In the past three months since Isaiah’s birth, I haven’t done a lot of extra cooking or baking. Right now, I’m doing well to get dinner made most nights. 🙂 However, I still like my goodies and making what I can from scratch, and on occasion my older two boys will behave and Isaiah will nap or be content long enough for me to throw together a little something special.
As a mom with a newborn, I haven’t only been looking for recipes that are quick and easy, but also ones that could be helpful to my milk supply since our new little guy LOVES to nurse. In the first few weeks especially, I needed healthy, easy-to make and easy-to-eat snacks for both my boys and myself. I found a perfect answer for all of those in the form of simple, customizable protein balls.
I’d seen these little treats, also called “energy balls” or “energy bites,” before online, and I’ve even sampled some that a mom friend of mine had made. However I’d never made any myself. So, I had to find a recipe.
Since protein balls can be made with such a wide variety of ingredients, I wasn’t sure which particular recipe to try from the myriad I found on Pinterest, so I looked for ones with ingredients that I had on-hand, especially ones with oats and flaxseed, since both are foods that can boost a mother’s milk supply.
Once I found a few options, I compared the recipes, used the common measurements of ingredients, and made up my own recipe, following the same basic procedure that all the protein ball recipes followed.
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- Combine dry ingredients.
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- Whisk together wet ingredients.
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- Add wet ingredients to dry mixture.
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- Thoroughly combine.
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- Roll out mixture into balls.
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- Refrigerate. Enjoy.
I have made up several batches since then, and my whole family loves them. However, since the protein balls do pretty much give you a boost of energy, I try not to let the boys have them too late in the evening. 🙂
I have also tried a few different variations, such as using different nut butters (I like using both almond butter and peanut butter as the same time) and using either date syrup and/or raw honey as a sweetener (I prefer the date syrup because the honey can make the balls very sweet and a bit stickier).
I think the fact that I can easily adapt the recipe to what I have makes this a fun, almost foolproof snack. However, here’s my favorite way to make protein balls…so far. 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 cup Oats
- ½ cup Mini Chocolate Chips
- 2/3 cup Coconut Flakes, toasted
- ½ cup Ground Flaxseed
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¼ cup Almond Butter
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter
- 1/3 cup Date Syrup (or can use Raw Honey)
Instructions
- Prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly combine oats, chocolate chips, coconut, and ground flaxseed. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together nut butters (or can do ½ cup of only one type of nut butter), date syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Pour wet mixture over dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Roll mixture into small balls. I use my cookie scoop to portion out the mix. You can roll them large or small, depending on what you want. If the mixture is too sticky or melty, you can chill it in the refrigerator a bit before rolling it into balls.
- Place balls onto the prepped baking sheet.
- Chill protein balls until they harden.
- Keep refrigerated in an airtight storage container.
This is inspiring me to make these again! I have a recipe of my own, but might just make some adjustments to try yours out!
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