Salty Peanut Butter Protein Bites

A couple of years ago I stopped eating gluten, (added) sugar and dairy.  Not because I had an allergy or sensitivity but because I needed a total body re-set after a terrible diagnosis of Strep throat which developed into a year of misery.  Removing all inflammatory foods from my diet for that first year made a huge difference.  While I know this doesn’t work for everyone, it helped me tremendously.  So much so that now, two and a half years later, I have managed to figure out what my triggers are and only allow a few things back in for parental survival (a.k.a. wine, goat cheese, the occasional potato or once in a great while a croissant from my favorite bakery).  Priorities.

Still, sometimes that craving for something sweet sneaks in.  It’s amazing that when you stop eating sugary desserts natural sugar tastes sweet again.  Fruit suddenly pops with flavors that were missing for so long.  I love a good clementine or honey crisp apple, but this former cookie dough addict needs that texture once in a while.  Protein bites are perfect for that late night sweet craving or quick breakfast grab and in this case- don’t go anywhere ever for months on end- situation.  We like ours salty and sweet so we add a pinch of our favorite salt to balance the flavors out.

The best part about them is that there is no measuring. There could be, but we make it easy. You can use what you have. You can add as much or as little as you like. You can split the basic dough into two parts and makes some for you and some for your kids.  My kids like a few mini chips in theirs. OMG. So simple. We take all the ingredients and put them in a food processor until combined.  You don’t want the mixture to be too crumbly, so add the honey slowly until you get the texture you want.  It should be easily rolled into ball shapes in your hand.  After they are rolled, store them in the fridge in a covered dish.  If you have kids they won’t last long!

Ingredients

Natural Peanut Butter (only ingredient…peanuts)

Oats

Chia Seeds

Pepitas

Sea Salt

1 Medjool date

Honey (the good kind)

and here is the optional cheat…a small handful of mini chocolate chips