Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Balls

A few months ago, just after Christmas, I went on this no sugar-kick. I even shared my plan and had tons of encouragement from you. First, thank you. It always helps to know you have someone rooting for you.

Second, it was really hard.

I removed all sugar from my diet, including fruit, starchy veggies and all sweeteners for almost three weeks. And yes, wine included. While I definitely felt good, it felt like something was missing. Maybe it was just my mind playing games with me, but I couldn’t imagine living in a world with out sweets – let alone fruit.

I caved when I visited my parents and I remember that first bite of fruit I took. Heaven. And it was an apple…just a plain old apple. It tasted amazing.

I realized that fruit, and sweets, have a place in my diet, I just need to be mindful how much I’m eating them. I’m not going to sit here and say that I can eat an entire bar of dark chocolate and feel good. Or eat three bananas a day. But as long as I’m striking a balance between what my body loves – fruit and chocolate – and what it needs – green vegetables and lean protein – then it seems to find its rhythm.

Now that I am paying more attention to the amount of sugar I’m eating, I’ve found that I’m satisfied with just a small bite. I don’t need to eat three cookies to get my fix. I can just have a teeny square of chocolate, a raw cookie ball, or a chocolate-covered peanut butter ball.

I’ve professed my love for chocolate and peanut butter before, but I have to say this particular treat takes it to the next level. A healthier version of a Reese’s Cup, these little peanut butter balls are pure bliss.

But what makes them even better is the addition of quinoa cripsies. They go from just truffles into these sensation dessert/snack bites that kind of remind you of a chocolate crunch bar (or granola bar), but in candy form. Does that even make sense?

Either way…they melt in your mouth, make your taste buds sing and are  mostly healthy. I say mostly because yes, they’re still chocolate and they’re still peanut butter. But compare the list of ingredients here with what you buy in the check-out line at CVS, and I’d pick these peanut butter balls any day.

For today’s recipe, I’ve taken a slight adaptation from one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Angela from Oh She Glows, and turned it into a quinoa creation. Angela is incredibly talented, so if you haven’t checked out her blog, you must! She also just released a cookbook (yay!) which arrived at my doorstep yesterday and I seriously was drooling over all the recipes. We’re not vegan, but I can’t wait to cook everything inside!

(View Oh She Glows cookbook on Amazon)