Scraps and Snippets ~ Muffaletta Stroganoff

Warning do not let the color put you off. It's tasty stuff, this, and if you use mushrooms you won't even have to suffer the scornful looks and furrowed brows like I did. Rob forewarned me that he couldn't eat it. I asked him to please try it. And then he did and he said that it was delicious.

Muffaletta Stroganoff

Serves 4-6

Zucchini noodles or pasta of choice. (if you are uninitiated in zucchini noodles here's the scoop. Use a spiralizer a julienne blade or veggie peeler and cut zucchini into pasta-ish strips. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt and let sit for several minutes if you plan to use it raw. If you want it heated pour boiling water over it, cover and steep for several minutes then drain.)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 medium onion (small dice)

2 cups mushrooms or corn smut (mexican truffles) (chopped)

1 TBSP Earth Balance

3 TBSP flour

1 tsp powdered vegetable broth or bouillon

1/4 cup kalamata olives (diced)

1/4 cup green olives (diced)

2 cups non dairy unsweetened milk

1/2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp spicy mustard

1/2 tsp salt (heavy)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Sauté onions and garlic in the Earth Balance. Add mushrooms when onions are translucent. When veggies soften and brown add flour and stir until veggies are pasty. Add milk stir until the sauce begins to thicken and bubble. Add the remaining ingredients . Serve over noodles when sauce reaches the consistency you want.

Scribbles and Scrambles . Farmerly Known As...

First things first.... I'm going to practice blogging from my phone. Why? Good reasons... one of which is my computer's current mood swing. And the thrill of adventure that surges within when I ponder what auto-correct might do in a blog post.

Now farm report. Everyone and I mean every single CSA recipient is the proud owner of a 25 + pound watermelon. 

Note pictorial proof.

I especially love Rob snapping a picture of Big Bertha with visuals and a tape measure. And check out the entire ear of corn smut!!! Guess who that went home with? Yep.

Recipe tomorrow, using corn smut. For reals. Now let's see how phone posting went shall we...Okay. Now on the real blogger. I can't change the font or move pictures on my phone. I can't change the size of pictures or change the post time or date.  Auto correct let THREE screw-ups pass, it didn't even bother to embarrassingly correct the words I thumb-tripped over. But, it also didn't make me say something really weird. (I guess I don't need help in that department.) I also can't type horizontally on my phone so I'm more likely to trip over my stupid thumbs. BUT. I must say, phone blogging could be great when I can't post from my computer for some reason. I can always edit later.

Oooooh Pretty!

Scraps and Snippets ~ What's for Dinner? Zucchini Potato Burgers

Zucchini Potato Burgers

1 Potato (Shredded)

1/2 Zucchini (Shredded) 

1/2 Carrot (Shredded)

(I used the shredder blade on my food processor) 

Dump the veggies in another bowl. 

Put the blade in the processor. 

Toss in 1/4 cups olives

1 clove garlic

1/2 an onion

1/2 Cup mushrooms

1/2 Cup nuts of choice

1/2 TBSP ketchup

1/2 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 TBSP soy sauce

1 Cup gluten flour

Use the shredder blade and shred the potato, zucchini and carrot. Dump in another bowl. 

Blend the remaining items with the blade. (Except for the gluten flour.). 

Dump the blended mixture into the shredded vegetables. Mix well. Add the flour and stir well. 

Form into patties and place in frying pan. (Lightly sprayed) Heat until browned on one side. Flip and brown other side. Serve.  Makes approx 8-10 burgers. Great reheated.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Peanut Butter Melt in Your Mouth Cookies...

Why on earth would I fire up the oven on a hot Monday afternoon.....at the peak of the heat curve? Why? 

Maybe because I saw a cookie recipe on a website. And that cookie recipe was NOTHING even CLOSE to what I ended up making. But somehow it inspired the need to heat up the kitchen. 

It was worth the sweat. 

