Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Slippery Bunnies

Not bunny biting, bunny panic.

We've discovered something new about bunnies this past week. Apparently, they have more magic going for them than merely being pulled out of magicians' hats. 

You see. Our bunnies are gifted magicians on their own. They don't need no stinking guy in a cape with a stupid wand. 

They do their own stunts. 

These tricks happen during yard time. 

& has built quite the system or moveable animal containment pieces that allow her to graze the bunnies daily. They love this time. And are able to be broken up into safe units (i.e. ones who don't make more babies). The have access to grass and weeds and can run and relax as they so desire. But, like I said, we've discovered a few snafus.

Cases in point: Darcy playing the old slipperoo. The base of his wire playpen has bigger holes than the sides and top. I picked it up to move him one day. And he did not come with the cage. No biggie because I was able to pop it back over him before he discovered he was free. But unsettling none-the-less. & turned that cage upside down thinking that would solve the problem. 

Then just a few days later & was doing the usual bunny chores while the kids were enjoying play time. She glanced toward them and noticed little Emma (older baby) hoping around the yard, not the play pen, the yard. This picture was a self portrait after she caught her and before the adrenaline subsided. She's not sure where or how Emma waved the magic wand and let herself out. 

Just Friday the three of us got to do some bunnie herding when Charlotte (fabulous Craig's list cage debacle bunny) got out of the cage that Darcy had vacated. The door was latched tight, the sides and corners all buttoned up and the bars are all in place. Now, Charlotte is much bigger than Darcy, no way she'd get out of the bottom. And & had flipped the cage so the slipping out the bottom situation wasn't an option. Hmmm. 

The only option is for Charlotte to have stretched out, grabbed the top and pulled herself up Mission Impossible style, and out through the bigger opening. Or climbing the sides. Oy. Slippery bunnies we've got. 

This is what we've learned in the two months and one week since bunnies entered our lives. 

The stereotypes about bunny's fertility, speed of mating, and as magician's sidekicks do indeed contain slivers of truth. Are there any others I need to look into? I suppose I should do a study on the Easter Bunny before I start finding eggs all around the yard and house. .

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Deep Thoughts for a Monday

So, Saturday I played a bit at PicMonkey while I should've been putting my clothes away, folding laundry, weeding, sweeping the floors etc. 

Oh, the things you can do at PicMonkey, the things you can do. 

And the things you can avoid.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Maple Pecan Monkey Bread

Vegan Maple Pecan Monkey Bread

Dough

• 3 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110-115 f)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 TBSP ground flax
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour + additional (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) to knead into dough as needed. (I used mix of unbleached white and whole wheat pastry flour)

Place yeast in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the warm water, stir, add sugar. Let sit for several minutes until it looks foamy. Add oil, salt, flax and remaining water. Stir. Add the flour. Begin kneading the dough, adding flour until it becomes elastic and smooth.  BTW, I usually do this right in the bowl. Cover the dough and set aside for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. The dough will double. 

The Gooey Stuff

2-3 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil
1/3 Cup Maple syrup
1/3 Cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 Cup pecans

Preheat oven to 375

While waiting for dough to rise melt 2 -3 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil in a small bowl. 

In an additional small bowl mix together two teaspoons cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sugar until blended. 

Chop or crush pecans if not already in pieces. 

When dough is doubled break it into approximate 1 inch balls. Dip each ball into Earth Balance/coconut oil then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Fill the bottom of a greased bundt pan. Pour half the pecans and half the maple syrup over the monkey nuggets. Then continue with the dough balls until you run out. Pour the remaining pecans and maple syrup over the last row and if you have cinnamon/sugar and oil left drizzle/sprinkle that over the top. 

Bake at 375 for 23-25 Minutes

When done let sit for a few minutes then place a serving plate over the bundt pan and invert. Let sit again for a few minutes then lift the pan off the bread, protecting yourself from steam. Serve. 

The maiden voyage of this recipe was nearly perfect. It wasn't all that much more involved to make the bread than to cut  those super processed biscuits into quarters. And with the flax and whole grain flour it feels better, too. I did try this with just the maple syrup and no sugar. It just wasn't gooey enough. Close. But the addition of the brown sugar coating each piece will take it to the next level.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farming, Farming, Look at That Nasty Thing...

The weather cooperated enough that we were able to harvest sweet corn on Farm day. Yay. The tomatoes have gone slightly dormant with the heat. And for literally two minutes we got a rain storm. A two minute downpour that soaked the parking lots and teased everything else desperate for rain.

But those are just the little details. Here's the big adventure we had at the farm. While checking the organically grown, you know it's organically grown if there is evidence of pests having nibbled, but I digress, corn, & found something.

When I say she found something, I don't mean something innocent, or cute, or ordinary. I mean she found SOMETHING. As you have already correctly judged from the pictures she found something nasty ugly. I've seen this stuff call corn smut. And I've shunned it like the plague that it appears to be. I believe my childhood dreams were haunted by this corn monstrosity many, many nights.

But, get this, the farmer begins educating us on what corn smut is, and actually tells us she's eaten it before and it's tasty. Okay. I'm a major mushroom fan and this kind of piqued my interest. It's edible? Oh, yes, it's a delicacy in many parts of the world. She pulled one off the corn and showed us that it indeed looked like a mushroom under the black, oozy looking covering. So. I tasted it. I took a bite right out of it. And it's good. Tasty, mushroomy. And I am able to, 36 hours later, type this without hallucinating or stumbling around any more than usual in my words. I looked it up on wikepedia...why do I always go there? Anyhoo, I did. And here's the link to Mexican Truffles i.e. corn smut.

