hoppy easter

Easter is almost here! Even closer for me as I am celebrating with my family tomorrow.  I thought it would be fun to surprise everyone with a sweet treat! I got the idea from my awesomely craft-astic co-worker who made my boyfriend and I some of these tasty treats.

Chocolate Coated Rice Krispies

What you need

-pre-made rice krispies (or if you're super awesome homemade)

-chocolate bark, chips (I used vanilla and semi-sweet)

-M&M's for color (or any candy that sounds good!)

-cookie sheet

-wax paper

What to do

Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper and unwrap or cut your krispy treats.  Melt chocolate in microwave (about 30-45 seconds on high with constant stops to thoroughly stir).  Dip krispy treat in chocolate and sprinkle M&Ms on top. Place in fridge for 10-15 minutes.  Easy, easy, easy!

-erica

what i wore

 Sundays are a great day to get a little dressy.  My job isn't one that requires dressy clothes and most of my casual clothes gets a little ruined after wearing it to work so I don't typically get to spend a lot of time wearing fun outfits.  This early spring has given me a kick start on wearing all of my favorites in my wardrobe including this great one I got late last season, which also meant it was a great price!

Dress: modcloth
Sweater: old navy
Leggings: target

I was also able to wear my new favorite accessory. My custom made hula hoop! 

 I recently started a hula hoop class and now I am a hula hooping maniac.

Ryan even got in on the fun!

-erica

carrot fries!

Ingredients

• Several large carrots, cut into fry-size strips
• Salt
• Vinegar (I used balsamic)
• Olive oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Toss your carrots with a few tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon or so of vinegar.  Then, line a baking sheet with tin foil and spread your carrots in an even layer and salt well.  Place carrots in oven for about 30-40 minutes until brown on the edges.  If after 30 minutes they are not crispy enough for your liking, try broiling them for a couple of minutes.

So sweet, so delicious.   Go get some carrots!

-taylor

easter bunnies part two: the good, the bad, and the fluffy

Miss Holly

Let's be honest, I could talk for days about the joys of having a rabbit as a pet.  It is my one of favorite topics of conversation besides food and crafts.  Since bringing home my little guy, I have had so many questions and opinions about bunnies brought to me.  I would like to take a chance to clear some things up and hopefully shed some light on whether a house rabbit is a good choice for you. This is not a complete novel on the thrills and spills of having a house rabbit so I recommend the links in my previous blog post easter bunnies part one.  Taylor and I are also more than willing and in fact would be thrilled to answer any questions you have about raising a house rabbit, so feel free to leave your comments and questions!

Miss Daisy

Probably, the concern I hear most and heard most when I told my reluctant family and friends that I wanted a house rabbit was that they smell.  Rabbits do smell but they do not stink! Everything smells like something.  My bunny smells like fresh spring air even in the dead of winter (not kidding you could market that scent!).  Bunnies are fastidious little creatures and can not stand to be dirty for long.  They actually clean themselves more than cats!

Mr. Moustachio

Rabbit urine however does smell. Fortunately, bunnies are easily litter box trained.  Rabbits like most animals will find a certain special area to relieve him/herself and stick to that spot.  The trick is to find that spot and place a litter pan there.  I recommend the triangle high back pans (our little man used to hang his booty off the lip of a regular cat pan and pee down the side).  Then be diligent and clean out those pee spots from the litter pan. We clean Mr. Moustachio's pan every other day and found a litter that can actually be flushed. If taken care of properly you should not notice any unpleasant smells caused by your rabbit.

A lot of parents have approached me in the last few years on getting a house rabbit for their children.  Most articles will warn parents away from bringing a rabbit into a house with children mainly because bunnies are fragile, they are not toys, and they do not like to be picked up and hauled around (at least most don't).  I do not believe that a bunny is a bad pet for children though.  I think it is important to teach our children how to respect and handle all creatures in nature.  It can be an important lesson for a child or anyone to learn that although cute and fluffy bunnies are not solely here for our whims and wills but creatures with their very own needs and concerns.  As I touched on in the previous entry, bunnies are prey animals and are survivalists.  They have very sharp nails and one heck of a chomp.  If threatened they will not think twice to defend themselves. But when they learn to trust their housemates they can be incredibly sweet and loving. Bunnies love to be petted and to play.

