Carrot Cranberry Crunch Recipe
Prep. time – 15 min. Try to use organic ingredients whenever possible.
Ingredients
- 2 cups carrot pureé
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1⁄2 cup fresh or dried cranberries
- 2 cups oatmeal
- 2 cups oat flakes
- 1⁄4 cup organic hemp oil, or other pure oil of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325ºF
Pureé carrots in a food processor or blender. Add sea salt and cranberries and combine well. Add oatmeal and oat flakes, and make sure all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Add 1⁄4 cup oil and distribute well through mix. Turn out onto a cookie/baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Score with a knife into treat- sized pieces (1” x 3”). Drizzle with a bit of oil just before placing tray in the oven.
Place tray in pre-heated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 200ºF, and continue baking for 1 hour. Turn off oven and leave crunch to cool completely, even overnight. Then break along score lines, and store in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself sharing some healthy crunching with your horse pals!
Oats
As Judy Reynolds, Ph.D., P.A.S., explains in her book, Equine Nutrition in the 21st Century, Part Two:
“Oats are the traditional cereal grain for horses and are the best choice for several reasons. Oats are very palatable and are the best nutrientbalanced grain, containing about 53% starch, 12% protein, 5% fat and 12% fiber. Most importantly, the starch in oats is easily digested (83%) by enzymes in the foregut. Therefore, oat starch doesn’t contribute to starch overload in the hindgut like corn and barley starches do. However, horses fed oats will have increased blood sugar at about 11⁄2 – 3 hours after the meal, followed by decreased blood sugar.”
Oats are low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol and sodium. They’re a good source of dietary fiber, thiamin, magnesium and phosphorus, and a very good source of manganese.
Hemp seed oil
Hemp seed oil should not be used for frying, or heated above 350ºF. Try to use an oil that’s cold pressed from live, viable hemp seed grown sustainably without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Hemp seed oil contains omega 3, 6, and 9, and has a wonderful flavor and aroma.
Recommended:
Hempola and Manitoba Harvest.
Cranberries
When using dried cranberries, try to choose those that are unsulphured and have no sugar added.
For further information about nutrient values, check out the USDA National Nutrient Database, at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ or www.nutritiondata.com. You can even create your very own custom Nutrition Facts labels.