I wouldn't try this with non-organically grown corn. But, hey, how often do you get a chance to break off a hunk of ugliness and take a big bite? You only go around once.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Lemon Bars

Vegan Lemon Bars

This recipe takes minutes to make but several hours to prepare. It needs to set up at least 6 hours once made, and the cashews need to soak several hours prior. It stays delicious for a week or more. So I recommend you soak the cashews overnight, or when you leave for the morning, make the dessert and then let them set up either overnight or all day depending on when you put it together. 

Clearly, this is NOT low fat because of the nuts. But it is so creamy, and so tangy, and so good. Very key limey and you could use limes and make it key lime.  

Crust: (You want to wait until the cashews are soaked so you can use the food processor again right away and only have to wash it once.) (By the way, the crust is delicious on it's own and you can roll it into balls, or make it into your own version of Larabars.)

2 Cups almonds

16 Dates (roughly 1 and 1/2 cups)

zest of 1 lemon

1 TBSP coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon salt.

Place all in a food processor and process until ingredients combine into a sticky crumbly mix. 

Lightly oil a 9 x 13 pan. Press the crust into the bottom of the pan. 

Lemon Filling:

Step one 

3 Cups cashews

2 Cups lemon juice (6-8 lemons)

Zest of 1 lemon

1/3 Cup coconut oil

2 Cups sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

Place lemon juice, lemon zest and cashews in a bowl. Soak at least two hours to overnight. Do NOT rinse or discard the liquid.

Step two:

Place cashew/lemon mix into the food processor, add the coconut oil, sugar and almond extract. Process until smooth. Pour the contents onto the crust. Spread out and refrigerate at least 6 hours.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bunny Surprise ~ Part 2

Lizzie Bennett Bunny has indeed shocked us.

There are certain things we know about bunnies (and a few new ones, now).

Females can get pregnant when they are about six months old, and can have many, many pregnancies. Many, many. A female can get pregnant the same day she delivers babies, ensuring a never ending supply of cute little fuzzballs in varying stages of cuteness. This, of course, is not ideal for a lot of reasons. We knew that when she had her first batch. New information: From experience...male bunny "stuff" i.e. the baby bunny making component of his side of the equation is apparently strong. Very strong. And survives outside of the body for days.

Remember the mention of Mr. Darcy's inappropriate advances toward Lizzie almost 34 days ago? When we took the advice of a website suggesting that the buck and doe (Mr. Darcy and Lizzie) can have supervised play dates? Yes. That fateful day was indeed supervised. And Mr. Darcy was indeed relentless in his amorous pursuits. He was shut down after his third attempt. But somehow, someway, he was able to get the job done. 

This little guy looks like his brother and sisters. No question on paternity. And why only one little guy? Well, apparently, litter size can be controlled somewhat. A buck and doe together alone for a week can have nice double digit sized litters. But one or two encounters equals one to three sized batches. 

One quick encounter = bunny surprise.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bunny Surprise

The title may seem like a recipe. It is not. Unless, you could call it a recipe in the most general and casual way, like, recipe for disaster. Just to throw that thought out there.

I write this on August 4th. Exactly two months after we rescued Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett Bunny from the wild and dangerous life they'd found themselves thrust into. 

They are doing well, nary a care in the world. 

When we discovered Mr. Darcy was indeed a Mr....though not a gentleman, and Lizzie was indeed a female, we separated them. 

Clearly, they had been actively bonding in the wild because two weeks later she produced three small sweet potato-like babies. (You can see the whole saga under Bunnies Little Fuzzballs Take Over Our World. ) These darling babies have grown, have found numerous folks who want to adopt them, and are fully weaned and acting completely like adult bunnies. Two will be leaving tomorrow for their new home. Emma, holds a soft spot in &'s heart and will be co-owned by her and a little two-year-old friend who is not quite ready for full bunny ownership. 

Lizzie stands guard over new bun-bun

Then we found a sweet cage on Craig's List, which came with a bunny. The cage was promised elsewhere, but, alas, the bunny was homeless. Enter Charlotte, and then there were six. Two custom built cages later, pounds of seconds of farm Kale, timothy hay and bunny food later, our bunny farm had hit a comfortable rhythm. & has been learning all sorts of fascinating bunny facts, and has developed some sweet bunny handling skills. Once again, I just benefit from the fun part of bunny ownership. 

Then, last Monday, I went outside to check on the bunnies when I got home from work, not unusual behavior, I might add. It's beastly hot out. Over 100 most days, with little breeze and weeks since we've had a reprieve or rain. & bought a fan that circulates and blows on the cages and we put frozen ice bottles in the cages during the hottest part of the day. Rob happened to have been home that day. He came out and asked a weird question. "Are they okay?" Clearly, he could see they were. They were all visible, hopping around, eating, drinking or chilling. I answered as much. "Even this one?" He said and moved a food bowl to the side. 

Behind it was a newborn bunny. One. Just curled up, pink and clean and sound asleep. 

I said, "What the heck? Where did you find that?" 

"In the cage." 

"No way! Did someone do a bunny drop off while we were gone? Did someone find a nest and no mama so they dropped it off?" 

"No one did anything, someone HAD something." 

"WHAT?" 

"Look at it's markings. It's a perfect repeat of the three big babies. The question is how did Mr. Darcy get to Lizzie and make that?"  Then there were seven.

So confused. & may have been more shocked yet. 

So we scratched our heads, was it Charlotte's, and she came to us pregnant, had a baby and it fell from above into the lower cage? While we moved accommodations so mama and baby could be alone together, we had to rule that out. Lizzie was clearly the mama. 

To Be Continued.