Peanut Butter Fat Balls
I wrote a post recently describing how to make homemade peanut butter and another one about why most peanut butters on the market are toxic. With all that peanut butter prepped, a new snack recipe was in order.
In actuality, though, between myself, Alex, and Moon.. I make a batch of homemade peanut butter every week.
snacking isn’t a bad word
Snacking seems to be where people in my practice slip the most often in achieving their health goals. A few chips turn into eating the entire bag. A cookie turns into three or six. And some come to me embarrassed that they do snack or that their sugar cravings are quite literally unbearable. I hear ya, people! We’re individuals, and we’re only human.
Snacking isn’t inherently bad despite what some might say. We just have to snack on foods that don’t give us wild sugar cravings or make us feel sluggish. Snacking can be great for people working to control their blood sugar or for those with greater energy requirements.
My personal vice is to snack all day instead of eating meals, but I know that my digestion and blood sugar control is so much better when I give myself enough time to get hungry between meals.
This year as I dive more into the recipes that people in my practice need, I’m looking to create better snack options. Truthfully, most snacks from the grocery store (think of an energy bar, for example) are highly processed. And the better the quality, the more expensive they become.
Got suggestions for snack recipes you’d like to see? Drop me a note.
meal prepping your snacks
Snacks for a week should be made as part of a weekend meal prep. I find clients slip up on snacks because they grab anything in front of them because they reach a point of low blood sugar mania and desperation. When we’re prepared with the right foods, we can avoid this wild stage.
New to meal prep? You can get my ebook on the shop tab to break down everything you need to meal prep.
What’s inside Meal Prep Workbook:
shopping lists
quantities for 3 meals x 7 days
prep techniques
storage tips
recipes
health facts
I dig the idea of making balls (or bites, whatever you fancy to call them) because you can pack a whole bunch of nutrients without a lot of effort. All you need is food processor or high speed blender with a tamper.
some other EASY snack ball recipes:
ingredients
1 cup roasted squash*, recipe here
1/3 cup homemade peanut butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
optional: melted coconut butter to glaze
method
Add squash, peanut butter, and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until a cohesive ball of dough forms. If you don’t have a food processor, mash the squash until super smooth and combine ingredients by hand.
Refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour before scooping dough** and rolling into balls.
Melt coconut butter if using and spoon over chilled balls.
Store these peanut butter squash bites in the fridge up to 1 week, or place in the freezer to eat later.
* I like to use kabocha squash in this recipe because it tends to be less moist than butternut squash, omit sage if using this recipe to roast the squash