Oaty Balls

My love of food has led to lots of snacking over the years. In an effort to clean up my snacks,  make them more healthy, and cut out processed foods, I started researching some alternatives. One recipe I found really appealed to me. Who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter? I've only ever met one person who doesn't. These little balls are fantastic and filling. The original recipe claims they are some kind of energy type snack. I dunno about that. What I do know is that I feel less guilty about eating these vs eating a candy bar! Below is the recipe for the modified version I make.

Ingredients

2 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup peanut butter (I use for a natural peanut butter, with no added sugar)

1/2 cup coconut flakes (make sure they are just coconut, nothing added)

scant 1/3 cup of honey

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds

heavy 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I go for semi-sweet or dark chocolate)

1 tsp vanilla (make it a really good, vanilla. Not a fake extract!)

Steps

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, really well. Make sure the solids are all nicely coated and the mixture is sticking together. Add more peanut butter and/or honey, if needed. 

2. Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, shape the mixture into balls. 

3. Refrigerate for at least an hour. 

4. Once cool and solid, I portion the balls out into baggies. You can also keep them in any kind of air tight container, as long as you keep them refrigerated. They do freeze well if you want to make a large batch. 

It takes maybe 10 minutes to make these. I think they're a great afternoon snack or pre-workout snack. Kids seem to like them too. If you don't like flax seeds or almonds, mix it up and try some other ingredients. You could easily make a variation with dried cranberries or cherries instead of chocolate chips too. This is an easy recipe to experiment with and figure out what you like! There's nothing to mess up here- as long as they keep a ball shape, you have succeeded! 

Original recipe: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Avocado Chicken Salad

I'm feeling adventuresome tonight so it's time to try a new recipe. I found a recipe on Pinterest for Chicken Salad that uses avocado instead of mayo or yogurt or sour cream. The original recipe was pretty open ended. So I'm putting my own spin on it.

I'm baking the chicken in a lime, white balsamic vinegar, and olive oil based marinade. I used sea salt, granulated garlic, white pepper, cumin, medium chili powder, and dill for the seasoning.
The recipe called for raw onion, which I'm not a fan of. Instead, I finely chopped a shallot, then soaked it in lime and salt.
When the chicken was done, I shredded it and let it cool.
Cube the avocado as you would for guac. Mix the ingredients with a squeeze of lime. You can add cilantro if you like. (It tastes like soap to me, so I usually leave it out!) I added more salt and a bit more dill to the mixture.

This was pretty quick and easy to make. The most intensive part was baking and shredding the chicken. Turns out this is Paleo or 4 hour body acceptable recipe as well! A healthier chicken salad for summer. Next time, I think I'll try putting some fresh corn or cut up a hard boiled egg in it!

Thanks to the original author for the inspiration! Original recipe can be found here: http://relishscd.blogspot.ca/2012/11/avacado-chicken-salad-scd-paleo.html