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Recipe: pumpkin peanut butter dog treats

Dogs have such great attitudes. They’re always happy, always hopeful, always up for anything. Maybe not ALL dogs, but most dogs – especially the ones I meet on the trail or at the beach or basically anyplace outside. We have one of those happy, hopeful pups. I swear she makes every day that much better with her wagging tail, sweet disposition, and general goofiness.

rejoicing in the snow (just like her people)

People often ask what we feed Kaweah, because she has a shiny, healthy coat. Iams. We used to feed her regular Iams, but now she’s on Iams for “mature” dogs. However, her dog food doesn’t make her coat shiny. Genetics makes her coat shiny. Kaweah comes from good stock and we see that more and more as she ages. She’s been a healthy dog for her 13+ years. It helps that she’s got great muscle tone and isn’t overweight. Of course, given her druthers, Kaweah would eat 24/7. The act of eating a treat (or anything for that matter) is probably Kaweah’s favorite activity. So we try to maximize the joy by giving her little treats. She’s not smart enough to realize that five little treats are less than five giant treats.

ready for a treat after an icy, cold swim

Store-bought dog treats are not inexpensive, so I started making treats for Kaweah at home. The good news is that they are way cheaper than store-bought treats and really easy to make. The better news is that she loves loves loves these treats.

whole wheat flour, eggs, pumpkin purée, peanut butter

mix it all together

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Recipe: homemade blueberry muffin lärabars

You may recall how I declared in a previous post that cherry pie was my favorite LÄRABAR flavor. I was prompted to try making them myself after picking my jaw up from the floor at Whole Foods when they rang me up for a dozen LÄRABARs. They carry a large assortment of flavors and I wanted to pack some with Jeremy for his meeting in South Africa back in February. It has become a routine to carry portable food with us since our graduate school days of cancelled flights and being stranded in airports when nothing is open.

cashews, dates, dried blueberries, lemon, vanilla bean

process the dried blueberries

One of the new flavors I tried was blueberry muffin. It has a bright and buttery flavor compared to the deep earthiness of the cherry pie LÄRABAR. I flipped the wrapper over and looked at the ingredients. Again – the beauty of the LÄRABAR is the simplicity of its components. I had everything on hand and set about replicating it. You may or may not encounter this, but when I ran the dried blueberries through my food processor, it looked like nothing happened to them. If you pick one up, you’ll see it is full of cuts, but still resembles an intact dried blueberry. No problem.

from the food processor: dried blueberries, cashews, dates

grate some lemon zest

scrape the seeds from half a vanilla bean

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Recipe: homemade cherry pie lärabar

Rather than being dismayed at how quickly February has disappeared, I’m actually excited for March. March is when the big storm tracks blow into Colorado. March is the transition to spring skiing. March is when I start hitting the road to shoot. March is longer daylight hours. It’s a month chock full of goodness.

That’s not to say February wasn’t good. I mean, February is…

sushi with my sweetie

splashes of color after sunset

sleeping in the sun after a much-needed bath

jupiter, venus, mercury, and the moon having a little party in the night sky

I made that last one extra big so you could actually see Mercury. Neat, huh? SCIENCE!! February has also been some good skiing around these parts with a foot of fresh snow last Thursday at our local hill. More snow also makes for more enjoyable backcountry ski tours. Whenever I hit a trail, I always pack something to eat – even if I don’t plan to eat it. It’s one of those items you should always have with you in case of an emergency. But barring an emergency, when you are suddenly low on energy, a snack is a great way to put yourself back in the driver’s seat. I’ve tried all manner of those energy bars and have found that most of them make me want to puke. Or they just sit in my stomach like a rock. Or they dry me out. My issue with trail mix is that 1) there are too many pieces and 2) the guy I usually hike with likes chocolate (which I don’t like). I want something easily digestible, natural, and good for me. Luckily, such a thing exists.

lärabar – cherry pie

My girlfriend, Marianne, introduced us to LÄRABAR a few years ago on a summer hike. I was reluctant, but she gave me a piece and… I really liked it. Just dried fruits and nuts. It tasted a million times better than all of those other complicated and barely palatable bars on the market. We were sold. They aren’t just for outdoor activities, but make a great snack to tide you over or to avert a meltdown when your blood sugar is running low. There is no sugar high and no sugar crash. We tried several of the flavors and then one day I looked at the ingredients on my favorite flavor (cherry pie) and said aloud, “I could totally make this.”

dried cherries, dried medjool dates, almonds

pit the dates

roast the almonds

At nearly $1.50 each LÄRABAR, I had a lot of incentive to attempt making my own version at home. It’s not hard to do, you can customize it, and I can make mine organic. I recommend using Medjool dates over Deglet dates. In my experience, Medjools tend to be more gooey than Deglets and you really need that as the dates are the main binding ingredient. I also roasted my almonds because I love that added depth of flavor. The one thing that makes this whole project super easy is a food processor.

process the dates and cherries into a semi-paste

chop the almonds

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