Chewy Oatmeal Energy Bites

Moving is a lot like working in the film industry. For both, the paperwork side is completely insane, there always a lot of people and deadlines to keep track of and by the end of the day, it’s just a big game of hurry up and wait. Our closing date for our new place is August 1st and I swear it’s so close that I can almost taste it. Right now we’re trying to do all the paperwork of organizing our finances, scheduling movers, and transferring our services (internet, etc) to the new location. We’re also in the middle of purging and packing everything. We put in our 60 day notice on our current apartment last week (we’re doing a slow move-in in August) and now that that is finalized, it seems all the more real that we’re actually leaving.

Right now our living room and most of the contents of the bathroom closets are in boxes. Besides purging the odd unwanted thing, I haven’t started packing or purging the kitchen or bedroom because we’re still using a lot on a daily basis. Scratch that, I’ve been avoiding the kitchen purge and pack. I know this move won’t be as extreme, but the thought of packing the kitchen is giving me flashbacks to when we moved from Regina to Toronto in 2010. To save money, we donated a ton of stuff, so much so that we arrived in the city with our bed, a television, a couch, a few suitcases, a microwave and about 6 plastic tote containers to our name. Besides the microwave, I think the only kitchen appliance I kept was my Japanese rice cooker. I know now that it was necessary to keep the costs low and to give ourselves a fresh start out east, but there are some days where I still miss my old appliances and kitchenware.

A lot has changed since then, but our kitchen in the new place is a bit smaller than the one we have now, so I’m going to have to be creative when it comes to storage. Our place already comes with a microwave, so our current one is going to my sister for when she goes to school. Other than that, I’ve been spending a lot of my time checking out Pinterest for ideas and wandering through the Kitchen Stuff Plus store near my office.

Now that we’re into the final month before the big move, I feel like we’re trapped in the hurry up and wait mode. I’ve been limiting our grocery purchases to only the basis essentials and we’re making a point to eat all of the fridge and freezer stuff since that’s the kind of thing that doesn’t travel well in the summer. In fact, with the crazy amount of humidity we’ve been dealing with lately, cold food that doesn’t require an oven has pretty much become a staple for us. When we were packing boxes on a particularly warm afternoon, these oatmeal energy bites I whipped up at a moment’s notice become a lifesaver. Just mix everything in one bowl, pop them in the freezer and after 10 minutes, you have a healthy, chewy snack that almost has a cookie dough-like texture.

I made these with some leftover sunflower seed butter I had in my fridge, but feel free to substitute peanut butter, almond butter, cashew nut butter or whatever you have on hand. The same goes with nuts and seed add-ins. Next time I may even add some mini chocolate chips if I can find them in the back of my freezer.

Print

Yield: 20 energy balls

Chewy Oatmeal Energy Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: Freeze Time - 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, crushed
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter*
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together rolled oats, sliced almonds, chia seeds, ground flax, sesame seeds, cinnamon and salt. Add sunflower seed butter, honey and vanilla extract.
2. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes. Using your hands, tightly press the mixture into tablespoon sized balls and store in the freezer in a freezer safe container. You may also store them in the fridge, although they will be a bit softer.

* If you don’t have sunflower seed butter, feel free to use your favourite seed or nut butter.

Recipe inspired by Food Doodles