The Balls are Good

As I've previously discussed, I'm a sugar lover but terrified of the vast amounts we consume. There has to be a happy medium in the food world where "sweet" doesn't have to mean "bad for you". I am now working part-time at a small raw & organic juice company here in Ohio called Native Cold Pressed. Their products are absolutely delicious using only organic fruits and vegetables, no water. You're getting a solid 3-5 pounds of produce in each bottle which is incredible. Consuming vegetables has never been so easy. A friend of the owners' happens to run a small company that makes clean energy bites, which we sell in our storefront. They're crazy good.

So I was trying to think of delicious snacks I could make to have on hand and something I could easily take with me to work, and the obvious dawned on me. As much as I support our local companies, I can just make my own energy bites! I've made coconut-date balls in the past consisting of only dates, almonds, and coconut essentially thrown in the food processor and you're done. Sadly when I moved to Columbus, I moved away from the food processor in my mom's kitchen. But a blender turned out to work just fine! I stumbled upon a very appealing food blog called "Better With Cake", where the author shares recipes for healthy treats. The following is my adaptation of her cookie dough bites:

Yields 16 Energy Bites

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Raw Cashews
• 1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
• 14 Jumbo Medjool Dates, pitted
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. Ground Flaxseed
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Combine cashews and oats in a blender. Blend until you have "flour", this should yield 2 cups
2. Set flour aside and blend dates. Yields 2 cups of binding agent
3. Add the flour back in the blender with the dates and remaining ingredients. 
4. Blend until you have a thick consistency 
5. Use a tablespoon to ball up your "dough" until it's in the desired shape
6. Store in fridge or on counter in an airtight container, whichever your preference

These taste so decadent! Trey and I went through them over the course of 24 hours (I halved the recipe so it was only a total of 8). Dates are an amazing sweet source of energy that pack in both fiber and more potassium than bananas. They're a great tool for substituting refined sugars and I'm sure I'll be messing around with them more to come up with other combinations like this. Try them out, it's so easy! Credit to Emma at Better with Cake for the idea. 

Tomorrow is Sunday which means you should be in your kitchen. Ta Ta!

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