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What happens when a hungry and pregnant Heather goes to Costco?
She randomly stocks up on awesome finds…
Love hemp seeds
Tries a new Doctor Cracker Asiago Cheese cracker – it’s like a healthy cheese it!
Finds her almond butter…
Then magically puts a couple jars of nutella in the cart for her hubby.
For her hubby, yes.
Okay, I really did think of Jacob when I grabbed the nutella, and I was super excited by his excitement when he saw it.
What I wasn’t excited about… the $150 Costco got from me. Yeah I stocked up on a lot, but holy cow that was crushing.
So what’s the topic of the day going to be — nutella, a surprise and body pump.
I was going to make a batch of my protein balls to bring to body pump last night, but then when Jacob got the nutella out for some toast, I had him leave it out. Convenient š
Since I had already soaked some extra dates for my energy balls to bring along to the hospital, they got subbed in instead of maple syrup. Things were starting to change now. No peanuts, but yes to walnuts. Sounding interesting….
Nutella Surprise Balls
Makes about 20 ballsAdapted from cinnamon raisin peanut butter protein balls
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 6 dates (soaked in water overnight or at least 1 hour), drained
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 3/4 cup nutella
- 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Directions
- Combine the chickpeas, dates, walnuts and rolled oats in a food processor. Run until everything is broken down and relatively smooth. Add the remaining ingredients to fully combine.
- Place in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour (or overnight). Roll into balls and store in the freezer (they keep their form best when chilled).
So there’s the nutella. I brought most of the batch to my body pump class last night to share and didn’t tell them the surprise ingredient until after they tried it. They would have never known there were beans in there and to my delight, the balls were a hit!
I taught 4 new-to-me tracks from an older release last night and holy moly my biceps and triceps are sure feeling it today! I just have 2 more body pump classes to teach next week during our launch for 81, then no more until after baby. I’m definitely going to miss my class and teaching for that little bit.
I’ll have to think of another goody to bring my last week. Any suggestions of treats filled with hidden surprises?
Heather
My hub just picked up hemp hearts for the first time from Costco, so we have that package around, too. He made a salad last night and sprinkled the hemp hearts on. He’d made a really good dressing, too (modified from Appetite for Reduction), everyone loved the salad. An auspicious start for the hemp hearts. I’ve started making my own Nutella-like spread with coconut oil, cocoa, dark chocolate, and unrefined sugar. Your energy balls look good, love the secret ingredient of chickpeas, I use them a lot!
Your so funny! Your surprise balls look delish! I have to make the recipe. I never tried chickapeas in cookies before!
Gotta try it, they hide very well!!
love nutella, well we love anything chocolate haha
these look fantastic!
You definitely can’t go wrong with chocolate!
Those look SO good, but also sticky. Is there a way to make them less so?
The ones in the picture had not been frozen. Put them in the freezer and they’re MUCH less sticky.
Yum! What exactly do you use the hemp seeds for??
Normally as a topping on oats, salads, smoothies, yogurt… Really anything! They’re packed with protein. I’ll have to share some of my favorites soon š
yummmm there’s seriously something about snack balls (ha but seriously) that i really like! love this recipe-ill have to try it!
They’re just so easy to snack on!
YUM! i rarely keep nutella in our house because i have absolutely NO self control around it. but i might just have to give myself an excuse to buy some to make these balls… š
It’s definitely tricky for me to have self control with it too!
I love nutella and haven’t had it in a while. Maybe I need to bring some home for the hubby as well! š heehee
I’m sure it’ll make the hubs happy!
YUM! I just bought that same jar of maranatha- such a great deal. Your pump class must love you