Granola balls ...

I LOVE granola bars.  They usually combine a few of my favorite things: sugar, oats, sometimes chocolate, and fruit.  

Since so many processed foods, including granola bars, also have a lot of other junk in them as well I've been buying Lara bars and Odwalla bars.  Both of these bars and super tasty but also a bit pricey.  My simple solution is making my own granola bars, well I was inspired by the fit foodie finds blog and a recipe I found on the whole foods website for granola/power balls.  (the funny name helped too)

This week I made a small batch and here's the recipe that I used:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of almond butter (chunky)

1/8 cup honey

1 cup oats

1/8 cup coconut (shaved)

hand full of pecans

palm full of dark chocolate chunks (I know, my measuring is really precise)

Method:

Combine honey and almond butter in a sauce pan over medium heat until almond butter is melted with honey, remove from heat

Mix in oats and all the other goodies

you can mix the chocolate in here or you can wait for it to cool a bit depending on if you want it in chunks or mixed throughout.  I chose to have melted chocolate.  

Roll the mixture into about 1 inch balls (sort of like you do for peanut butter or snickerdoodle cookies) and let them cool on wax paper. 

My creation from this week, tastes very much like chocolate odwalla bars!  

Give them a try!  Add whatever dried fruit or nuts you like to the mixture to create a custom snack.  

Cha Cha Cha Chia Pudding

Yes Chia, as in Chia pet.  You know, those terra cotta animal shaped things that you soaked in water and spread seeds over, and if you were lucky they grew a full coat of fur/sprouts.  However, if you were like me it was patchy and it looked like your chia pet had some kind of hair loss disease.

Well it turns out that those seed we were spreading over our chia pets are pretty nutritious.  They've also become the darling of the super food obsession.  Chia seeds are rich in Omega-3, that's the good fat that stops inflammation and you can also get it from fish like salmon and mackerel.

I choose to eat these little seeds as "pudding".  Once soaked in a liquid the chia seeds pretty much take on the consistency of tapioca.

I add a 4:1 ratio of almond milk to chia seeds and soak overnight, covered.

I soak my chia in a ball jar so that it can stay covered and the liquid doesn't evaporate

Add some canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and honey (or stevia)

All the ingredients ready to go

Mix this all up, and it's like pumpkin pie but WAY healthier.

It's delish and makes a great snack.  You're co-workers might look at you a little quizzically if you eat it at work (which I've experienced) but the taste and health benefits are worth it.

Holiday snacks that are healthy and not....

This is my healthy go to snack...

Homemade chewy granola bars! These granola bars are inspired by the whole foods recipe for chewy granola balls.  

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup toasted coconut (toasted for about 5 minutes at 350F)

1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup nuts (I used part peanut and part almonds, which is what I had on hand)

1/2 cup honey

Warm almond butter and honey in sauce pan and once the ingredients are warm and mixed then add the additional goodies. 

Spread the mixture out on foil/parchment paper and allow to cool.  Then, cut into bars and enjoy!

Now onto the yummy not so healthy holiday snack.  Peppermint bark!!! Peppermint bark is very easy to make.  

2 packages dark melting chocolate

2 packages vanilla melting chocolate/candy coating

1 package candy canes (crushed)

Melt dark chocolate in saucepan on low heat then spread out in a 1/4 layer sheet on aluminum foil/parchment paper and let it cool. 

Then, do the same thing with the vanilla candy coating and pour on top of the dark chocolate. 

While the top layer of melting chocolate is still warm add the crushed up candy canes. You can also add some of the very finely crushed candy canes to the vanilla melting choc  before pouring over the dark chocolate.  We found that using a blender to crush the candy canes works very well!!

Well aren't you delicious...

New yummy vegan obsession....Grateful Grahams.  They come in cinnamon and sugar or chocolate.  Last week I tried chocolate and this week I'm munching on the cinnamon and sugar variety.

Highlights of these grahams:
-Vegan (great for those with a dairy intolerance, like myself)
-all natural
-soft, chewy texture makes them perfect to snack on, especially with coffee....mmmm
-Local Cincy company!

The only negative is that I could totally eat the whole bag at once.  I had one this morning with my coffee!

Check out their website.  In addition to the places they list to pick them up, you can also get them at Whole Foods in Rookwood.

As I'm writing this.....I wish I had a grateful graham here to munch on...

mmmmm Kale chips...

It seems like a lot of people are talking about Kale chips.  They're apparently a great alternative to potato chips.  I figured I'd give them a try since I really like other types of greens.  I got one bunch of kale from whole foods and cut off the stem and core, then cut the leaf part into small pieces.  After washing and drying the pieces with the salad spinner I tossed them in a bit of olive oil and kosher salt and baked them at 350F for about 10 minutes.

Although it made my apartment smell a bit cabbagey, they kale chip lives up to the hype and satisfied my craving for something salty and crunchy.