Healthy Energy Balls Recipe

Carbs are necessary and awesome. You should eat them in the morning, before and after working out, and even before bed.

"What??? Did he just say eat carbs?" (Cue shot of cursor moving to unsubscribe from blog)

For those of us who train. Yes, I said train. Soccer Moms in the Hamptons workout but if you are a runner, triathlete, competitive lifter, crossfitter, Adventure Racer, or even Insanity in your living room doer, you need carbs and protein both to prep for your training and then rebuild after.

That being said, your options should not be limited to processed poison like Muscle Milk or a sugary mess like a Cliff Bar. Save some money and ingest nutritious whole foods while making your pre and post workout snack one that would make the judges on Chopped exclaim, "Bravo, the blend of nuttiness from the cashews and the butteryness of the coconut flakes is like a symphony of deliciousness and the dusting of the cocoa powder makes the plate pop and my taste buds dance."

Read below and unlock your inner Robert Irvine. You know that dude gets his protein in.

Healthy Energy Balls Recipe

Ingredients:

Ten dates
One cup of raw pecans
Heaping teaspoon of organic cocoa powder
Dried coconut shreds (optional)
Raw cashews (optional)
Goji berries (optional)

Directions:

1. Soak the dates in water. If you think to do this an hour or more in advance, it's fine to use room temperature water. If you're pressed for time and only have a few minutes for soaking, use hot water. The idea is to soften the dates so that they are easily blended into a soft paste.
2. Measure out a cup of raw pecans and put them in a food processor. A strong blender might also work, but for this recipe, a food processor works best.
If you have trouble digesting nuts, soak them in water overnight, strain, and dry with a towel before proceeding.
3. Process pecans on low or using a pulse setting until they're nicely ground. You don't want to make pecan butter here - you're looking for nicely ground pecans.
4. Add a heaping teaspoon of quality cocoa powder. If you don't enjoy chocolate, it's fine to skip this step.
5. Blend or pulse for another few seconds to bring ground nuts and cocoa powder together.
6. Add six soaked and mildly crushed dates to the mix. It's best to add a little water to this recipe to create proper texture.
A good way to add just enough, but not too much water is to lightly shake the dates as you get them out of their bowl of water, give them a gentle mush with your fingers, and add them slightly wet to the ground pecans.
7. Process on low or use the pulse setting until the dates and pecans become together into one mass.
You want the texture to be such that you can pinch off teaspoon-size chunks and roll them up with your palms into bite-size balls. If need be, add another mushed up date or two, but always be conservative in adding extra dates, as once the mixture gets too moist, it's very difficult to fix by adding more nuts.
8. For some variety, roll balls in dried coconut, cocoa powder, and consider adding raw nuts and dried berries on top before serving.