Energy Bites

One of my favorite new memories happened just over a week ago. Keely and I ran in Disney's Princess Half Marathon! What a blast! After training for 18 weeks, we flew to Orlando and ran on Sunday, February 26. We woke up at 3:00 a.m. to make sure that we were at the park at 4:00, then herded into the corrals by 5:00, and we started running at 6:00. Needless to say, I was already worn out before we even started. It was such an emotional morning. Out of nowhere, I began to cry before the race even began. I think Steve thought it was fear. It wasn't. Yes, I admit I was afraid the day before. Afraid of not finishing. Afraid of failure. Keely just grinned and said, "Boy, Mom. You're just a little ball of nerves, aren't you?" Yes, that's true. The uncontrollable tears, though, came out of an unbelievable sense of accomplishment. Gosh, I was so proud. And even though I came in 13,688th place (ha!), I did indeed finish. And in this case, finishing is winning! Oh, by the way, I did beat a few people. There were close to 20,000 participants.

The very next day, we visited Islands of Adventure. Keely has been wanting to see the Harry Potter World for quite some time. Although I could barely walk, it was a great day. After flying back home on Tuesday, we loaded Keely's possessions on Wednesday and then moved her to Nashville on Thursday. Steve and I then spent the whole weekend helping her get settled into her new apartment. What an exhausting week! I sure could have used some of these energy bites.

I first came across this recipe on the internet. What first caught my attention was the claim that this was "basically a healthy version of my favorite no-bake cookies" . . . without the 2 cups of sugar and stick of butter. I couldn't wait to try them. I'm glad I did since they are now one of Steve's new favorites. They're great for breakfast, snacks, or even dessert.  I modified the original recipe by not using ground flaxseed. Instead, I substituted extra chocolate chips. No brainer, right? Also, I didn't think the energy bites looked very appetizing in the end, so I made one other modification: I rolled them in toasted coconut. Yum!

Energy Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 1 cup toasted coconut flakes
• 1 cup chocolate chips (the original recipe called for 1/2 cup chocolate chips + 1/2 cup ground flaxseed)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Stir all ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Once chilled, roll into approximately 1" balls. Roll in extra toasted coconut. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated. Makes about 2 dozen energy bites.