) and had to be put down..poor thing.. She had the cutest white paws!
Traci says
MMM, I made the orange chicken last night and it was good! I will add red pepper flakes next time though, I think that would make it even better! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Cindy @ The Flipping Couple says
We have found a lot of lost dogs (although, not 15!). The most memorable was a sweet pitbull I found last summer. He ended up living with us for a month until we finally found him a new home. There were no tags, no chip and we never found the owners – and then no rescues would take him because of the pitbull in him and/or the fact that he was a stray. It got a little crazy because we were in the process of putting our house on the market and have 2 dogs of our own. We were so thrilled when we finally found him a new home!!
Briana says
Julie! This is SO good! The idea of baked orange chicken never occurred to me and it’s going to be a great addition to our meal rotation. I used Kraft Catalina Light (didn’t want to use Original and was nervous about Fat Free) and organic orange marmalade. I added one small onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and a very generous dose of crushed red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper. We ate the whole 2 lb of chicken, seriously. Next time I will try making my own dressing! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Lauren @ Rustic Honey says
I’m going to have to try this! Looks so simple and delicious! Thanks!