Chocolate Balls. That Got Your Attention, Right?

Sharing an awesome TREAT idea with you. You will thank me.

I meant to make homemade larabars yesterday and didn't have wax or parchment paper, which threw a wrench into my plan. So I wound up rolling my recipe into balls and coating them in cocoa powder instead. 

My kids call them chocolate balls and can't get enough of them. So I'm making more today. 

Yes, this takes time (about an hour to prepare) and yes they get eaten quickly. But they are made from whole food ingredients and delicious. Worth it. Ready?

You'll need a food processor. I use the quisenart mini prep. Fill it 3/4 full of fresh, pitted dates. Yep, I said dates. I get mine from the farmers market (for you valley peeps it's Calabasas on Saturday mornings). Trader Joe's and other stores will carry dates too. Add 1-2 Tb natural peanut or almond butter. Yesterday I used almond, today I'll use peanut. And no, it doesn't matter what your preference is regarding salty or chunky. What matters is that you're not using that crapppy peanut butter with  partially hydrogenated oils and other additives. If you are, stop reading this as you don't deserve this recipe. 

Start chopping in the food processor. You may need to start and stop and change directions a few times. Once the dates are somewhat chopped,  add 1 Tb of ground flax seed. Keep chopping. It takes some guesswork but you can keep adding small amounts of flax as you chop. Probably up to 2-3 Tb total, till you have a finely chopped, sticky mess. 

In a small bowl, pour in some cocoa powder. I used Trader Joe's sipping chocolate as it is sweetened with sugar but still very wholesome. Don't you dare use traditional hot chocolate mix. Because that's also crap. And if you don't understand why that is so, I have a dietitian I can refer you to. 

Roll your date mixture into tiny balls with your hands. Pretend it's Play-dough. They should be about the size of a dime. You'll find that any bigger is just too big when you go to eat it. 

Drop the balls into the cocoa powder about 6 at a time (or more depending on the size of your bowl) and roll them around to cover in cocoa. Remove and place in a Pyrex lined with whatever you got...plastic wrap, wax paper, parchment paper or even a paper towel. Do this till you're finished with the date mixture and stick in the refrigerator. 

That's it. Eat and enjoy. I have not done a nutritional analysis for you, nor do I care to. Here's a common sense analysis though, which is much more important:

Dates, nuts, flax seed and cocoa powder - highly nutritious foods that taste great together and satisfy a sweet craving. Good sources of heart-healthy fats, vegetarian protein, fiber and carbohydrate. Have it for breakfast. Snack on it. Have some for dessert. Anytime of day. Whatever. 

If you're still reading (and I thank you if you are!), try it and let me know what you think. And if you're reading this far just to find out what wine to drink with it, then I'd suggest a Mourvèdre, jammy Zin or port. 

Now go do something healthy today.

Cheers,

Your Tipsy Dietitian

2014: Start off With a Healthy Perspective

So here it is, the New Year’s blog.

While passing by a large bookstore in my shopping center over the past two weeks, I noticed that each and every one of the dozen or so books in the display window featured titles encouraging the reader to shed pounds, diet and be skinnier. Because that’s a surefire way to happiness, right? It made me sad. And a little disgusted with our society. Why is it that not a single book could have been a display of anything inspirational or encouraging? Is this truly what holiday shoppers are looking for? These are the gifts we should gift our loved ones? The entire theme of the display window was simply - You’re too fat America; and this is the only thing that should be on your mind.

I have been a registered dietitian for over a decade, and within the last few years have really found my passion – Wellness. Wellness of mind, body and spirit. How do we achieve wellness? We take care of ourselves and those around us. We make decisions we can be proud of. We act with confidence. We try to make a difference for the better. We inspire. We learn. We teach. What we don’t do is focus on flaws. We don’t constantly remind ourselves that we need to be thinner. That we need to deprive ourselves of joy and food and nourishment for the body and the soul. For the life of me I can no longer understand why, why, WHY our world is so anti-building people up and pro tearing people down. I don’t understand it. I am a Wellness dietitian because I do not believe in dieting. I do not believe in focusing on the one thing that torments many people throughout their lives – dieting to be thin. At the end of our lives will we wish that we had stuck to stricter diets and deprived ourselves of living fully, just to lose a few more pounds?

I have it on good authority that no other culture in the world focuses nearly as much on thinness and dieting as we Americans. We as a nation have been dieting for decades. And for decades we’ve been getting larger and sicker. I’m not the first to suggest that, in fact, dieting is the problem. Why do we put so much stock into faulty ideals? Why must our bookstore windows and shelves be plastered with this diet and that diet and diet your way to a happier life? The magazines are even worse. If you subscribe to any popular magazine, or even pick one up to pass the time at the doctor’s office, or in line at the grocery store, the magazines will tell you that you are too fat! And you are unhappy. And the only way to achieve happiness is to diet. You need a flat belly. You need to lose 2 sizes in 2 weeks. You need to stop eating these 5 shocking foods that even nutritionists won’t eat! Want to know what diet mistakes you’re making? Just flip the cover because heaven forbid you make these diet mistakes or eat the wrong foods. What a bunch of crap.

Could you make healthier choices? That’s for you to determine. Are you happy? Again, for you to decide. Would you be willing to shift your focus to find out? Focus on what you should be doing rather than what you shouldn’t. Focus on what makes you feel whole and alive. Step outside of society’s superficial box to consider what gives your life quality and meaning. If it lacks these things, go out and find them. But you won’t find them in a diet. You won’t find them in anything negative. Positive things come from positive actions. Inspire and be inspired. Learn something. Teach something. Live a life you can be proud of. And if you need to make changes, then make changes. Realistic changes. Positive changes. Changes that leave you saying, “yeah, that was a good idea.”

In the end, your opinion is the only one that matters. In the end, you answer only to yourself. Make each day count. Make each decision a good one. And if you make a poor one every once in a while, learn from it. Grow from it. Who you are now is a result of each and every decision you have made up until this point. What do you decide? What will 2014 bring for you? What will you bring to it? This is your year. This is my year. Own it. And at the end of the day, no matter what kind of day it was, remember this – life is too short to drink bad wine.

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Your Tipsy Dietitian