Okay, it’s official. My family is addicted to these crazy protein bites. Who knew that such a small, simple treat could totally change our families snacking habits on our trip. We are normally all about ice cream, cookies, candy and treats during our family vacation. This time I wanted to try and be a little more healthy and decided to introduce my kids (and all the 15 cousins) to these protein bites. Let’s just say these bites became the highlight of our snacking-vacation-life. We have made literally 20 batches of these in the past two weeks. We made a couple batches every day on our trip and the kids loved snacking on them all throughout the day. We even experimented with all sorts of combinations: Peanut Butter Chocolate, Almond Cranberry White Chocolate, and these Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin version. Even my Dad with diabetes could eat these guilt free and it was nice to have a snack my kids could enjoy without me feeling like they were eating too much sugar. Not to mention they are filled with fiber which helps fill them up without needing to eat too many. I can’t wait for you to give these a try. Yum!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cinnamon chocolate chips
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup almond butter or peanut butter
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 3/4 cup quinoa
- 1/4 cup milled flax seed
- 2 Tbs. chia seeds
- 2/3 cup raisins
- Dash salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a bowl, place the cinnamon chocolate chips, agave and almond butter. Heat the mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until the almond butter softens and the chocolate chips begin to melt. Stir the mixture until smooth and then add the rolled oats, quinoa, and flax seed. Stir the mixture together until combined and then add the cinnamon, salt, vanilla and raisins. The mixture will be thick, but stir the best you can. If you need to add a little more of the almond butter or agave to loosen up the mixture, you can do that. When combined, place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Use a melon ball to scoop the mixture into balls on the cookie sheet. This mixture will make about 30-40 balls, depending how small you make them. You can roll the balls in your hands if you want a perfectly rounded ball, or you can just keep them in the cookie scoop shape. Either works great. Place the balls into a freezer until the balls are solid (or eat right away). When the balls are solid, place them in a Ziploc bag or a tupperware and keep in the freezer until you want to eat them. If you want to eat them right away, just keep them in the fridge until they become solid and easier to eat.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Version: Use peanut butter instead of almond butter, honey instead of agave and dark chocolate chips instead of cinnamon. Make the rest as explained above.