Fact: Rabbits like to chew. Bunnies like to chomp down on carrots, parsley, paper, walls, shoes, coffee table legs, power cords, and kale.  In fact they need to chew to keep their teeth worn down which I guess doesn't give you a ton of solace when your furniture has little teeth trademarks. A word of advice, offer your little friend plenty of things to chew on: newspaper, natural wood blocks, timothy hay, cardboard, and don't forget plenty of fresh veggies. And watch your rabbit at all times! Some of the things they will find can be more of an inconvenience to you but some can be quite dangerous for your little buddy as well (i.e. power cords).

Lastly, get your little friend spayed/neutered.  It will make litter training easier, keep your feet free from awkward humpings, and most importantly extend the life of you rabbit. By the way a rabbit can live for ten years so please be ready for the commitment if you decide to make it! 

-erica

easter bunnies part one

It should come as no surprise to anyone that we at three.bunnies love our bunny rabbits.  Often Taylor and I chat about one day owning a piece of land where we can start a bunny sanctuary because sadly there are just too many unwanted bunnies in the world.  That is why it is important that we offer our two cents this time of year about bunnies as Easter presents.

Bunnies are the one of the most wonderful pets you can own and one of the most challenging.  Simply put bunnies are SMART and MISCHIEVOUS.  They love trouble almost as much as they love carrots.  I am surprised daily how rewarding it can be to have a rabbit, how amazing it feels when they trust you and lay beside you, and how funny it can be to see them dance, shake, and roll.  I also have to remind myself daily that no matter how cute or cuddly my rabbit or any rabbit is they do not want to be picked up and squeezed until their eyes pop out.  Often we think that bunnies are cute and fluffy and therefore must be toys but they are fragile and they can and will fight back if they feel it's necessary.

If you are considering a pet rabbit for Easter please read part one and part two of our posts. We will break down the good, the bad, and the fluffy of having a rabbit.  Then continuing reading on these wonderful and informative sites:

House Rabbit Society

Save A Bunny

The Humane Society

ASPCA

My House Rabbit

Please be well informed before you decide to bring home a rabbit and don't take the decision too lightly!

If you decide after your reading that a real rabbit isn't for you or your house fear not here are some great real rabbit alternatives sure to please anyone on Easter.

For the Book Lover: Restoration Hardware

For the Mustache Lover: Frank Kozik for Kid Robot

For your Little Love: Land of Nod

For the Felt Lover: Etsy-needleandfelt

For the White-Chocolate-Zombie Lover: thinkgeek

For your Snuggle Lover: Bunnies by the Bay

-erica

faux spring

I know Michigan is probably just kidding, but the weather the past week has been blissful.  To celebrate, I started working on the deck-garden a little earlier than I normally would have.  This year, in addition the usual tomatoes, herbs, and peppers, we're giving beets and green onions a try.
And speaking of delicious vegetables, tonight's dinner was an over the top veggie explosion: roasted brussel sprouts and curried lentils with rice.  I'm looking forward to all the delicious meals we'll be making with things from our garden!

happy st. paddy's day

I hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patrick's Day especially all of you lucky enough to be living somewhere where the weather is abnormally beautiful and ambient.  

I was able to spend much of my day with my favorite person under three.

She is one of the craziest, funniest, and sweetest girls I know and I am grateful to be her Aunt Haka or Uncle Ryan (when she is confused).

I can't think of a more perfect way to spend a warm afternoon than playing in the sun!

Enjoy this awesome day of celebration! And don't forget your to wear your green, celery, kelly, or moss!

-erica

sushi!

Another day, another dinner!  Erica inspired me to make sushi this week--it's certainly warm enough for this crisp, light meal.

Sushi with Roasted Veggies
Ingredients

• nori
• sushi rice (cooked)
• veggie filling: i used red peppers, mushrooms and onions that had been marinating in ginger, oil, and vinegar, which i roasted in the oven and cooled before rolling them up in the rice

Cooking sushi rice is a delicate matter—I usually wash the rice, let it soak for 30 minutes, then cook it according to the package directions in my rice cooker.  In addition to the water I add a little rice vinegar and a dash of sugar.
Once my rice was cooked, it was time to roll!  As pretty as these rolls look, they were the result of some serious trial and error.  I don’t make sushi often so I was definitely out of practice, but I started to get the hang of it again after a couple rolls. I lay the nori on the mat, paddled on the rice in a thin layer covering about 2/3 of the nori sheet, then lay my filling down in a line and rolled.  Not bad.
Also, delicious.

