Harry Hors D'oeuvres: Resolution Cookies

It's the most wonderful time of the year when everyone lists their goals for the new year!  For many people, getting healthy and working out are top priorities.  Sometimes the preface for this lifestyle change is a juice cleanse.  Since a full cleanse was not something my body (mainly my mind) could handle I have been having a juice a day for about six months now.  Juicing every day leaves you with a ton of juice pulp.  I feel very guilty disposing of it, so I've researched all the different ways I could use it from carrot cakes, muffins, mixing it into pasta sauces, and even composting.  That left me with a massive amount of baked goods that were too tempting and led me to turning them into healthy treats for Harry!

To make these super healthy treats all you need is juice pulp and a food dehydrator.  I use a produce bag inside the bin of my juicer to collect pulp and keep it in the refrigerator until it's time to make treats.  Any juice pulp can be used to make treats so long as it's not on the doggy do not eat list (no grapes).  The first round I made was carrots, apples, and celery.


Here's my mega bag of pulp saved after just 5 days of juicing.  You can imagine how much I end up with - such a waste!

Pulp is pretty moist (sorry, I'll try to never use that word again).  You really don't need any binding ingredient to hold these together through the dehydration process.  This is what makes utilizing your juice pulp fabulous for allergy prone dogs.  Harry's cousin Jager was allergic to wheat and eggs, but these treats were safe.  

Get your hands dirty by grabbing a palm full of pulp and shape them into bite size balls.  I made mine slightly smaller than a golf ball.  Layer them on the trays of your food dehydrator, and if need be, press them down or re-shape into smaller balls.

You may end up with chunks of apple or some veggie/fruit flesh that didn't get completely devoured by your juicer blade.  These will dry up just fine.  When you're through with the pulp, turn the dehydrator on medium and leave it for about 8 hours, or until significantly dried out.  The more moisture there is, the less time these will keep.

After they've dried out, pry them out of your dehydrator and bag them up for your pooch.  As they're super nutritious, it's hard to feel guilty treating your pet.  Beta-Carotene in carrots can boost your pet's immunity as well as provide anti-oxidant and eye health benefits -- plus they taste sweet!

Harry has yet to try a "Resolution Cookie" as he's still in allergy testing mode, but his cousins sure enjoy them!