Easy and Yummy No-Bake Almond Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

My husband was painting the upstairs hallway white (from red) so we can maybe move in this century, and he let the kids paint their names on the kitchen carpet because THAT is also going bye-bye.

Oh boy. I am always looking for things to make around my house that are fast and easy and that my kids love. I'd heard of energy balls for a long time but never tried them. I kept seeing them here and there online so I decided to give them a shot. Here's the recipe we use at my house, but you can customize them any way you like (add chia seeds or flax seeds or even peanut flour).

1 cup quick cook oats
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth, but I am in love with the Trader Joe's chunky kind!)
1/3 coconut flakes (I use the sweet kind)

1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon protein powder (can get this at Amazon; I like the Trim Healthy Mama brand; we added this because my daughter gave up meat for Lent and I wanted to make sure she was getting protein)

Instructions:
In a medium-sized bowl, mix all ingredients together. Might I suggest doubling the recipe now because you will love these things?!

Stand at the counter with a spoon and eat from the bowl either right away or after chilling.

Or you can take a small scoop and make the mixture into balls and put the balls onto wax paper. This works if you are serving these to a group of kids who are not yours. 

Otherwise, just dig in as a family because it's a lot like cookie dough only with no flour or white/brown sugar or eggs or dairy of any kind.

Here are a bunch more energy ball recipes to try over at Living Well Mom.