Protein snack bites for those with chocolate cravings..

Taking a small fashion break to talk about making these delectable snack bites that I always thought I wouldn’t be able to create myself. I mean, how does the ball even stick together without falling apart? Not going to lie, I’m not a gourmet chef in the kitchen because I just don’t have time to craft up 2-3 hour meals or snacks that require kazillion ingredients I had never heard of before, nor can I get shopping at my local Korean grocery stores easily and inexpensively. If I plan ahead a little, I’m able to order certain things off Amazon which is a serious life saver!

Truth: I eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup almost every single damn day. I’m not proud of this, but I have a major sweet tooth around 2:30PM. I can be a creature of habit, and this is a hard one to break. Since my Reese’s habit is not exactly a healthy one and some may argue that it does have protein in it, i.e. peanut butter, so it has to be good for you, I fall somewhere in the middle. I see both sides.

I wanted to create a snack that would help satisfy my random chocolate/peanut butter cravings that I could grab effortlessly from the fridge without feeling guilty. Especially if I’m in a rush after working out and need to hurry out the door and don’t have time to get food/protein/whatever it is I’m supposed to intake immediately after working out (which I’m not very good at doing). These little snack bites do the trick.. they’re healthy and have a little protein in it!

Here’s the recipe – makes about 12 bites:
½ C Gluten Free Oats
½ C Peanut Butter – Organic
¼ C Cocoa Powder – Organic
1 tsp maca powder
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
¼ tsp lucuma powder
2 tsp vital proteins collagen powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/8th C almond milk
Sprinkle cinnamon
Sprinkle pink Himalayan sea salt

Extra for rolling the bites:
Chia seeds
Hemp seeds

 

 

Put the GF oats, cocoa powder, maca, flaxseed, lucuma, vital proteins collagen, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sea salt all together and blend. I used my Ninja and it worked perfect. Once it’s all into a powder, add your peanut butter. This is where you can get a little experimental and use whatever nut butter you prefer! I happened to only have peanut butter on hand. Sometimes I had to shove a spoon down the blender (once you stop it.. obviously) to help move the peanut butter around if it stuck to the sides. I added the almond milk to help make it not so stiff and break it up a bit.. start off with a little and add when necessary. If you add too much, simply add more oats to even it out. This was the first time I was making it, so I wasn’t sure what the consistency should really be like, so I scooped some out and kind of rolled it between my fingers and it was perfect..

I put parchment paper down and started rolling the mixture into small 1-inch balls, placing the bites onto the paper. To top it off, I rolled the finished bites around in hemp and chia seeds to coat with extra protein! And you’re done! You don’t have to roll the bites in anything if you don’t want to and can eat as is. That’s it! Once you gather all the ingredients, it’s just a matter of combining it all, rolling, and eating!

I put the uneaten ones in a plastic container and stored them in the fridge to keep it fresh. It definitely was a nice treat to eat in place of my Reese’s cup and I didn’t feel bad about eating a few of them. My only problem was eating them way faster than I anticipated..

Synopsis on some of the ingredients I feel have great benefits for my personal health.. not a doctor, just doing my research here as you should to ensure you are incorporating something into your diet that you are ok with – also, I made it super easy to click on each link to the exact brand I used for my own recipe.. who knew you could order Trader Joe’s off Amazon.. this is a game changer:

Maca Powder – helps with giving you a libido boost, balance hormones and increase fertility as well as improve your mood and give you an energy boost! Ummmm, hello, yes please and thank you.

Flaxseed – important that you ground this up because our bodies have a hard time breaking down the shell. Acts as an anti-inflammatory, which if you read my turmeric post, you’ll know I’m a fan of this.

Lucuma Powder – one of the best deals with Lucuma is its anti-aging and skin-repair effects.. I mean.. I can eat something that is going to make me look young? Yassssss

Vital Proteins Collagen Powder – Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body ensuring the health and vitality of your skin, hair, tendon, cartilage, bones, and joints… straight from the site and I’m way into this..

Chia Seeds – perfect if you need a little extra fiber in your diet.. helps to make you regular.. Plus it contains omega-3’s!

Hemp Seeds – great for vegans as it has essential amino acids and protein.

There you have it guys.. you can play around with the ingredients and powders to curate it to your taste buds.. Let me know if you make it and how it turned out!!