-taylor

yes, willy wonka there is a lent

Photo from memegenerator.net

Photo from memegenerator.net

For Lent this year,  I decided to give something up and that something would be television.  I do a lot of crafting in front of the t.v., lately while working my way through all of the American version of Hell's Kitchen.  But it has been out of control lately spending entire evenings watching full seasons of shows. Giving up television has shown me just how addicted to it I have been.  There is a lot of free time in my day when I don't have hours to waste on the warm glow of the television.  I have tried to spend my time doing things that are positive in my life instead of finding a television replacement.  I am reading more often again, spending extra cuddle time with Mr. Moustachio, having conversations over dinner with Ryan, bird-watching, and exercising.  But also, I have found some excellent websites to waste time on (namely pinterest and regretsy) which is debatable whether they are positive supplements to my life.  Oh and of course memes! You just can't see too many of those or can you?

supplies

All the sunshine today got me excited for this year's summer artisans markets.  Registration for many of them has already begun, and Erica and I are particularly excited about the Market presented by Avenue for the Arts coming up on June 9th.  In an effort to prepare for all the fun, I've started pulling together the components of the new jewelry I'd like to make for Three.Bunnies this season.  Here's a sneak peek of some quartz pendants that will soon be transformed into necklaces:

In addition to restocking supplies for Three.Bunnies, I've been busy restocking my kitchen with vegan-friendly ingredients.  Joel and I are usually whole grain eaters, so at least we've got that part covered--now I just have to come up with some ideas of what to make with them!

-taylor

bread machine love

A no fail, always delicious bread machine recipe—based off of the one found here.  It's not fancy or anything, but it's perfect for sandwiches.

Herb Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar (unbleached cane sugar)
• 1 package bread machine yeast
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups wheat or white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon each of dried thyme, basil, and oregano

Place the yeast and sugar in the pan of the bread machine, then pour the cup of warm water over top. Allow this mixture to sit for about ten minutes (I realize this sounds counter-intuitive, but I promise it works). While this is hanging out, combine the flour, salt, and herbs. After ten minutes, add the oil and flour/herbs/salt into the machine and press start.

Then have a cup of tea because you are awesome at making bread.

here we go

Here at three.bunnies,  eating is just as important as crafting.  But lately, I've felt the need for a bit of a change--I want the food I eat to be more personal, and I want to create a place in my life for intentional and satisfying sustenance.  I want to experiment, to grow, and to make food I feel confident in.   For the next month, Joel and I will be doing Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's "The 30-day Vegan Challenge".  Erica lent me the book to get started, and so far the first day is going very well.  We started with her peanut and sweet potato stew--it was perfect!  I feel satisfied and excited to see what the month will bring.
-taylor

needle felting

I have been quite sick the last few days which hasn't made for very much crafting.  I was excited yesterday to receive a package in the mail: my bunny needle felting kit! It was just what I needed, ill or not, to get my creative juices flowing.

 

You can purchase this kit by Wool Pets from Webs (along with a ton of other great crafting supplies) and would make an amazing Easter gift for someone creative!
-erica

rice krispies

I am a rice krispy treat fiend. My poor parents paid all too much money for me in college to only eat rice krispies out of the cafeteria.  I just can't get enough of their gooey-crunchy-ness. The only thing that could make a rice krispy better is if it was VEGAN!  So, to all my non-animal product friends or those who just wish to consume less animal products and learn more about a kind lifestyle:

Courtesy of Amazon.com

What you need:

-1 baking dish

-cooking spray (optional)

-rice puff cereal (you can go really all out and find some gluten-free organic kinds)

-Dandies marshmallows (or vegan equivalent)

-Earth Balance Buttery Sticks

From here you basically can follow the recipe on the box of cereal.  But for mine I was feeling a bit lazy and didn't want to prepare anything on the stove top. I also halved the recipe since I ate half the bag of Dandies upon purchasing them.

Directions for the microwave rebels:

In a microwave safe bowl, heat 2 cups marshmallows with 1 tbsp Earth Balance Butter.  Stir mixture occasionally to keep marshmallows from turning into marshmallow-man and taking over NYC.

Add 2-3 cups rice puffs.  I like to add a little less than what is called for because I prefer mine to be gooey and filled with vegan marshmallow lovin'. Once mixed put in sprayed cooking dish and let cool.  Cut and serve or eat as one giant bar.

Enjoy!

-erica

etsy lovin'

Well, it's happened--we've finally got our etsy site really rolling.  Erica and I spent the day taking photos and getting everything together (taking a break for some burritos of course).  Her cowls are just beautiful and I put some new jewelry up as well: enjoy!

-taylor