energy balls

Who doesn't like energy? These little balls are packed with nutrients – perfect fuel for hikers and other folk on-the-go. They don't call for any ingredients that are hard to access. You may find that you already have most or all these ingredients lurking in your cupboards and/or fridge.

Ingredients:
2 cup oats
1 cup natural peanut butter (or other preferred nut butter)
2 Tbsp honey
1 cup coconut
1 cup seeds and chopped nuts of your choice (I like chia, flax, sesame, sunflower & pumpkin. Hard to choose among these little packets of wonder, so I often put them all in.)
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form into balls once the mixture is moist enough. (You may need to add a bit of extra nut butter, depending on the liquidity of your butter.) Store in fridge or freezer.

Notes:
I prefer low-sugar treats, but this recipe can easily be adjusted with the addition of a few Tablespoons of honey.

Enjoy your snack. Oh, and your hike, bicycling, or whatever toots your horn!

P.S. Thanks to You Suck at Cooking (YouTuber) for recipe inspiration.

Smoothies redux

We enjoy a homemade smoothie and popcorn about once a week during the summer, and close to that during the cooler months.

We just use whatever is floating around the kitchen, and in July-September, there are lots of pickings from our backyard and communal-garden raised beds. For this particular one, we used celery, lettuce, peas, cilantro, garlic scapes, 100% pineapple juice, unsweetened homemade almond milk. Super tasty.

Was a bit pulpy, as we use a blender. (We don't own a juicer.) You can pour the juice through a strainer to remove the pulp. Or, if you don't want to remove the beneficial pulp, you can add ground chia seeds to make your smoothie more homogenized.

Homemade almond milk

Almond milk is a breeze to make. We haven't bought any for years. It's less expensive and less wasteful (less packaging). And there are fewer additives.

Simply soak about a 1 cup of almonds in a large jar (we use a large pickle jar), add about 4 cups of water, cover and soak for a few hours.

Pour the nuts and water into a blender and whir it around. Stop the whirring, let settle for a minute, then whir again. Pour back into the jar, add a bit of water to the blender and swish it around to pour out the remaining almond bits. (You might need to do this a couple of times to get all the almonds out.) You'll be adding about 2 extra cups of water when all told.

Cover the jar and store in the fridge.

When you want to use the milk, just give it a gentle swish and pour away.

You can use the almond pulp that remains on the bottom of the jar in a smoothie, in your cereal, in baking, etc.

Seville orange marmelade

When we were in Spain last year for our 25th wedding anniversary, I was captured by the orange trees in Seville. Being so excited, I convinced my husband to try some oranges that had fallen from a park's trees. Boy were they bitter! Yes, they were Seville oranges, made famous by their marmelade. Apparently a hybrid from a mandarin and a pomelo.

So when I was in Sobey's grocery store a few weeks ago, I was thrilled to find Hartle's MA MADE Seville oranges in a large tin! I make it using 1/4 of the suggested amount of sugar. Makes six pounds of delicious marmelade. Its tartness is a welcome addition to fresh or frozen yogurt, buttered toast and more.

Chocolate tri-nut cookie balls

Back in the land of the recipe-documentation living.

Here is my recipe for unbaked chocolate tri-nut cookie balls.

Ingredients

½ cup pitted dates (about 20 dates)

⅔ cup almonds

⅔ cup walnuts

¾ cup unsalted peanuts

2 cups oat flakes

¼ tsp cinnamon

dash salt (omit if using salted peanuts)

2 tsp pure vanilla

¼ cup date-soaking water

½ cup dark choc chips or dark choc chopped small

Steps

1. Pour boiling water over dates, just enough to cover them. Let sit while you do the next steps.
2. Process nuts about 2 min, until nuts break down into a butter-like texture.
3. Scrape down sides with a spatula.
4. Add dates and process another 1 minute.
5. Add oats, cinnamon, salt, vanilla and water. Process until it forms a ball (about 45 seconds).
6. Add choc chips and process for about 1 min, pausing to break up the ball as needed to homogenize.
7. Invert dough into medium-sized bowl.
8. Form into balls.

Store in fridge in air-tight containers with some wax paper between the layers.

Makes about 3 dozen 1” balls.

Homemade hummus

Sometimes you come across a recipe and you really don't need to change it at all. Or very little, to suit your (or your family's) tastes.

Found this hummus recipe and adjusted it very slightly — just added 1/4 tsp cayenne for a bit of kick.

The recipe explains the process very well, particularly the part about the order of processing ingredients so you get the desired texture.

Lovely as an appetizer or afternoon snack, served with organic and gluten-free Que Pasa tortilla chips.

Raw ginger cookie balls

Given the hot weather and general disinterest in the oven, my “raw” kick continues.

These cookie balls are based on my ginger cookies. I made several adjustments, including substituting dates for the brown sugar, to make them more nutrient-dense. 

The benefits of coconut oil are considerable, so you’ll see more of my recipes containing that from now on. These treats are also vegan, so perfectly animal-friendly.

Raw ginger cookie balls

Ingredients:

• ½ cup almonds
• 1 cup dates
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup blackstrap molasses
• 2 cups oats
• dash salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• a few tablespoons of brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Grind almonds and dates in a food processor.
2. Once the particles are reasonably small, add in other ingredients. Continue grinding until mixture forms a large ball.
3. Invert mixture into a medium-large bowl and hand-roll dough into balls.

Makes about thirty 1” balls.

We store them at room temperature. Given the consumption rate in our household (I did run today, right?!), this isn’t a problem.