Shave and a haircut...

Our groomer is in the hospital fighting cancer. So, we decided to give grooming a try ourselves. Seems easy enough. Brush dog, shampoo dog, dry dog, shave dog. Hmm. Brushing our dog is like trying to brush a matted afro, so that is out. Don't want to have a wet matted dog so shampooing and drying are out. Great! Straight to shaving. We have eliminated many unnecessary steps. Hm, why does the shaver keep getting stuck...guess I'll just go straight to scissors. Gee, this is tougher than I thought and a much bigger mess than I had anticipated. I'm going to need Jay's help...

Here are the before and after pictures.









As you can clearly see, our dog isn't as huge as she seems. Ha ha ha! I am not sure why I started with a leg instead of her body. I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. Maybe doggie haircuts will be okay after all. We are thinking about putting steps on her ears. Maybe do a spoof on Kid N Play...the possibilities are endless. She will only look like a peg-leg for one day. Jay and I have a "lets finish shaving our dog date" at 5:00 this afternoon.

Artichoke Lasagna

Here is the recipe, finally.

Ingredients

Filling
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cans of artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1 cup dry vermouth (I didn't use this)

Béchamel sauce
4 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 1/2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 7 1/2 ounces)
Ground nutmeg

1 9-ounce package oven-ready (no-boil) lasagna noodles
1 bag baby spinach leaves
1 package feta cheese crumbles
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

For filling:
Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic; sauté until mushrooms release juices and begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Stir in chopped artichoke hearts.

For béchamel sauce:
Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce thickens and lightly coats spoon, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups Parmesan. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.

Spread 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Top with enough noodles to cover bottom of dish. Spread 1/4 of artichoke mixture over. Spoon 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over. Top béchamel with 1/4 of mozzarella and 1/4 of feta crumbles. Top cheese layer with a layer of fresh baby spinach leaves and a sprinkle of parmesan.

Top with enough noodles to cover. Repeat layering 3 more times, finishing with a layer of noodles, then remaining béchamel. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake lasagna covered with foil 1 hour (or 1 hour 15 minutes if chilled). Remove foil. Increase temperature to 450°F. Bake lasagna until golden on top, about 10 minutes longer.


Hopefully I remembered everything that we did. Kate, let me know if I left anything out. I'll never forget Catherine gagging when we put the layer of vegetables into the dish and an artichoke jumped out near her. At least the adults liked it.


Here is a cute picture of Quinnie and Pip