Nut Nuggets. Power Balls. Power Bites. Whatever.

Ever have those moments as a parent or caregiver or just normal human where someone does or says something that makes you SEE RED. The last flipping straw? Well. This may shock you, but I had this moment with miss River a while back over the word “whatever” and it is such a trigger for me (and her) now that even making that part of the title made me flinch. Let me set the scene.

River can be… defiant. She’s human. My human. It was a particularly long SAHM day that always ends with me solo for dinner, bath and bed for two. On said day, I asked my then freshly 3-year-old to put something away and she ROLLED HER EYES to the back of her head and SAID “WHATEVER”. WHERE IN THE EVER LOVING GOD DID YOU LEARN THAT?!? She got timed out SO HARD and spoken to so sternly and threatened SO MUCH more punishment in a repeat offense that no one in our home (or in public earshot) will be allowed to say whatever ever again. Whatever = the Wilfon F-bomb.

That has nothing to do with this post. {focus, Laura, focus}. We are making nut ball, power bite, power balls. You might have seen them make multiple appearances on my Instagram stories. And asked me for a recipe. Where I replied, “I don’t have one” because you really can’t mess these up and all of the batches I’ve made I’ve just used what was already in my pantry.

Here’s what you need:

Rolled Oats

Nuts

Nut Butter

Dried Fruit

Dates

Local Honey

Ground Flaxseed

Brewers Yeast (for the lactivators)

Chocolate Chips (for all humans)

You may have noticed zero amounts….. I’m not into measuring. I know what I like and what tastes good together and throw it in a pan or in a bowl. Y’all. I’m trying. For you guys. Here’s my guess-timates:

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup nuts of your choosing

1/4 – 1/3 cup nut butter of your choosing

Handful dried fruit of your choosing

4 pitted dates

1/4 cup local honey

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

2 tablespoons Brewers yeast (for the lactivators)

1/4 cup chocolate chips (for all humans)

Method:

Sometimes I grind up my oats in a food processor or my magic bullet, today I left them whole.

Throw your oats, peanut butter, ground flax, chocolate chips, dried fruit and honey (yeast too if you need it!) in a bowl. Grab a food processor and mix your nuts and dates. Mostly just the dates but the nuts (or you could use oats) keeps it form becoming a huge blob.

Now throw the date mix in with the others and work it together with a spatula/ your hands until it forms into a firm blob (that’s a culinary technical term).

Now, use those dirty hands to make balls! Sometimes I used a gelato or melon baller to form them, but that’s another thing to clean and you still have to get your hands dirty eventually. You could also grind some of your favorite nuts (like pistachios?) and use them to coat the outside.