Carrot Apple Oatmeal Flax Cookies

Carrot Apple Oatmeal Flax Cookies
Vegan; Makes 1 lb Dog cookies

For those who know me, I can't stand Made In China (See prior postings for reasons). Currently, most big dog food companies (and if you read the label) you'll find the Made In China printed on the package. These are perfect since the carrots can be found at the farmers markets and if the season is right, so can the apples. I use organic, let's face it... Why are you going to feed your family members something that you're not willing to eat yourself.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 Tablespoons flax seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/4 cup finely chopped and cored apple
2 Tablespoons blackstrap molasses
2 Tablespoons canola oil
egg replacer equal to 1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, flax seeds and cinnamon. In a food processor, combine water, carrot, apple, molasses, oil, egg replacer, and vanilla. Puree until smooth. Add to dry ingredients and mix well.

3. In the bowl and using hands, knead until dough holds together. Transfer to a floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. With a fork poke holes in the dough (this keeps it from becoming a puffy soft cookie and keeps it crunchy). I use cookie cutters (puppy shapes), but you can use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter and cut into bite size squares. Place about 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets.

4. Bake, in batches if necessary, for 20 minutes or until firm. Place cookies on cooling racks and lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes more (again, this helps make a crunchy cookie to help prevent tarter build-up). Transfer cookies to a rack and cool completely. Store in a air tight container for up to 30 days. If you live in a humid climate, store in the fridge.

Found and adapted: Better Food for Dogs

Blueberry Frozen Puppy Pops

Blueberry Frozen Puppy Pops

There are certain things that I love about San Antonio. The fact that it's almost Thanksgiving and yesterday it 86 degrees and today will be 74 degrees is one of them. This allows me to go to a farmers market year round. I missed this while living in Colorado. However, Fortune and Choxie are not enjoying the heat so much. That being said, I made these yesterday for them. SO tasty, one can turn these into a smoothie for a quick morning breakfast ;)

Ingredients
1 cup of blueberries (I used frozen organic)
1 extra ripe banana
3/4 cup plain coconut yogurt
1 tsp of ground flax seeds

1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender, until smooth. (I had to add a little water to not over heat my blender.)

2. Pour into an ice cube tray or mold. Freeze it for about 2 hours

Money Saving Biscuits

Money Saving Biscuits
Vegan; Soy Free; 25 minutes

In my quest to omit Earth Balance (see prior postings) from as many of my recipes, here is a biscuit recipe that I made last night. Since I used coconut yogurt, these come out super light. Here I used Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening. They have it printed right on the package "... Even better are the dozen of small family farmers in Colombia who cultivate and press our palm oil in an environmentally sustainable manner...." Not that I believe everything right off the package. But going to their website and clicking the link to their parent company; they have their corporate 2012 standards for transparency.

2 cups organic all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea-salt
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
1 Tablespoon coconut yogurt
1 cup unsweetened hemp milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add vegetable shortening and coconut yogurt. Taking either 2 butter knives or a pastry blender and cut shortening and yogurt into the flour. Slowly add milk and continue to combine till all the liquid is gone and a soft dough forms.

3. Drop dough, 1 1/2 inches apart, evenly onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and cool. Serve with jam for breakfast!

Banana Date Oatmeal Cookies

Banana Date Oatmeal Cookies
Vegan; Soy Free (Gluten Free)

These are great for a quick breakfast or a healthy snack. I love these due to the fact that it's an easy clean up and one bowl for all of the ingredients!

3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats (Use gluten free oatmeal or groats)
1 cup combination of dates (pitted and chopped) and goji berries
1/3 cup coconut oil, liquidfied
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, goji berries, oil, and vanilla. Mix well, adding the spices, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly brown.

Pomegranate Persimmon Paste

Pomegranate Persimmon Paste
Vegan; 10 minutes; Gluten Free; Raw

Now that my kitchen has been busted out of storage, I've welcomed my missed "Gourmet Sundays". Here is the first of many more to come. Super easy, the messiest part is making sure you don't stain everything squeezing the pomegranate. I used this as a spread for french toast, so delicious!

2 persimmons, chopped
2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed pomegranate

1. In a food processor combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Add 1/8 teaspoon of maple syrup if needed to cut tartness. Enjoy, will last 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Earth Balance & Palm Oil

Dear Jacqueline,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us here at Earth Balance. We always appreciate hearing from consumers who care enough to reach out to us with their comments or questions.

As palm oil is one of the critical elements to our proprietary blend of oils, we’re dedicated to being proactive in growing awareness around the issue.

While Earth Balance is only a small palm oil user (we use less than 0.05% of all palm oil), we’re taking a big stand against unsustainable palm oil. Here’s how…

First, we are firmly committed to sustainable sourcing, and we believe in the power of informed consumers to change the world for the better. We are educating our suppliers about ways to safeguard the rainforest through sustainable palm oil sourcing, and we’re educating our customers about how they can have a direct positive impact by exclusively purchasing responsibly sourced palm oil products.

Thirty percent of our palm oil comes from sustainable palm oil plantations in Brazil. Our Brazil-sourced palm oil is 100% organic and is used in all of our organic products (and because orangutans are not native to South America, the Brazilian palm industry does not adversely impact their wellbeing). The remaining 70% of our palm oil comes from responsible sources in peninsular Malaysia, which are all members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the leading global organization developing and implementing global standards for sustainable palm oil production. We insist on continuing assurances from our suppliers that all palm fruit oil purchased for Earth Balance complies with the RSPO policies, and we are committed to terminating any suppliers that violate these policies.

