Party Pony Pops Recipe
Prep. time – 15 min. Try to use organic ingredients whenever possible.
Ingredients
- Baby carrots – organic, “ready-to-serve”, if possible
- Honey
- Unsulphured blackstrap molasses
- Flax seeds
- Sunflower seeds (shelled)
Instructions
Set out a cookie/baking sheet and cover with parchment paper.
Put out four shallow bowls. In the first bowl, mix 2 tbsp of honey and 1 tbsp of water. In the second bowl, mix 2 tbsp of unsulphured blackstrap molasses and 1 tbsp of water. Pour fresh flax seeds into the third bowl, and freshly shelled sunflower seeds into the fourth bowl. You have now created your very own assembly line, to make perfect “Party Pony Pops.”
Take a carrot, dip it into the honey or molasses, making sure it is well covered, and then roll the carrot in the flax and sunflower seeds.
For special holiday cheer, you can use chopped dried cranberries, in place of the flax and sunflower seeds, and sprinkle the carrots with a little bit of parsley, as a final touch.
Once that is done, lay the carrot on the parchmentcovered cookie/baking sheet, and off you go to the next carrot.
When the cookie sheet is covered with carrot pops, put in the freezer.
When you are ready to “party with the ponies,” simply take out your “Party Pony Pops” and pop them into a ziplock bag, or have some special horse treat or loot bags on hand, to make your healthy horse treats look extra special.
Instead of carrots, you can use chunks of red apples, or a tray could be made of each.
If “sweets” can’t be used, because your horse has insulin resistance, you can use filtered water, vegetable broth, or organic flax seed or hemp oil in place of the honey and molasses.
What makes “Party Pony Pops” healthy horse treats?
Carrots
are a treasure trove of nutrients, whose value was recognized as far back as Roman writings from the 3rd century. They contain calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, folate, manganese, selenium, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, molybdenum, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin K, betacarotene, lycopene, and lutein. Carrots are a source of fiber, and they are recognized as the richest vegetable source of pro-vitamin A carotenes. Treat your horse and yourself too!
Apples
contain vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, iron, flourine, and silicon, as well as many trace minerals. They are powerhouses of antioxidant activity. When choosing apples, “Go for the red!” because red fruits and vegetables contain specific phytochemicals that are being studied for their health promoting activities, especially lycopene and anthocyanins, which may inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Red Delicious, Northern Spy, and Ida Red have more potent disease-fighting antioxidants, reflected in higher levels of polyphenol activity.
Honey
has been used as a medicine for more than 4,000 years, but it has only been in the last 20 years, thanks to the work of Peter Molan, a professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, that the antibacterial effect of honey was discovered and named. Dr. Molan detected the bacteria-killing potential of the honey from New Zealand’s Manuka plant. Manuka honey contains enough hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria, but does not harm human tissue, which is why it has long been used in England in the treatment of burns. It has also been used in the treatment of Heliocobactor pyloria bacteria, which are known to cause stomach ulcers. To learn more about the healing properties of Manuka honey, check out the Waikato Honey Research Unit at The University of Waikato, at http://bio. waikato.ac.nz/honey/special.shtml
Manuka honey is just one choice. Look for raw unpasterurized honey at your local market. The darker the honey, the more antioxidant properties the honey will have. Check out The National Honey Board at www.nhb.org
Molasses
is a mineral dense food. It is a very good source of calcium, copper, manganese, potassium,
