April 30 Fundraiser

Today only April 30, 2016 we will be donating 20% of any and all sales to the Kyler brain cancer fund.  Kyler Bradley was a 10 year old boy who lost his battle to DIPG, the same cancer Lauren Hill battled.  His family was left with huge medical bills after his hospital stay.  We will be donating the money through his gofundme account. 

To read more about this check out this link.

https://www.gofundme.com/KylerBradley

Welcome

I hope we find you happy and healthy.  There is so much illness going around it's just kind of wild. I'm glad you've come to visit us we have several new things to show you today.

New on Etsy

Red and White Dangle Earrings- $10



Orange Fox Bow- $5.99



Colorful Butterflies and Chevrons Bow- $5.99


Girls and Boys Bunny Hats- $10.00 Different Colors Available.


Swarovski Rainbow Dangle Earrings- $20.00

Magic Blanket

Have you ever heard of Magic Yarn?  It is a fun and useful way to use up the scraps you inevitably gather from all of your projects.  You just tie your scraps together and wind them into one colorful crazy ball of yarn.  I had a pile of small balls of yarn and decided to make a Magic Blanket with them for our couch.  I didn't wind them all together because they were already in neat balls, but you get the idea.  The blanket is about baby blanket size right now, I hope to have it couch size sometime.  Here is a picture to show you the effect of the random color changes. Its so unique, I just love it.

On the Bookshelf

Veiled Revenge By Ellen Byerrum. Lacey Smithsonian is the bridesmaid for her best friend's upcoming wedding.  Disaster strikes at the bachelorette party when someone crashes the party and is found dead the next day.  Everyone is blaming a cursed Russian shawl, but can a shawl really be to blame for murder?  Lacey has to find out or the wedding will be called off.  
While this book was really fun and had strong characters I need to note that it is not the first book in the series and it is not once of those series that can be read out of order without giving things away.  I didn't have access to the first few books in the Crimes of Fashion series and now I don't feel like it would be worth going back to read them because this book gave a lot away.  I would recommend you find them though, just make sure you start at the beginning.

Dinner's On Us

This week I tried two new recipes.  We enjoyed them so I thought you might also. I made a chicken cordon bleu casserole and peas with parmesan cream.   I had 2 turkey cutlets I had bought and decided to use that in place of the chicken and had some ham I diced and used in place of the deli ham. The only other change I made was I used regular mustard in place of the Dijon because I thought I already had Dijon but ended up I was wrong.  I think I used a little under half of what it called for since I used the regular yellow mustard.  Never be afraid to make some changes to recipes. I am always tweaking them.  The pea recipe I made exactly as stated.  Three of us ate them and it was 2 yesses and 1 no.  The funny thing is the person who doesn't like peas is one of the yesses. Ok, enough of the small talk, here are the recipes. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Yield: 8-10 servings

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 cups shredded swiss cheese, divided

2 cups shredded provolone cheese, divided

1/2 lb thinly sliced deli ham, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup butter, divided

4 tblsp all-purpose flour

3 1/2 cups half and half

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. smoked paprika

2 cups panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray. Place chicken in an even layer in pan.  Sprinkle with 1 cup swiss, 1 cup provolone, and ham.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat.  Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth.  Add half and half whisking to combine.  Add mustard, remaining 1 cup swiss, remaining 1 cup provolone, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Cook, whisking constantly until cheese melts. Pour mixture over ham.

In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave remaining 1/2 cup butter on high 30 seconds or until melted.  Add bread crumbs, stirring to combine. Sprinkle evenly over casserole.

Bake until browned and bubbly.

Peas with Parmesan Cream

4 cups fresh peas(from about 4 lbs peas in the pod) or 4 cups frozen (from two 10oz packages)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 small fresh rosemary sprig

2 tblsp unsalted butter

1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the peas for about 4 minutes, or until just tender.  Drain well.

Meanwhile, in a medium-heavy saucepan, combine the cream and rosemary and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the cream begins to bubble slightly, about 2 minutes. 

Whisk in the butter until melted, then whisk in the cheese. 

Season to taste with pepper; discard the rosemary sprig.

Fold the peas into the sauce; serve.

Makes 8 servings.

New at the Cottage

As promised we have the owl necklace on Etsy.- $30

Coming Soon

Check back soon for some new additions. Here's a sneak peek of some jewelry we'll be offering soon.

On the Drawing Board

Since you've been watching the patchwork purse since it was just three balls of wool. I thought I'd share it sewn and ready to be felted. 

On the Bookshelf

Dead Men Don't Crochet by Betty Hechtman.  Molly Pink finds herself in a mystery.  A mean spirited man is found dead in his office and one of her friends is the prime suspect.  While juggling her job as events coordinator at a bookstore and her work for a charity crochet group making shawls for a women's shelter Molly has to investigate the murder.  Could it be the brother who moved on too fast, the mysterious bald man that only Molly remembers seeing, or could her friend really have committed such a crime?  With a fun cast of character this is a quick read.  It also includes a pattern and recipe for a dessert to round out your meal.  I would recommend this book to cozy readers.

We hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Blue Rabbit Cottage.  Check out our Etsy page for a short video we made and any new offerings we have.  Stop back soon for another visit! Have a great weekend.

Bows are Blooming

Welcome

We're glad you stopped by to visit us at the Blue Rabbit Cottage.  We've been working on some new jewelry and bows for you.  We also have a short video blurb that will be going up on the new Etsy.  What have you been getting into this April?

New At the Cottage

Bows are up.
Always Owl Bow- 8.99

Funshine Hair Bow- 8.99

Something's Fishy Hair Bow-$6.00

Sherbet Surprise- $7.00



Check back soon for some jewelry like this gorgeous owl necklace

On the Bookshelf

Miss Peregrine's Home for the Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  I had heard that this book was going to be a movie and that peaked my interest.  I found a copy and gave it a quick flip through, hm lots of creepy pictures, sounds neat.  If I had to summarize the book in one word it would be creepy.  It wasn't like a horror book type creepy, it is a young adult novel after all. 

A young boy finds out that the stories his grandpa used to tell him about monsters and powered children are not just stories.  After some tragedy he sets out to find the home on a small island across the world.  That is when the adventure really begins. 

My only complaint about this book was that I did not know it was part of a series.  This book is just the call to adventure and nothing truly gets resolved, that doesn't sit well with me because I haven't gotten a hold of the other two books yet. 

Coming Soon

Some jewelry still on the drawing board.

On the needles right now is a purse.

What do you think? I love the colors.

We hope you come back and visit again soon!  We have enjoyed your visit.