Coconut Protein Bites

A few months ago I was working on a handful of recipes for one of my Oxygen magazine articles. It was a recovery themed article so my recipes had to include ingredients that would work well for a pre- and post-workout snack. One of the ingredients I wanted to include was Avocado. Maybe it was bold thinking but I thought I could come up with a lean protein bar with the creamy fruit. Every attempt was a fail. That's where Coconut Avocado Protein Bites come in. Note: Oxygen decided not to use this recipe in the article so you get to see them here on my blog instead!

These little snacks are found all over the internet and various blogs I frequent. So I thought, "why not give them a try." You can almost make protein bites with any flavor you'd like and they will still turn out tasting like candy. I know it's hard to believe, but my Coconut Avocado Protein Bites taste like candy too! If you've tried my Double Chocolate Mint Protein Bites then you'd know just how decadent these little balls of goodness can truly be.

Just last week we were snowed in with 35 inches of snow from our dear friend Nemo (or the blizzard of 2013 for those not in-the-know). That's right - 35 inches! I sure wish I had made an entire batch of these bites for our weekend indoors. On the bright side, we spent 2 hours on Saturday shoveling snow and 3 hours on Sunday shoveling some more snow. Not that it really mattered, our street had not been plowed until late Sunday evening so it's not like we could move our cars if we wanted to. Nevertheless we still shoveled and shoveled and shoveled to make sure our cars were clear of snow and we could move them the first chance we got. Whatever. That's what we get for living in NY, right? If you check Google and look up how many calories you can burn shoveling snow you'll see that our efforts were totally worth it! Apparently shoveling snow burns about 300 calories per hour!

Here's Rich looking pretty proud of his our pile of snow. It got about another foot taller, this photo was taken I believe on Saturday.

Rich Unhappy Shoveling

And here is Rich looking pretty pissed off that it is now Sunday afternoon and plows have yet to show up. Behind Rich is our street, full of snow. In front of Rich is his car all clear of snow.

This is me feeling pretty sweaty after shoveling for a while in the sun on Sunday. Good thing the sunglasses are hiding my makeup-less face!

And after we shoveled snow on Sunday, we decided to do a workout indoors - give it a try, it was a real lung burner!

For time: 20 hand-release pushups 40 walking lunges holding 25# weight overhead (I used my 26# kettlebell cuz that's all I had) 80 double unders 80 situps 40 jumping squats 20 hand-release pushups

Not sure how long it took me to complete this workout, maybe 10 minutes at the most.

What other ingredients would you like to try in a protein bite or protein bar?

Coconut Protein Bites

makes 4 servings - prep time: 40 minutes - cook time: none

Ingredients:

• ¾ C Oat Flour (if you can’t find oat flour, you can grind rolled oats in your blender or food processor)
• ¾ C Vanilla protein powder
• ¼ C Avocado mashed
• ¼ C unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ¼ C water
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp. powdered Stevia
• 1 tbsp. Carob Chips
• ¼ C Flax Meal (or ground flax seeds)

Instructions:

1. In a medium size bowl, combine oat flour, protein powder, flax meal, salt, stevia and coconut.
2. Add mashed avocado, vanilla extract, and carob chips to the dry mix.
3. Slowly add water while stirring. Batter should be slightly dry and not too sticky. If you add too much water batter will be sticky and you’ll have to add more flour and/or protein powder to balance it out.
4. Scoop about 1 tbsp. of batter in to your hand and roll in to a ball. Optional – roll bites in shredded coconut before allowing to set.
5. Place bites on a parchment lined tray or plate. Let set in fridge for 30 minutes.

Notes:

Be careful when adding water to this recipe. If you add too much water too fast you will have a very sticky ball to deal with. Add water slowly.

Nutrition per serving: Calories: 227, Total Fats: 8 g, Saturated Fat: 4 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Sodium: 90 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 19 g, Dietary Fiber: 6 g, Sugars: 4 g, Protein: 22 g, Iron: 1.4 mg

Double Chocolate Mint Protein Balls

What's better than chocolate balls? Mint chocolate balls. Then again, that's only true if you like mint more than you like chocolate. I'm not sure which I like better but I do know one thing, these are amazing balls...or AMAZEBALLS! (Finally! A use for that word!)

Moving on. TGIF! That's right, it's Friday! Today is a rainy day here in NY but I'm not going to let the rain rain on my parade. I wish I could say that my Friday is going to be loaded with fun, relaxation and joy, but instead I get to say that my Friday is going to be spent at work, like the rest of the world. After work is a whole different story. Gonna grab a quick CrossFit workout, then straight home to catch new episodes of Say Yes to the Dress (yes, I'm one of those girls). And for dessert, a couple of Double Chocolate Mint Protein Balls!

Question of the day: What's your favorite thing about Fridays?

What's even more cool? These balls are grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy free. You could call them Paleo if you want, I would.

Be careful making these balls, use only 1 teaspoon of mint extract, or else you may end up with a breath freshener instead of decadent treat.

Double Chocolate Mint Protein Balls

prep time: 15 minutes - cook time: none - makes 9 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Almond Meal 1/4 cup Flaxseed meal 1 cup chocolate protein powder 1/4 cup extra dark unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon mint extract 1/4 cup cacao nibs 1/4 cup raw honey 1/4 cup water

Directions:

In a large bowl combine almond meal, flaxseed meal, 3/4 cup of the protein powder, sea salt, cocoa powder and cacao nibs. Stir with a large spoon until all ingredients are well dispersed.

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the honey for 15-20 seconds. Add extract to warm honey and stir. Then pour the honey mixture in to the dry ingredients; mix with a large spoon. Slowly add water and stir until batter gets sticky. Be careful not to add too much water. If batter is too sticky simply add a bit more protein powder.

Line a plate or cookie sheet with parchment. Place remaining protein powder in bowl. Scoop batter in to small 1-1.5 tablespoon size portions. Roll in to a ball in your hand, then roll in the protein powder for a nice chocolate dusting. Place balls on lined cookie sheet and allow to set in fridge for 20 minutes before serving.

Nutrition facts provided by nutritiondata.com Nutrition per serving: Calories: 119, Total Fats: 3 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Sodium: 107 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 14 g, Dietary Fiber: 2 g, Sugars: 10 g, Protein: 11 g, Iron: 1.0 mg