These totally melt in your mouth. Crispy, delicate, crumbly they need to sit on the cookie pan while they cool a bit and will store best in the fridge. I can't quite place the taste. Maybe a cookie version of the inside of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or a soft chewy version of a Butterfinger. A little hint of those chewy butterscotch Rice Krispie bars that are covered in chocolate and make you sick because they are so stinking sweet. How about I just call these darn tasty. 

Peanut Butter Melt In Your Mouth Cookies

1/2 Cup peanut butter

1/2 Cup coconut oil

1 1/3 Cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup flour

1 1/2 Cup oatmeal

1 Cup chocolate chips

Mix coconut oil, peanut butter and brown sugar together until blended. Add vanilla, stir, salt and baking powder and mix well. Stir in flour until incorporated. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips. 

The dough is grainy and crumbly. Roll into small balls and press into disks and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Let sit until cool then store in the fridge. Makes 24ish cookies.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Goodies and Happenings...

My weekend included a wedding, some baking practice, and a missing spider.

We attended a wedding of a young woman who called our home her second one during her teen years. It was a simply beautiful wedding. Burlap and hand-made fabric flower corsages, ball jars filled with lavender sprigs and sunflowers. The bridesmaids' dresses were monochromatic dusty rose, short and floaty, and the groomsmen wore dress pants, white shirts and suspenders. The ceremony was very God focused and encouraging.

I sliced another batch of pears that have ripened since we picked them and dehydrated them. Highly recommended thing to do with pears should you have an abundance.

Since we've got the pear bounty I tried out another recipe for October's MOFO dessert blitz.

Here is a picture, the recipe will debut in October.

Bounty from our garden.

And, my truck-surfing spider buddy has found a new home. Rob parked near the bushes, so I'm hoping the little guy has decided to settle down and make his new home there.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Spider Tracks...

I’ve had a tag-along ride to work with me every morning this week. And he returns home with me, too. And I think the seven miles each way clipping along at 30 miles per hour must be pretty taxing for the little fella, but, yet, each morning, he's there, waiting for me to take off.

A spider has claimed the truck’s outside mirror and driver’s door as his domain. He doesn’t bother me, even though he is a spider, because he hunkers down and hides behind the mirror when I open the door.

His web takes a serious beating from the wind. As does he. At 30 MPH that web is jumping and he's hanging on for dear life. Not pretty at all and I kept expecting to see him flung from his super strong web into certain death. But he hangs on, day after day. He’s either an adrenaline junkie, thinks he scores better hot, fast food than the average spider, doesn’t know any better, or refuses to consider that there are safer yet infinitely more satisfying ways to live life. Or maybe it is that insanity thing I already mentioned. The definition of insanity? Doing the same things and expecting different results. (That’s the socially functional insane, the others are varied and nasty and we don’t want to meet them in dark alleys…spider or otherwise…shudder.)

Why would a spider continue rebuilding a web on an object that randomly takes off at high speeds? Any bug that manages to hit the web at 30 MPH is likely going to put a big hole through the web. Maybe the spider wants to work on his catching arm? But even then, there are better, less dangerous ways to do that, too.

I don't know whether to admire him for his perseverance or place him in an inpatient facility.

Oddly, he may remind me of people I know, a category to which I might belong. Sometimes we are stubborn to an insane level, aren't we? Why would I let the crazy windstorms buffet me, wreck my peace and rattle my brain when it might be an issue I could just let go of? How about clinging to insecurity or beliefs about who I am and what I have to offer the world, even when others tell me I'm crazy to hang onto the two or three comments that made me believe I have no worth in an area. Or refusing to forgive someone until they say the right words from the script I've written and keep hidden in my heart. Or bitterness over __________________________________________ (fill in the blank). Or refusing to live this big, amazing life until I complete ___________________________ (fill in the blank).

After I arrived at work yesterday I found out a fatality happened in an area where & and I regularly walk the dogs. A woman went out to take her early morning walk, another was headed somewhere in her car. The sun was rising, bright and blinding, and a fatal connection was made. Two lives changed in a heartbeat, two women who probably didn't wake up and say, "Today, my life will be forever altered." as they crossed the threshold into their futures. They likely just went about their business, not knowing what the next minute might hold.

