Monday, October 31, 2016

A Love of the Bunny Tale


Where did the bunny go?

If you are 30 something or have a child that is 30 something, you might know what I'm talking about......

My love for making this bunny as a replica begins here...




My daughter had a yellow plaid Fisher Price Security Bunny. She was born in 1982 and carried her "FooFoo" bunny with her everywhere until she was in the fourth grade.

When she decided it was time to let it go, the sad pieces and parts were kept in a safe place...just in case.

She grew up, began her own family and wanted her babies to know the "love of the bunny". Sadly, Fisher Price had stopped making this bunny. So,  I created my own version for her babies and began selling them in my Esty shop.


My version changed over time.  Customers began asking me to make my bunny with rounded eyes, rounded blanket edges and "could I make it like a puppet?".

I knew what they were asking.....more and more the requests came in. The "love of the bunny" was everywhere and the 30 somethings were longing to pass it on to the next generation.
They COULD purchase a well preserved original from Ebay for $200..what?! How many children would know the "love of the bunny" at that price?

So, I made a few changes to my version and created a replica that would pass a most difficult test. Owners of the original bunny are very, very, very particular.

After many testimonials like this...

"These bunnies are amazing! My sister had the pink Fisher Price ones growing up and when I showed her Suzie's replicas she couldn't believe it! They look the exact same. Thanks so much Suzie!!!"

......my bunnies have gone all over the world. The joy they bring still amazes me.

Making them has become a mission for me...a "love of the bunny" mission.

This is my story...I'm sticking to it because there are so many little babies out there with little baby fingers to snuggle and love a bunny to pieces...literally.


I hope my version looks like that some day!

Did you have a favorite blanket? Do you still have it's loved on pieces? 










Thursday, September 15, 2016

Cauliflower rice?

As I've gotten older, my tummy has been telling me that I need to change some things.
Reluctantly, I've stopped eating rice, bread and pasta (ok, about 98% of my meals do not have these things in them, I still can't resist pizza so that makes up the other 2%). I hate to admit it, but just doing this alone has done wonders for my tummy and yes, even my waistline.


BUT....I MISS ALL OF THEM! They were the comfort in my food. What is a meatloaf without mashed potatoes? A chicken noodle soup without the noodles? A hamburger without the bun?

There is an untold amount of advice and recipes for the low carb way of eating on the web.  I have spent a lot of time trolling for ideas to answer the "what's for dinner..lunch...breakfast" question.

Recently the buzz has been about riced cauliflower. Really?
This can't possibly go well.

This is not a new trick....when I was younger, my mom tried to pass off mashed cauliflower for mashed potatoes and the whole herd of us (I come from a family of 11 kids) piled the "mashed potatoes" on our plate. The rule at the table was that you could not leave the table until you ate everything on the plate. Sound familiar?

Of course, once we discovered we had been duped, there we sat with a pile of phony mashed potatoes. We sat, and sat and sat. I don't even remember who won the stand-off but I never forgot that I hate cauliflower!

I'm all grown up now and love my vegetables....except cauliflower, it still has no place in my kitchen. In a moment of insanity on a previous attempt to low carb it, I did once make a pizza dough using cauliflower....I have yet to use that recipe again. While others find cauliflower a fabulous low carb replacement, it has always made me want to turn and run from the table.....until now.



<---------------- Here it is....the product that has been flying out of the refrigerators at Trader Joe's. Of course, you can do this to cauliflower on your own, but why?  I brought it home very skeptically
but willing to give cauliflower this one last chance.

GoodFood had already done the research for all of us cauliflowerphobes and I have never met a vegetable I didn't like toasted in the oven with olive oil and salt.





I bravely drizzled and salted the surprisingly rice- like morsels.


Still skeptical...smells like cauliflower :(




I spread it into a baking sheet



Hmmmm, I was slowly coming around...


                                                time would tell.....
 
It did look beautiful as it came out of the oven.

Fluffy with a little crunch.  

I gave it a little taste and I mean a very little taste just on the tip of my tongue, it's all the brave I could muster.

I expected to toss the rest.

I'm here to tell you that the rest made it to my plate!


Cauliflower has found a place in my kitchen. It's not rice and I'm fairly certain I wouldn't use it in just any recipe calling for rice...I can't go there yet....but as a companion to the sweet peas that I may have with my new favorite low carb meatloaf recipe, I say YES, I will eat cauliflower once in awhile and that is a victory for cauliflower and maybe even my mom :)

How do you feel about cauliflower? Have you tried this product?



__________________________________________________________________________
From the Bunny Farm

           
Now THIS is the "love of the bunny"!
I hope this brings a smile to your face! I love seeing the smile my bunnies bring to their little owners!
                                                              
                             Sigh.....I love my job!