Shadow's Shepherd Pie

Hef's dad has been home sick so he's been keeping me busy. Wednesday night he requested something easy to swallow. We had just been to the library and I picked up both Cook's Country and The Rachael Ray magazine. They both happened to have recipes for Shepherds Pie. Cook's Country's was a make ahead and freeze and rachael ray's had mushrooms in it which Hef's dad doesn't like, so I combined the two recipes. I used ground turkey, low fat high protien. On top I used Roasted Garlic box potatoes and I didn't have enough so my filling bubbled over. It turned out smooth and creamy, warm and comforting. I'm calling it Shadow's Shepherd Pie since we know she is some sort of Shepherd dog, most likely a Belgian Shepherd Sheepdog.

P.S. If anybody ever wants a recipe let me know!

Bored After Work

Ok so we finally have internet at Wendy's so I can blog whenever. Monday's blog was actually written at work in the morning. Now I'm waiting for Hef's dad to pick me up. I'm bored and I haven't taken any pictures lately so here's an recent oldie, Hef and Audrey enjoying a toy. I could have come with a post sooner but I really enjoyed loading the blog and seeing the cosmo! Pretty soon we'll take Audrey to Niagara Falls. Did anyone else notice they changed the blogger post editior? I'm not sure I like it, what do you guys think?

Chicken w/ Cream not Chicken w/ Aromatic Veggies

So this here is a delghtful Cosmo with frozen cranberries. It and two of its friends are responsable for my Supremes De Volialle a l'Ecossaise ended up being Supremes de Volaille ala Blanc. In other words Chicken Breasts with Diced Aromatic Vegetables and Cream ended up being Chicken Breasts with Cream. As the French gives away this is more of my adventures with Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Let me start at the beginning. Hef's Dad's parents were coming over for supper on Sunday. So I decided to make some French Cooking recipes. I found the Chicken w/ Aromatic Vegetables and all I needed was an onion so I was pretty happy with that recipe. On Saturday I had seen Jacques Pippin make a gratin with yukon golds so I combined what I remembered with the Mastering Recipe, we'll get back to that. We were about to set out to the store when Hef's grandparents call. They don't want to wait that long for dinner so they are eating before coming. I convince Hef's dad to go to the store anyway where I pick up some Cranberry Juice. First thing I cooked up was a pitcher of Cosmo's which I planned to share with Hef's grandma but she wasn't interested so I was on my own. Then I started dinner. Chicken Breasts with Cream was the master recipe and with the aromatic veggies was an after note. I was cooking away and was ready to put the chicken in the oven when I realized, now when am I supposed to add the veggies? Apparently before I had added the chicken but it was almost 8pm so I just went with it. Good, but a little boring. In sucessful news I made a Gratin Dauhpinois with yukon gold potatoes. This is just heavenly, I am dying to eat more. A simple dish, boil the potatoes, peel them after boiling, which is easy but time consuming since it clogs your peeler. Slice them, I used my lovely new mandolin, arrange half in the dish top with s&p, and swiss cheese, add the rest of the potatoes, s&p, swiss cheese, and pour with a good amount of milk, about a cup. Bake til bubbly. YUM!

Tonight I plan to try and fix my Chicken Cream and add the veggies.

Out with Audrey

Audrey, Hef's dad, and I went out to Amherst NY today. On Tuesday it had been announce that a local favorite (a chain from canada with two american branches) would be closing its two american stores by the end of the month. Amherst NY and Depew NY (former hometown of the bunny lounge). So Audrey, Hef's dad and I had dinner there. Needless to say the place was packed.They were already out of the Garlic Cheese Loaf and the Spring Rolls that we tried to order! I hear a waiter say they were completly running out of food every night!

They had even ran out of draft bunweiser so we all had bunweiser lights. Fine with us girls but Hef's dad said "it tasted like the back of an l.a. school bus" he was quoting sideways.

Audrey was happy to share my salad. Hef's dad informed me to stop taking Audrey's picture because the other people were staring. I said if they can't understand that bunnies like salads thats their problem. C'Mon, look at all that carrot!

