Chocolate No Bake Energy Bites

I cannot believe I haven't posted a blog in over a month!!! Forgive me followers, for I have sinned! However I am updating with such a yummy post...and so easy to make that your three year old can dig in & help out!

I am a huge fan of healthy snacks, particularly in the trail mix/granola region. I've done granola before, but this one was just too easy not to make...took about 5 mins for the mix. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup nut butter (I used all natural peanut butter)
1/2 cup honey (local honey, duh!)
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder (I'll tell you a trick down below about dark chocolate!)
1 cup rolled oats 
1/4 cup almond meal (left over from my homemade almond milk)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup hemp seed
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup of WHATEVER!!!! I used raisins, but be creative & toss in whatever "mix in" is in your kitchen

Heat the nut butter & honey over low/medium heat until it liquefies a bit. Once that's done, remove from heat & mix everything in until it is well coated with the nut butter & honey. This took some man power, considering using my Ninja (oh, I forgot to mention I got one for my birthday! lol) next time.

If it's too hot, let the mixture sit in the fridge for a little bit. Or you can be like me; took off my rings & started to roll! lol. I made about 24 balls. Casey loved them & started sneaking some from the kitchen way before I was done rolling the mixture.

This recipe came out to approx 100 calories a ball.

Now, about dark chocolate. Here is what I have discovered...this may not be a giant "secret" but I sure learned the hard way. 99% of the time, I will substitute any chocolate a recipe calls for for dark chocolate (bc it is better for you!!!!). However, my very first attempt was to make some brownies & used dark chocolate (which, I was not a huge fan of in the beginning) & the taste of the chocolate was toooo over powering for the recipe. What did I do? Well, now I just use 1/2 of what the recipe calls for in dark chocolate. So if a recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate, I use 1/2 dark chocolate, still get the dark chocolate benefits without the dark chocolate mouth attack. AND in the end, the container will last longer, saving you some cha-ching!

Delicious!!! Comment wit your favorite "mix in"

Enjoy!

xo,

Nancy