No-Bake Energy Bites

Yesterday I wanted to make something, anything really.  When I'm in that kind of mood I usually wander over to Pinterest to look what I've pinned to see if anything looks good.  I found two pins, Skinny Monkey Cookies and No-Bake Energy Bites.  I weighed the two, both looked equally tasty, but in the end I realized I didn't have applesauce, plus finding time to bake something with a 5 month old seemed like too much work.  No-Bake Energy Bites is it!  I went off the recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots, but with my own twist.  I also doubled her recipe because as a nursing momma I eat all the time.  I didn't want to eat them all while making them and hoped for some leftovers.  Thankfully there are some left in the fridge for today's consumption :) 

Here's what I used:

2 Cups Oatmeal
1 Cup Peanut Butter*
2/3 Cup Honey **
1 Cup Flaxseed Meal/Ground Flaxseed
1 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
2 Cups Crushed Honey Nut Cherrios and Graham Crackers***
2 tsp Vanilla

* I think any nut butter would work, especially if allergies are present.  There are many comments on the post from Smashed Peas and Carrots talking about different choices.  I actually used 1/4 Cup crunchy peanut butter and the rest creamy. That's what what I had on hand and it seemed to work just fine. 
** I used creamed honey from the Farmer's Market and it looked like it had cinnamon in it, but I'm not sure.  I think adding cinnamon and other spices would be great.  
*** I used these because I needed something to replace the coconut in the original recipe.  One I didn't have any coconut and two I don't like coconut.  My huband likes coconut so next time I would possibly split the ingredients in half and add coconut to half for him and maybe dried cranberries or raisins for me.  I would also like to try throwing some chia seeds in.  I love chia seeds :) 

There are so many different combinations that I could try I'm sure I'll be making these in the future!

After putting everything in a bowl I microwaved it for 30-45 seconds, which nicely melted the chocolate chips.  I like the texture better without crunchy chocolate chips.  I mixed it all together and rolled in into balls.  The mixture sat on the table for a little while in the middle so I could tend to Kai, but it didn't seem to matter.  I finished rolling them and put them in the fridge which made them harden.  (The original recipe says to cool and then roll.) They are so darn tasty!  Hopefully they'll last a few more days, but we'll see.  Enjoy!

For a photo check out my Instagram!  My username is emhammar. (My computer wouldn't upload for this post.)