Labbit Meets Labbit

The First Sighting from The Clothes Horse on Vimeo.

The labbits were happy to see another new stop motion labbit movie featuring Nasha, a labbit who lives with Rebecca, whose blog The Clothes Horse inspires many of Clover's crafty and sartorial creations.

I made a stop motion labbit movie a loooong time ago, when Pipkin first met Clover, sometime in September of 2010.  I was just fooling around with my camera and iMovie for the first time, so this was very experimental. The pacing ended up being quite erratic, which I blame on my impatience to just shoot enough material to test out iMovie. The result was still cute, so I kinda like it. Anyway, I couldn't upload my video in very high quality because Blogger controls the file size and I don't know how to get around it without posting the video to youtube, which I don't want to do anyway because my address is all over the box soooo...I hope you enjoy it in all its low res glory. I also didn't get as fancy and put it to music. I keep saying I'll add a soundtrack someday, but I never seem to get around to it.

By the way, for those of you who are not familiar with "blind box" or "blind assortment" toy culture, it's like, a big deal n' stuff to unbox your item for the first time because these items are sold either in packaging that doesn't allow a recipient (or the seller) to know what's inside (and some varieties are more rare than others), or the item is picked at random by the seller, and the buyer doesn't know what they're going to get. Youtube has many blind box opening videos, and for some odd reason, other people have fun watching these. I always thought it a little strange, so I themed the labbit video below as if it were an unboxing. In the end, I thought yeah - I bet my labbit did have fun unboxing the new labbit!

*edit - oh dear, I don't know why the video doesn't work in the first couple of seconds. That's weird. It was just a title screen that said "Labbit Gets a Surprise", so you're not missing much! 

Labbits Like: Grilled Chickpea Burgers

Nothing says summer like grilled burgers and cookouts. Next time you're headed to a potluck, why not bring along this tasty option for the vegetarians? This burger is made with mashed chickpeas and brown rice, and spiced with coriander and cumin. You could take this recipe and add your own twist - sweet kernals of corn, flax seeds, maybe some curry? Whatever you choose, don't forget to dress it up with other colorful veggies. Pipkin likes his with roasted red pepper hummus, baby spinach, tomatoes and onions. The recipe can be printed here. Happy grilling!

Chickpea Burgers
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp canola oil
4 scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked brown rice
2/3 cup wheat germ, divided
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Your choice of burger fixin's. Pipkin used 100% Whole Wheat Flax & Fiber Arnold Sandwich Thins and added baby spinach, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onion, plain non-fat Greek yogurt and hummus spread. You could also throw in alfalfa sprouts, sliced avocado, etc. Keep it colorful.

Preparation:
Heat a small skillet over low heat. Add sesame seeds and toast, stirring, until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Add coriander and cumin; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 10 to 20 seconds more. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Grind with a mortar and pestle or in a spice mill or clean coffee grinder; set aside.

Add oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add scallions and garlic; cook, stirring, until softened about 2 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat a grill to medium-high.

Coarsely mash chickpeas in a medium bowl with a potato masher.

Stir in rice, 1/3 cup wheat germ, lemon juice, salt, pepper, the reserved spice mixture and the scallion mixture; mix well.

Shape the mixture into four 3/4 inch thick patties. Place the remaining 1/3 cup wheat germ in a shallow dish and dredge them firmly.

Grill the patties until browned and heated through, about 3 minutes per side.  Place the burgers in a bun or pita and dress with your favorite condiments.

Yields: 4 burgers
Recipe: Eating Well June 2011

On Guard Duty

Captain Holly guards one of the entrances to the warren. A very naughty chipmunk has been sneaking in during the day, and Holly's ready to defend the territory.

Labbits Like: Chilled Strawberry-Rhubarb Soup

Pipkin gets his rhubarb from the Bellows Falls Farmer's Market

All of a sudden, it seems the hot hazy days of summer have arrived in southern Vermont. Not that many here will complain, having had a full week of rain. Happily the sun was out and it brought lots of people out to the weekly farmer's market in Bellows Falls.

Pipkin picks out the tender pinky-red stalks

Pipkin went with a mission - to pick out some lovely tender stalks of rhubarb to cook up in a chilled strawberry-rhubarb soup. When choosing rhubarb stalks, go for the young, dark pink and slender stalks, which will be sweeter and more tender than the longer, greener stalks. Be sure to discard any leaves, trim the ends, and peel off any stringy covering before use.

You'll only need a few more ingredients: strawberries, sugar, water, salt and pepper, and a generous sprinkling of basil or mint. Get ready for a perfectly refreshing chilled soup for a hot and muggy day. Print out the recipe here.




Chilled Strawberry-Rhubarb Soup

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or mint, plus more for garnish
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Preparation:
Bring rhubarb and 3 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Cook until the rhubarb is very soft and broken down, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Put a copule inches of ice water in a large bowl and set the bowl with the rhubarb in it to help cool it quickly. (If you aren't in a hurry, you can skip the ice-water bath.) Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until cool, at least 20 minutes.

Transfer the rhubarb to a blender. Add strawberries, sugar and salt; blend until smooth. Return to the bowl and stir in 1/3 cup basil (or mint). Serve sprinkled with more herbs and a generous grinding of pepper. 

Serves: 4 hot, thirsty labbits

Recipe: June 2011 Eating Well Magazine.

Reflection Study Too

Pipkin tries another picture with a reflection, this time in a puddle. Unfortunately it was windy today and the puddle he used kept getting rippled by the wind. But he's still experimenting and knows he'll be better at this photo taking business the more he practices. For now he hopes you get a sense of the sunny spring day in the upside down puddle picture.