Swiss Chalet serves essentially two meals. Rotisserie Chicken and Ribs. I had the chicken with coleslaw and a roll. Hef's dad had the ribs with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and the roll. These are fantastic rolls. The really special thing? Chalet Sauce! Now this is good stuff! My sister used to drink it when she was kid. I dip everything in it, chicken, the roll w/ butter, and roasted veggies if I get them, you name it. My order came with pie which I got to go and they gave Hef's dad a pie too, no charge! Lemon Merinque pie at that, Hef's dad's favorite. I did have to order a chicken noodle soup because we were getting a draft from the door but YUM so it's ok. In other fun news we are constently getting spoiled by mail lately. On the heels of Audrey and her gifts, The Raspberry Rabbits have sent us gifts! Shadow couldn't keep her snoot away. Even after I gaver her a power bone (too funny!) she was still sniffing away. Hef recieved papayas. Ya know Hef has never had bananas or papayas before. He wouldn't eat fresh banana but he liked the chips. Hef has always been a picky eater so he hasn't tried much. Shell was also nice enough to send shot glass with pink hef bunnies on it and some very nice sea salt. Also very funny she has sent some raspberry chocolates. Sorry Shell but Hef's dad doesn't eat sweets but I already ate one! Thanks so Much!

Also we went to Petco where they had 3 adopt-a-buns. Sadly one had survived a house fire and I felt very bad for her but she was healthy and happy. There was a half-lop with airplane wing ears, too funny, he even did a dead bunny flop right in front of us! His name was Pierre, a french bun! However we have a male rabbit so we couldn't get him. Also there was a black and white dutch who let me scratch his/her nose, Oreo is not a gender specific name, but I didn't see any bunny boobies so my guess was a guy bun. Hef's dad did not let me take any of them home or even let me ask about it. I did use my dog food coupon and got dog food for 17 cents, score!

AUDREY IS HERE!

Yes! Audrey is here! We picked her up after work and she was ladden with presents! That black blur at the bottom of the picture? Well that's Shadow's nose going a mile a minute, eager for her bone. Shadow the Dog says Thank You Henry. She was really taken with it.

A word of advice of anyone who travels to the bunny lounge, don't come smelling of treats. Both Shadow and Hef gave her a exstensive sniffing. Hef showed Audrey the blanket, pet bed, and carrier we put out for her, she is staying in the bunny lounge. Audrey is a respectable lady and is staying on the other side of the room and Hef will be staying in his cage. Hef was eager to dive into the nutty stick ball, one of his favorites. I wanted to take more pictures but my camera batteries died. Hef had his first ever banana chip. I gave it to him in his cage and he kept dropping it on the floor and then had to push it along with his nose until it tipped up. I would have taken a picture but dead batteries. More tomorrow!

P.S. Thank You Very Much to Erin, Andy, Pumpkin, Patch, Chloe & Henry!

Testing America's Test Kitchen

Since Beef Broccoli was so crazy popular with Hef's dad and online, I went to steal a phrase "back into the test kitchen," For some reason we have like 4 asian supermarkets about 10 minutes from our house so I decided I needed a big honking Wok. Isn't it beautiful? Just like the takeout store! And a steal at 8.50! After obtaining an obnoxious amount of broccoli and chicken breasts being only 1.99 lb I entered the kitchen to make Chicken Broccoli. Pretty good but not the taste sensation of before. Here were my mistakes, #1 I used a Wok. Because see the recipe is for a skillet and involves using a lid. #2 I didn't both to measure how much chicken or broccoli or peppers I used so my sauce mixture wasn't enough so then I hurriedly had to throw more together at the end. #3 I ran out of Oyster Sauce which is the heart of the brown sauce so it just wasn't as good a sauce.

My wok did a great job of cooking things and it was very easy to manage a ton of ingredients in the big ole thing. Also I believe you could use chicken in this dish easily but watch your portions. Now I have to obtain REAL wok recipes. Lesson Learned: You can't cover a Wok.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Or as we call it in our house Valentimezzzz I don't know why but its what we do. We celebrated last night because us adults work Monday Morning. Hef was given a carrot top, Shadow the Dog had a heart shaped rawhide cookie. I was given a mandolin (sliced carrots wooo!) and a full length mirror. Hef's dad recieved really cute pj pants with Stewie Griffin on them dressed as a devil and little hearts, adorable! We went to a beautiful restraunt on the niagara river then came home and danced in our dining room, the best benefit of not having a dining room set. To everyone else HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! We love all our blogger friends! Hef raises a martini glass to you all (Hef's dad took the martini and left him the olive) and shares his valentines cakes.

