little balls of protein

Due to a traumatic oatmeal experience as a child, which I will not go into lest it also ruin oatmeal for you for all time, I cannot eat oatmeal. Like, literally cannot. If it was a choice between oatmeal and starvation, I'm not quite sure which one I'd pick, but it'd be close. I am not normally a very picky person, but this is one instance where I draw the line.

However, because it's my goal for my children to surpass me in every way possible, I do make oatmeal for them. And they love it. Which is good...until they try to share with me. (They're so unselfish like that.) Then I either have to pretend I'm not hungry or show them that I am already eating something else.

So I came up with these little protein balls that I eat for breakfast or a snack instead. They contain oats, among other things, but uncooked, so they don't have that squishy texture I hate so much. These are great because they're fast, easy, and packed with nutrition and lots of protein. You can make them ahead and just store them in the refrigerator for any time you need a healthy snack. They're a little sweet, so they kind of fulfill that "dessert" mentality, but they're also really good for you. Kids love to roll them into little balls between their fingers and then eat them - it's kind of like edible play dough!

Peanut butter protein balls

About 1 cup of raw peanut butter or almond butter
small drizzle of honey
handful of raisins or other dried fruit
handful of chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, or other nuts
teaspoon of flax seeds
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup dried coconut
about 1 cup of uncooked oats*

*for gluten free balls, make sure you use gluten free oats. Bob's Red Mill is the brand I use.

Mix the ingredients all together in a medium bowl. Then you can roll into little balls and refrigerate until slightly hard, to keep them from falling apart. Or, if you're impatient like me, you can just eat it out of the bowl with a spoon. But just a note of caution - they are very filling. Its easy to start eating them and think you haven't had that much, only to end up way too full. A couple of balls is enough for me, even for a meal. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Note - I haven't tried this yet, but you could turn them in chocolate peanut butter balls quite easily, by adding a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder. You might have to increase the honey a little bit to counteract the bitterness of the unsweetened cocoa powder. You could also put chocolate chips in them and they would taste like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! You can also add whatever dried fruit, nuts, seeds, or other ingredients sound appealing. The possibilities are practically endless.