Smoky crockpot rabbit

This week's crockpot rabbit:

Half of a Stella blue Hokkaido squash, cubed (left over from winter storage)

Half of a big sweet onion, chopped

2 T hot pepper purée (from last year's end of the season peppers)

1 T prepared horseradish 

1 tsp dried minced garlic

Several splashes of hickory liquid smoke

2 C water

4# rabbit

I put the veggies in first, then the rabbit, (almost didn't fit), then the seasonings and finally the water. I may add more water as it cooks down. 

When it's all done, I'll serve it over a mess of cooked greens, or incorporate them a serving at a time like a stew. 

Black Swamp Local Food & Farm Co-op

I just joined the Black Swamp Local Food & Farm Co-op!  Shopping opens May 13th, with our first pick up May 22nd.  We're a work in progress!  Check us out when you have time!  http://blackswamplocalfood.org/

Eating the Easter Bunny ~ Hasenpfeffer

I remember the first time my family ate the Easter bunny for Easter dinner.  My Aunt Debbie wanted to make rabbit, but didn't want to be the only one to eat it.  I said I'd eat some.  Why not?  This was a long time before I raised rabbits, but my Dad hunted when I was little, and I remember my Great Uncle Bob used to raise rabbits.  Debbie made Hasenpfeffer.  Yummy sweet and sour goodness served over bunny shaped pasta. It was delicious!  

Years later, my Uncle taught me how to butcher my first rabbit.  I took it home and began my Hasenpfeffer preparations.  That rabbit's name was Pawless, because he only had 3 feet.  Pawless was yummy!

This Hasenpfeffer recipe is very basic.  There are some fancier versions online, and they look amazing.  I'll have to try one of those some other time.  This year though, I'm returning to the roots of my tradition of eating the Easter bunny.  

Start this 2 days before you want to eat.

Steeping liquid: 
1 onion, sliced
2 C vinegar
2 C water
1/2 - 1 C sugar
2 T mixed pickling spices, in spice bag
2 tsp lemon juice 

Simmer everything except the rabbit for 5 minutes in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  Pour steeping liquid over rabbit, soak in the refrigerator for 2 days.  Remove spice bag.  Cook rabbit in crockpot or stockpot until rabbit is tender and falling off the bones.  Serve over rice, pasta or spaghetti squash.

What's your favorite way to prepare rabbit?

Lunch and Learn - Wild Vitality, Adventures in Self-Sufficiency

Rabbit Bone Broth

Rabbit Bone Broth

*This mineral rich broth is a great way to get more out of each rabbit.  This recipe works for all bones, and you can mix bones from different animals in the same batch to vary the flavor of your broth.

Save the bones when you cook or debone rabbit.  They store nicely in a gallon ziplock bag in the freezer.  You can keep adding to the bag as you have more bones.  This is a good use for spines and ribs.  When you have enough bones to loosely fill your crockpot, you're ready to make bone broth.

Fill your crockpot with rabbit bones.  You can crack or nick leg bones with a heavy knife, which helps the goodness in the marrow extract into your broth.

Add garlic and onions (optional)

Add seasonally appropriate tonic soup herbs (optional)

Fill crock with filtered or spring water

Add a splash of vinegar.  The acid helps to draw the minerals out of the bones.

Cook on low for 24 hours, or until the bones become soft or crumbly.  This is how you know you've pulled out most of the minerals.  Watch the water level, and add more as needed.

I have cooked bone broth for days.  The broth will darken, but that's fine.  You can also dip out a serving of broth whenever you'd like, and add more water to the crockpot.  

When the bones have given up their goodness to your broth, strain out the solids.  

This broth can be drunk, or used in the liquid of any other recipe, including rice, beans, soups and casseroles.  Extra broth can be frozen in ice cube trays, then popped out of the trays and stored in ziplocks or freezer safe containers.  Pop a frozen cube into your soups and sauces for a boost of minerals.  

Slow Cooked Rabbit and Liver

More crockpot goodness.  I kept this one simple.


1 rabbit
1/2 pound grassfed lamb liver, sliced
1/2 of a large sweet potato/yam
heaping spoonful of chopped garlic
freshly ground poultry seasonings
1 can coconut milk
1 can water


Cook low and slow.  When close to serving time, remove what you won't be eating for this meal into glass pyrex storage containers.  Cool, cover and refrigerate.  


1 red bell pepper


Chop, dice, slice, however you like them, add to the stew in the crockpot, and cook until the peppers are done.  


I really liked this dish.  I like liver though, and that is the predominant flavor.  I think next time, I may puree the liver, and use that to thicken the stew.  I will also omit the can of water.

Curried Rabbit Stew

This has been the week of Curried Rabbit Stew in the crockpot.  Life has been busy, my routines are gone, and most of what I own is in storage.  I love my crockpot!  It keeps warm, nutritious food in my belly, which is a blessing.


Measurements are approximate, feel free to tweak proportions and ingredients to suit your tastes.


1/2 of a rabbit
Curry powder - I get mine from a local Indian Market
about 1/2 cup brown rice, preferably already soaked
1/2 of a large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 of a medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
a spoonful of chopped garlic
1 can coconut milk
1 can water


Optional:
a spoonful of your favorite peanut butter stirred into your bowl when serving
Mushrooms, which I would have added if I had some on hand
Green Chilis, to kick up the heat


Put everything in the crockpot, starting with the rabbit and ending with the water.  Turn it on low, and leave it all day.  By dinnertime, you will have a hot meal, and the meat will be tender enough to be easily removed from the bone.  I pick out the little bones as I'm eating, but you could debone the rabbit before you put it in the crockpot.  The coconut milk adds the much needed healthy fats that rabbit meat lacks.