Stuffed Papaya, and Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

This recipe didn't quite work out, but it was a good practice run at stuffed papaya. My neighborhood grocery store had mini papayas on sale, and I thought their size would be perfect for single serving stuffed papayas. Unfortunately, I bought one of those fruits that never really ripens, and goes from unripe to just plain bad. I'm sure there's a good scientific explanation for this, which may have something to do with getting papayas from trees in Mexico to markets in North Dakota. Another argument for eating local I suppose, but I can't resist some great tropical fruit once in a while.

Since I had a declining green papaya on hand, I tried poaching it. After simmering over 30 minutes, it got a little softer, but still didn't taste great...not bad, just bland. I had a stuffing made anyway, which redeemed the dish. Here's the stuffing ingredients:

half a ripe banana, diced

half a ripe avocado, diced

1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice

1/3 cup diced ginger seitan (home made seitan with a healthy dose of grated ginger)

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 tbsp. agave nectar

1 tsp. sriracha hot sauce

I cooked the rice, seitan, agave, lime, and hot sauce, just until warm, and gently mixed in the soft avocado and banana and removed from heat. The stuffing was great, but the papaya was a loss. I found lots of recipes online for making savory stuffed green papayas, but I think a stuffing like this would be awesome in a good, sweet, ripe, raw papaya. Next time. Now for a recipe that had everybody smiling here:

I finally got around to making my own dog biscuits! I had fun making these, and the dogs love them. It's a simple recipe, just sort of a mess to mix completely, and I ended up with sticky peanut buttery hands, but that's ok. They came out nice and crispy, and I even tried one myself...with more sweetener, these would great peanut butter cookies. This is a fusion of a few vegan biscuit recipes I found online. Here's what I used:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 1/2 tbsp. molasses

3 tbsp. canola oil

a cup of liquid (I used half almond milk, half water)

I think that's everything...my dog bone cookie cutter went into overdrive, and I made two full pans with this recipe, baked at 375 F for 15-20 minutes. Here's satisfied customer Maya.

Yes, I'm posting two dog pics this time, but I love this photo of Maya licking her lips post-biscuit. She's in her favorite chair, where she can look out the window and see if anyone needs a good barking.