I want to take lessons from these two very different scenarios. Perseverance is a thing of beauty when you are talking about Olympic athletes, choosing to do the difficult things to make a better life, sticking out a relationship that is a commitment and maybe a little bogged down but not poisonous. But stubbornness might very well be insanity in disguise.

And, I have no promises that tomorrow is mine, that it will be beautiful, that I will be able to see the sun set. If tomorrow was my last day on earth, what would I want it to look like? What would I want to leave behind in the hearts, minds and souls of those who knew me? Do I know what happens to the essence of me after I die?  Do I have an emotional or relational list that I will leave unfinished, incomplete, or torn to shreds? And am I okay with all my answers to those questions? 

I hope your day is altered only by blessings and goodness today.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bunny Update and New Friends.

bunnies love dem carrots.

I am the carrot lady. They love me, too.

a friend who has ridden to work with me every morning and home every evening the past three days.

can you find the pumpkin in the bush? Hint, not on the ground.

coconut whipped cream. Oh so good.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farm Funs

Teeny, tiny, teensy tomatoes...fingernail sized.

Iowa's largest zucchini and tiniest pickling cucumber

Fresh picked, bee-yo-ti-ful pears

Planted by aliens overnight. It's what they do now instead of crop circles.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti

Preheat oven 350 makes 16-24 biscotti depending on size etc.

2  Cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup applesauce
3 TBSP coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 Cup chopped, toasted almonds (chop and then place in 350 oven for approx 10 minutes)

Combine sugar, coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla and almond extract. Add salt, baking powder, mix well. Add flour and incorporate. Add the toasted almonds.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form two long flatish loaves with the batter (like small bread loaf size) (Clearly, I was not concerned about the uniformity or looks of the biscotti. If I was going to make them for looks as well as function and taste, I'd make the sections uniform.) To make it easier (Oh She Glows, thanks for the tip) to cut your biscotti after baking, score the loaves. Cut through the dough every half inch or so.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Turn oven down to 300 and cool your biscotti dough for 15 minutes. Slice along the hash marks you cut into the dough, separate into long cookies, and lay the biscotti on their sides. Bake at 300 for 12 minutes. Remove and turn the biscotti to the other side. Bake another 12 then shut oven off but leave the cookies in the oven until they cool. The residual heat will continue to dry them out so they will be very crispy/crunchy.

When cooled, drizzle melted Vegan white chocolate chips over the cookies with a ziploc baggie with the tip sliced off, or dip the biscotti into the melted white chocolate chips and sprinkle with finely ground almonds. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Lessons Learned...

This weekend I learned a few lessons.

Sad, Scalloped Thumb Buddy...

A) When you have one of those really, really sweet mandoline slicers. The ones that have the protective guard to hold your fruits and veggies and come with warnings to use them....yeah. That neat little razor sharp gadget. Even if you need to slice a bunch of potatoes and onions for dinner and have very little time to throw dinner together because you have to go to a jewelry party at which you are the demonstrator...DO NOT slice potatoes and onions or anything else without the guard. Unless, that is, you want to slice an unexpected non-veggie, such as your thumb. 

I've taken on the burden of pain to bring you this Public Service Announcement (PSA) about mandoline safety. Ms. Thumb is indeed sad. She bled on my pink sweater, payback, passive aggressive little twerp. Ms thumb will survive. Next time she might not be so lucky. So let's just say she learned a lesson, and indeed, what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger, proven. We will never, never, never misuse my mandoline again. Repeat after me. What I just said.

Lesson B) Bunnies are tricky and sneaky. Of course we know that based on the sheer number of bunnies who live with us. However, the little surprise bunny, Fanny, is proving to be very advanced in her trickiness, last night, while I was distracted she jumped out of the cage. I grabbed her right away, but it was a surprise. Rotten little thing.  