In addition, we purchase GreenPalm Certificates, which work a lot like carbon credits. The money used to purchase these certificates helps improve the infrastructure and practices behind sustainable palm oil. Moreover, we are supporting the action-oriented, on-the ground conservation work of Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) in Indonesian Borneo. OFI is a non-governmental, non-profit organization, led by world-renown primatologist and conservationist Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas. OFI is committed to rescuing and rehabilitating orangutans that are adversely affected by the palm oil industry, and has been working for more than 40 years to conserve rainforest habitat and educate people throughout the world about the orangutans’ plight. Earth Balance is especially proud to be a financial supporter of OFI’s ongoing initiative to return 330 wild-born, ex-captive rehabilitated orangutans back to the wild, into biologically-rich, protected forest, where they rightfully belong.

For more information, please see our White Paper: Addressing the Social & Environmental Challenges with Palm Fruit Oil, posted on our website.

We recognize this effort takes time, and we are committed to working with the industry and with organizations to develop long-term sustainable solutions. You can visit our website www.EarthBalanceNatural.com/responsibility/palm-oil/ for more information.


Sincerely,

Your Friends at Earth Balance

Palm Oil & Making the Connection

Palm Oil & Making the Connection

What is Palm Oil? Well, if going to Wikipedia you'll find: Palm oil (also known as dendê oil, from Portuguese) is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis,[1] and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa.

Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit,[2] or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). The differences are in color (raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red), and in saturated fat content: Palm mesocarp oil is 41% saturated, while Palm Kernel oil and Coconut oil are 81% and 86% saturated respectively[3]

Along with coconut oil, palm oil is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats. It is semi-solid at room temperature and contains several saturated and unsaturated fats in the forms of glyceryl laurate (0.1%, saturated), myristate (1%, saturated), palmitate (44%, saturated), stearate (5%, saturated), oleate (39%, monounsaturated), linoleate (10%, polyunsaturated), and alpha-linolenate (0.3%, polyunsaturated).[4] Like all vegetable oils, palm oil does not contain cholesterol,[5][6] although saturated fat intake increases a person's LDL[7] and HDL[8] cholesterol. Palm oil is GMO-free,[9] i.e., it is not derived from genetically modified organisms.

NPR reports that according to USDA data, U.S. imports of palm oil more than doubled between 2005 and 2012. Last year we imported about 2.7 billion pounds. Much of the palm oil ends up in snack foods such as cookies, crackers and microwave popcorn. And a number of manufacturers are using a mix of oils in many of their products. For instance, it's typical now for crackers to contain a little palm oil as well as soybean, canola or cottonseed oil.

According to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (founded in 2003). First started by WWF for Nature and Unilever was created to work to ensure that sustainable practices are in use for the protection of the environment, human rights and the protection of Sumatran orangutans and tigers. Now incorporates more than 700 members made to promote sustainable agriculture on palm oil plantations. These groups are made up of various stakeholders in the entire palm oil supply chain from planters, processors, traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, bankers, investors as well as environmental and social non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Their vision is:
-RSPO will transform markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm
And their mission statement is:
-To advance the production, procurement, finance and use of sustainable palm oil products;
-To develop, implement, verify, assure and periodically review credible global standards for the entire supply chain of sustainable palm oil;
-To monitor and evaluate the economic, environmental and social impacts of the uptake of sustainable palm oil in the market;
-To engage and commit all stakeholders throughout the supply chain, including governments and consumers.

Here are my thoughts on this. Going to RSPOs website, and you click on Executive Board Members and Alternate Board Members; you find some that work for Oxfam and WWF. You also find ones that work for Kraft Foods (Head of Sustainable Source Chains); Unilever (Global Director of Sustainable Sourcing Developer); and formally worked for Procter & Gamble and now works for Kraft Foods, he is the (Director of Sustainability Global Issues Management). How many of these board members have a conflict of interest? Since palm oil is found in most of the U.S. processed snack foods. If looking at the rest of the world, there is a Wilmar Group associate that sits on the board. The Wilmar Group is Asia's leading agriculture business. They have been reported to use unsustainable 3rd parties to harvest palm oil leading to the destruction and habitat loss of Sumatran Tigers. They sell to Colgate-Palmolive; Nestle; and Procter & Gamble. Educate yourself, call companies or send them e-mails to inquire where they source palm oil.

30 NAMES PALM OIL CAN BE LABELLED UNDER

Foods, Body Products, Cosmetics & Cleaning Agents:
Vegetable Oil; Vegetable Fat; ^Sodium Laureth Sulfate (in almost everything that foams); ^Sodium Lauryl Sulfate; ^Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS); #Palm Kernel; #Palm Oil Kernel; #Palm Fruit Oil; #Palmate; #Palmitate; #Palmolein; #Glyceryl Stearate; #Stearic Acid; #Elaeis Guineensis; #Palmitic Acid; #Palm Stearine; #Palmitoyl oxostearamide; #Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3; *Steareth -2; *Steareth -20; #Sodium Kernelate; #Sodium Palm Kernelate; *Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate; ^Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate; #Hyrated Palm Glycerides; ^Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylaye; #Cetyl Palmitate; #Octyl Palmitate; ^Cetyl Alcohol; #Palmityl Alchohol

# These ingredients are definitely palm oil or derived from palm oil.
* These ingredients are often derived from palm oil, but could be derived from other vegetable oils.
^ These ingredients are either derived from palm oil or coconut oil.

Found: http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/palm-oil.php