The World Famous Monkey Bread!

This is the best recipe to make with kids, brothers, boyfriends, college roommates etc.

Use Phillsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuits.  DON'T SKIMP.

Cats are also a necessary ingredient.

 Mix cinnamon and sugar in a gallon sized ziploc bag.

Cut up the biscuits into quarters.

Drop the quartered biscuits into the bag and shake until coated.  Place into a well greased bundt pan.

 Melt a stick of butter.  Don't whine about fat. Use less if you want, but I'm telling you right now, it won't taste as good. Or be as ooey gooey.  Fat is flavor, every chef knows that.

(To cheat/ make with kids, microwave the butter until melted)

 Add the brown sugar and mix thoroughly. Add more brown sugar if it looks like it's still separated.

 Pour evenly over the cinnamon sugar coated biscuits.

 Pop in the oven.

 Let cool for a few minutes then invert onto a plate. Ignore my shabby workmanship. I didn't use enough PAM on my pan and pulled a piece off before I remembered that I had to take a picture still (I put it back to take the picture).

2 rolls of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits

1/2-3/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

3/4-1 stick butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut biscuits into quarters.

Mix white sugar and cinnamon into a gallon sized ziploc bag.

Place cut biscuits in the bag with the cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Shake until the biscuits are fully covered.

Place biscuit chunks in a well greased bundt pan. 

Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

Add brown sugar gradually while stirring until well mixed.

Remove from stovetop.

Pour evenly over the biscuit chunks.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Happy Holidays!

From

Iris:

Rusty:

Lucky ("Fatty"):

Crookshanks:

And Leon!:

Christmas is Coming

Pitty Friday

This week I got to meet Bennet!

This poor little boy is just getting over a case of mange that was caused by a stressful change in fosters. It's  not contagious and nearly gone which is great for this pup!

Bennet's a little less than a year old and working on basic commands and focusing on his foster mom in distracting situation.  He's the kind of dog who needs a slow introduction into a new home but once he's comfortable, he loves everyone around him, including his four (!) other foster siblings.

Our honorary pitbull Lilly was in attendance too:

For information about Bennet

For information about Lilly

Flower Pitties

Yesterday I had an interesting opportunity to attend Petapalooza at the Armory in Rochester.  I got to act as lovely little Tulip's chauffeur in her pretty pink "Adopt me!" kerchief:

 Pretty Tulip also got to be the first of our pitties at the even to show off our fleece cape jacket.  Everyone kept saying how beautiful she was and wanted to know where to buy one.  She was such a trooper!

 I also got to spend some time with honorary Flower Pitty Lily, the chihuahua mix.

 Even though I don't really watch his show too often, and I don't really feel awed in the presence of celebrities, seeing Shorty from the show Pit Boss was pretty cool.  Even cooler was how calm and stoic his pitbull Hercules was.  Someone from Pitty Love even put a tiny puppy on his back to take a picture and he hardly even noticed.  What a great representation of the breed.

 On the way home Tulip was absolutely exhausted from trying to pull my arm out of its socket for six hours to go give everyone kisses and jump in their lap.

For information about Tulip

For information about Lily

Pitty Night

Unfortunately the plans for me to pick up Cinnamon and Declan didn't work out tonight.  Instead, I got to spend most of my night with this sweet little boy:

 This is Salvador! He's only about half a year old and the biggest sweetheart.  

 My camera kind of freaked him out a little but he was still curious. After a while he just laid down and relaxed.  He was such a good boy.

 I also got to hang out with this tiny little guy:

His name is Higgins and he's still just a baby at 11 weeks old.  I know he'll be out of here soon.

 And last but not least, Tulip, being a big snuggle bug.

Cheese squares

I have no idea where this recipe came from, I just made it one day and everyone loved it and now I get requests for it for family occasions.  I've never really eaten much of it, but every one seems to enjoy it.

For the purpose of this little instructive aid I had to make it with two 8x8 inch pans instead of a 9x13, which would have really worked a lot better.  Also, I'm a cheap college student and made the mistake of buying off brand crescent rolls instead of Pillsbury. Let me just say one thing, don't make the same mistake I did.  There's a reason that the Pillsbury rolls are twice as expensive, they're at least four times as good.  The ones I bought were thin, funnily shaped, and hardly rose at all when I baked them.

Anyway, take one package of crescent rolls and spread it along the bottom of the pan. Then bake in a 350 degree oven until light brown, about ten minutes.  (hate yourself for buying cheap crescent rolls)

Place both packages of cream cheese in a mixer.

 Add the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and egg yolk.

Mix well. :) 

 Spread evenly over your baked dough. Yours should reach the edges, mine didn't cause my crescent rolls sucked, but it didn't end up mattering all that much in the end.

 Put the second package of crescent rolls on top.

 Hate yourself again for buying shitty crescent rolls as they fall apart and don't reach all the way to the edge.

 Sprinkle brown sugar on top and place back in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

 Remove from oven. Allow to cool a little before cutting.

 Try to prevent this from happening haha.

Ingredients:

2 packages Crescent Rolls

2 8 oz. Pkg Cream Cheese

1 Cup Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

3 Tsp Lemon Juice

1 Egg Yolk

Sugar / Cinnamon Mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spread 1 package of crescent rolls in 9 x 13 baking dish. 

Bake until light brown and remove from oven, approximately 10 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, sugar,vanilla, lemon juice and egg yolk.

Pour mix on top of baked crescent roll.  Top with second package of crescent rolls. 

Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake approximately 25 minutes or until brown. Let cool before slicing.