Lesson C) Recipe creating, tweaking, retweaking and fails are getting fun. I feel like I kind of have a basic understanding, finally, of Vegan cooking and baking. I've found some go-to recipes and am beginning to really enjoy layering, messing with, adding and subtracting to create new. 

almond bisYummy

I've decided to do a project for Vegan Month of Food (Vegan Mofo) for October this year. I'll be sharing a bunch of recipes then. But I'm trying, tweaking and creating them now, so we can test them out. Last weekend I scored two wins. And Friday and Saturday I messed with three more (two need a few tweaks but are nearly there, one, needs some rethinking). Sunday evening was another experiment that included a recipe for almond biscotti that was stellar. Fortunately, I made enough of a batch that it could be sampled instead of all earmarked for the other recipe. This little beauty in the picture was slated for scarfing. And scarfed it was.  And since this is just one component of a dessert that should be off the charts, I think I can go ahead and share the recipe soon. So come back tomorrow for the recipe. Toad-boy, a kind of a biscotti snob, crunched through one and called it the best biscotti he's ever eaten.

Hope you had a good weekend.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Day Job Smile...

In my day job I take chest x-rays. And I bill people. So. Let's just say most folks don't really look forward to seeing me. 

However, I do have some great fun on occasion and have managed to entice a few fans. 

One of my favorite patients begins laughing the second she sees me and doesn't stop til she leaves my room. Can you guess why she's one of my favorites? Seriously, I feel like a I should give her an autograph, she thinks I'm THAT funny. She even said as much. Well, paraphrased this is what she said, "My co-worked called me and I told him I was going to the doctor's office. He said, UGH!, but I said, No, it's not that bad, this is the easy day. And the x-ray girl is hilarious."  Then she cracked up. Her x-rays are sometimes challenging, too, since she has to hold her breathe and stay very still for a few seconds during my annual stand-up routine. I have to get all professional and down to business, and yet, she laughs even then. 

Another guy came in a few days later. We chatted. Then he said, "You know, I had that note you wrote me for a really long time." Uhhhh. I wrote him a note??? Odd. And I said as much. He reminded me that a few years ago I commented on how neat and tidy he was because he folded up his shirt when he removed it for his chest x-ray. He then apparently made a comment that his wife would be amused by my observation regarding his tidiness. So I offered to write him a note that said, indeed, that he was witnessed being neat and tidy.  So I did, and he posted it prominently and referred to it for self-esteem or gloating purposes til he lost is or spilled something on it in his normally sloven routine.

The scary thing is this. I just am sometimes crazy and do weird things for my own amusement. And then I forget about them and move on and forget that someone else was there, and maybe took notes (even ones written by me.) If I am hilarious some mornings, I wonder if it's connected to the amount of coffee I've consumed or the lack of sleep I've gotten the night before.

And upon thinking through the implications of this, I'd rather be known as the crazy, curly-haired, x-ray freak than a crabby, no-nonsense health worker who doesn't like her job. 

Yeah. 

I'll take crazy. People laugh with happy crazy people. With or at, it's still laughing.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Fresh, Farm Art...

Nothing crazy happened at the farm. No creepie-crawlie, shuddery encounters. 

The vegetables were picked and ready to pack. The day was beautiful, almost autumn-like. And after weeks of heat, heat, heat, so welcome. The hundred degree dry wave has taken a toll on the veggies. The tomatoes are beginning to rebound from the heat and will probably continue as there are lots of sets and plenty of time for ripening. With the cooler temperatures there should be some decent picks left. The lettuces will be appearing again, soon. The potatoes are a different story. After some research, the farmer has decided that the uppermost potatoes were nearly cooked in the ground so they were quick to rot. They pulled out a decent yield. Just decent, though, and barely equivalent to what they planted. Then, over the following days potatoes began to turn. The yield shrunk to nominal. But. There hasn't been hail like last year.

The pack was quick and full of delicious items like eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, kale and basil.

Picmonkey helped me turn the pictures of the fabulous piles of eggplant into art. Something about the well-used plastic table and the harsh daylight shining on the eggplant, though beautiful, was a little bit stark. 

And, yes, I'm enjoying Picmonkey experimentation. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Photo Tweak-a-Bit

picmonkey tweaking

picmonkey playtime

picpicpicmonkey

tweak via picmonkey

Original

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.