Eat Simply, Eat Well

Healthy recipes & tips to help you live the good life. by Ann Plough

Lemon Vanilla Coconut Snack Bites

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I know I’m going to have a busy week ahead, so I prepared for any potential energy slump by making a batch of these energy bites and stashing them in the fridge.  They are packed with cashews, oatmeal and coconut, and flavored with sweet dates, tangy lemon and smooth vanilla for a little piece of joy and energy anytime you need it.

All you need to make these is a food processor: just toss everything in, whizz it up into a clumpy mass, then divide into small pieces that you roll into balls, then into coconut. Easy & awesome. In fact, I may not need lemon bars anymore. There are no refined ingredients in these beauties: just real food that is good for your heart, your cardiovascular system, your health…

…and quite possibly your attitude.

Because how could you possibly be grumpy after snacking on one of these gems?

Lemon Vanilla Coconut Snack Bites

1 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup coconut flakes (desiccated coconut) + 1/4 coconut for rolling

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 fresh dates, pitted

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients except for 1/4 coconut flakes into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture begins to clump together; 3-5 minutes.  Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture out and roll in your hand to form tight rounds.  Roll the rounds in the remaining 1/4 cup coconut flakes.

Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Makes 18-20 energy bites

Did you like these?  Please let me know in the comments below and share with your friends!

Raw Cacao & Almond Energy Bites

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I have to admit – most days I need a little snack mid-afternoon to get me through the slump between lunch and dinner.  Sometimes if I’m at home, I shove a walnut into the middle of a date, add a bit of goat cheese and enjoy it immensely. But if I’m at work or running around town, I’ve found that finding a healthy option for an afternoon snack is no easy task.

These totally-easy-to-make energy bites are something I love to keep in the freezer, pop a few in my handbag in a little container, and nibble on later to give me a much-needed energy boost.  They are so delicious: just dates, raw cacao, almond flour and cocoa nibs.  They are both soft and crunchy, and are sweet but not too sweet.  You can whip them up quickly in your food processor and you’ll be set for snacks all week long.

The raw cacao provides powerful antixodiants, iron and magnesium while the dates give a satsifying natural sweetness along with a good dose of potassium and fiber and the almonds provide potassium, calcium, iron and magnesium.  These little nuggets pack a powerful punch! One or two will take you a very long way.

They are great for after a gym workout, an all-day shopping excursion, or a long hike.  Whichever way you decide to enjoy them, you’ll be smiling for sure.

Raw Cacao & Almond Energy Bites

2 cups soft fresh dates, pits removed
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture all comes together in a thick, sticky mass.  Using a mini ice cream scoop or a large spoon, scoop out 2 tablespoons at a time, roll into a ball, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate.

You can consume immediately, package in an airtight container and freeze, or refrigerate for up to two weeks in and airtight container.

Makes 20 bites.

 

Sesame Coconut Almond Oat Cookies (gluten-free, egg-free)

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Sesame Coconut Almond Oat Cookies

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!  Wishing you the luck of the Irish all year long.

Since I post something green on a regular basis here, I thought I’d address a different need on this Irish holiday: the need for snacks.

I like to eat a healthy diet as much as possible, and over the last year I have really focused on pulling the types of food that don’t support that out of our cupboards, homes and diets.  I make sure I have plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains on hand – the things that support me to eat the way I want to eat and at the same time make food that is a pleasure to both look at and consume.  Main courses for breakfast, lunch and dinner are on a pretty good roll right now, but what’s a woman to do when the afternoon snack craving hits? Are you with me here?

I live in Finland, the land of pulla and the afternoon pulla break.  Pulla is a sweet, buttery, cardamom dough that is baked into any number of shapes.  Sometimes cinnamon and sugar are sprinkled between the layers for a korvapuusti. At other times the dough is shaped into a round ball, flattened lightly against the pan, a thumb pressed into the center to form a well, and the well filled with butter and white sugar to create the voipulla.  Or the dough is braided, baked and sliced – a wonderful classic. These are all delicious, but none would be mistaken as the healthy option for the midday pick-me-up.

And then there were 15…

But these cookies would.  Healthy cookies.  Now that either has a nice ring to it if you’re optimistic, or sends a wave of skepticism through you if you’re not. It sounds like something you read on the outside of a package of processed food-look-alike cookies found in a box on an aisle somewhere near the center of the grocery store, but which is really full of chemicals, added sugars, hidden fats, and an abundance of sodium in its various forms; or like something who’s flavor would be akin to cardboard rather than an enjoyable little morsel you might want more than one of.

“Now with reduced sugar and more fiber! Yum!” (ahem, no; although…actually, yes.)

Fear not.  These beauties in all their humble, golden, crunchy-chewy glory, are packed with all kinds of good stuff: almonds, sesame seeds, coconut, oats and honey – but no eggs or flour so they just may be thing to serve if someone with allergies is coming by.  And they are delicious.  

Since all of the ingredients can be eaten as-is without cookies, you can also eat these raw (which may or may not have happened to a few of the cookies pre-baking – I take quality control very seriously.)

Whip up a batch – I bet even the kids will love them.

Packed full of the good stuff: sesame, coconut, almonds, oats…

Sesame Coconut Almond Oat Cookies
recipe inspired by and modified from Secret Squirrel Food.

1 cup old-fashioned (large flakes) oatmeal
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sesame seeds
5 tablespoons runny or melted honey
2 tablespoons tahini (or substitute almond or peanut butter if you don’t have tahini)
2 tablespoons sesame oil (or other healthy vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F.

Pour all of the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor.  Process until the mixture sticks together, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times in between.  Use a tablespoon to scoop the mixture out into rounds, squeeze the rounds firmly in your palm so the stick together, place them on a parchment-lined baking tray and press the round down with the bottom of a glass to form a disk.

Bake for 15-18 minute until a light golden brown.  Remove from oven; cool; serve.

You can store these in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze them.  Enjoy!

Makes 20 cookies.