peanut butter oatmeal balls - tasty healthy treats

One of my biggest daily struggle is when 4 pm hits. you know, where you are hours past lunch, yet too many hours from dinner. 4pm is the time I need a pick-me-upper, something crunchy, something that will bridge me over for a couple of more hours, a quick energy boost. Over time I've tried many different things: yogurt, nuts, granola bar, even an orange? But my latest favorite-est thing is this: peanut butter oatmeal balls. This treat needs no explanation, it's mighty delicious, easy to make, filled with healthy ingredients, vegan, and may just be what you need too.

Yes you probably have heard of this thing: some call these energy balls, protein balls, fat bombs. They are not all exactly the same, because various ingredients can go into these depends on what you like and what you've got in the pantry. This is just the perfect recipe because it's super forgiving: if you missed one thing or had a bit of too much/too little of another, it's not a big deal. For all the new chefs out there, this is a quick and easy go-to recipe that can be done in batches, and it pleases the crowd too! Many ingredients can be substituted with other similar items, and plenty of modifications are just fine. 

What you need:

- 1 cup of oats

- 1/3 cup of honey

- 1/2 cup of peanut butter

- 3-4 tbsp of sesame seed (if you don't sesame seed, you could also use chia seed, flax seed, hemp hearts, or finely chopped nuts)

- 1/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut 

- 3 tbsp of chocolate chunks or chocolate chips. 

Recipe:

- mix everything together in a large/medium bowl. 

- roll batter into 1 tbsp scoop size balls. I rolled mine in additional coconut, you can roll them in sesame, even chocolate dust would be nice too. 

- put the balls in fridge for an hour so they get a bit chilled, ready to eat

This recipe only took 10 minutes or so, and you have snacks for days. Hows that sound?