I just recently began following a blog that is all about a family's journey into healthy food and lifestyle choices. My Whole Food Life is a beautiful and inspirational site. The blog author, Melissa, really caught my attention and sucked me in with her many posts on homemade versions of Larabars. (Her Coconut Cream version sounds amazing, too!) I immediately began following her on Facebook so that I could keep up with all of her future posts surrounding healthier foods and "clean" eating.
This recipe uses just three ingredients (not counting the salt and water). I was inspired by her bar version, but turned mine into little bite-size balls that would be easier to snack on while on the go (hello, kids' baseball season). This is a super healthful snack to have on hand ... and you'll be happy knowing you are eating (and feeding those you love) something unprocessed and free of all of the yucky stuff found in most supermarket snack food.
Bring together peanuts and a little salt in a food processor, then pulse in whole dates (and a little water). Stir in the chocolate chips (I used carob ones) and form into balls. And, there ya have it ... a super healthy snack that is way less expensive than store-bought Larabars. (For those curious ... I used around five dollars worth of ingredients to make 34 snack-size balls.) If you prefer these in bar-form, My Whole Food Life has instructions for shaping the mix into a pan ... I believe you'll get about 9 square-shaped "bars" going that route. (At around $1.50 per bar in the store, you'll be saving a ton by making these from-scratch at home.)
