Need a little boost?

Since I started running on a regular basis, I began looking at things a little differently.  Shoes, clothes, the streets I drive on daily basis and of course the food I eat.  Running was a great start to a healthier life, but I knew that I would need to be just as disciplined about the foods that I eat.

Including more vegetables and salads in my lunches and dinners was the easy part.  It was the snacks that I would reach for throughout the day that seemed to be my downfall.  I needed something better tasting and more nutritious than the store bought granola bars that filled the cupboards of the break room in my office.  It wasn’t until my wife told me for the 100^th time, maybe even the 1000^th time, how great this website “Pinterest” is.  ‘You can find anything” she would tell me.  To me, that was a challenge.  I explained to her my dilemma of the of my mid day hunger games and told her that if this “pin something or other” website was so good, then this should be the place to find the solution for dilemma.  As she usually does, my wonderful wife of 9+ years comes through once again.  Alas, a delectable, no bake energy bite that is simple to make and hard to stop eating.  Packed with flavor and natural ingredients, how could this go wrong?  It can’t!  Try it for yourself.

·         1 cup (dry) oatmeal 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup ground flaxseed 1/3 cup honey 1 tsp. Vanilla

·         Mix ingredients in a large bowl.  Add more honey if needed to make ingredients stick together better

·         Chill for at least 2 hours in refrigerator

·         Pull from fridge and roll a spoonful of the mix in your hands to shape

This is also a recipe that is fun to experiment with too.  Swap out the chocolate chips for raisins or dried cranberries.  Instead of rolling the bites into golf ball shapes, pack the ingredients into a square dish after mixing, chill, then cut into bite sized squares.

I can’t say that eating a couple of these peanut butter bites will give you the energy equal to a cup of coffee or that by eating one of these, you will be able to set new world records.  I can tell you however, these bites are tasty and for me, they are the perfect solution to that rumble in my tum tum.

Enjoy!