P.S. In voting news Hef is up to 17 votes, which is good but the winner so far has over 200! Now I found out you can't vote more then once per account so please spread the word to VOTE HEF!

VOTE NOW!

Ok everybunn voting is open for Hef, please remember to vote everyday! There will be a link on the left side over there "VOTE FOR MVP" until the contest is over! THANK YOU!

PLEASE VOTE HEF!

ATTENTION EVERYBUN! Hef has been entered into the Bissell MVP (most valuable pet) contest! Its 100% free but I do believe you have to sign up to vote. Voting starts tomorrow, Friday Feburary 12th. If Hef wins this round he could go onto win a brand new vaccum and have his picture on vaccum boxes! So far all the winners have been dogs! Bissell needs to go bun! There is a link right over there to the left so please vote every day! Oh I almost forgot the best part! If we win the WHOLE contest we get to choose a charity and donate $10,000!
In other goings ons last night I made Beef Broccoli, this recipe was from America's Test Kitchen. Hef's dad was going crazy for this! He said it was the best meal I ever cooked!

The Weather

Ok everyone with their spring talk and lawn mowing and taking rabbits outside this is what we are dealing with. This is me getting ready to walk Shadow the Dog. I then put on sunglasses. It has snowed all morning and in front of one house the snow was to deep it could support my weight. Shadow the Dog loves it as she is believed to be part husky. Hef's dad is complaining that it isn't deep enough for him to snowblow. Hef is blissfully unaware up in The Bunny Lounge.
PS Tomorrow Hef has big news relating to the new widget over there.

Back In The Kitchen

So we haven't talked about cooking much lately. That's because I haven't done much amazing cooking lately. Last Monday Hef's grandma came over and we tried two recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I gotta tell you its more like mastering the art of using every pot and bowl in the kitchen. We made a belgian (in honor of shadow the dog) beer braise beef stew and a ratatouille. That's the Ratatouille. As Hef's dad was eating it he goes, "There isn't a lot of meat in this," Which concerned me because there wasn't meat in it but then he said he was just joking! He fooled me! The tough part about French Cooking is browning everything and then putting it aside and then putting it back and its a lot of dirty dishes! After a big cooking extravaganza I tend to take some time off for simple meals and bunny cuddles.
PS Congrats to the Saints! GO BOOGEY!

VENTING

Ok. went to work today. I was working the front drive thru window which involves taking orders. One guy comes around and orders two number twos (meaning the double cheeseburger combos). I said Ok would you like that small medium or large. The man says "No Drinks. Can you handle that?" YES! YES I CAN! I was shocked! Stunned! I was so mad I threw a drink carrier across the store! Fortunately my boss had his headset on and heard this rudeness so I could rant around my little window corner. Please people, fast food workers aren't always idiots, sometimes they just live on a small island and don't have a car so they need to work at a fast food place.

"Mama, I'll go get you a nice Cab Sauv..."

Talking about Carats, Not Carrots!

"Ok see Dad I know we have all this Spring Mix and some carrots left, but Mom keeps saying she wants a carat. I said ok Mom have one of mine. Then Mom explained that it was spelled different and it certainly was not for eating! She said you have to buy it Dad and that she wants it by the 14th!"

Thanks Hef! Don't you all think Hef has the right idea?

Do you know how nice Mama is?

How nice my Mama is. By Hef.
On Friday at Mama's stupid job she got a BIG bag of Spring Mix. She said to her boss "This is sad. I'm eating iceberg and my rabbit's getting Spring Mix," Haha! Oh and this big thing I got?
This is daddys lunchbox, also know as his mailbox. Every morning at 7:30 am Mama gets up and makes daddy's breakfeast and lunch so he can go to work. Mama says because we are a cooking blog now too I can tell you about those. Breakfeast is either an egg cheese sausage biscuit or oatmeal and lunch is a real grab bag. Sometimes its leftovers from dinner, sometimes its homemade tuna salad or a sandwich. Know what Dad doesn't get though? SPRING MIX! That's all mine!
Also I as nice as Mama is I don't think she told you about my cool new trick! When I am done visiting the family and have to get back to the Bunny Lounge and do Bunny Bar stuff I just go! I go up the stairs and down the hall and into the Bunny Lounge and just do my thing. Mama is impressed!
Have a good monday bunday!
Hef!