Tags
blissballs, cacao, coconut, dried fruit, gluten free vegan, gluten- free, healthy snacks, lemon, nuts, plant based, rawvegan, salted caramel, seeds, vegan, vegan snacks
Long time no speaky eh?
I’ve been as busy as my winged namesake crafting all sorts of traditional, magical good stuff. But enough about that, we’re all here for the foods right?!
I will say that i’ve been struggling to write this return to the food blogosphere for months now. Battling between the yearning for simplicity and my inherent need for flamboyant tastes and ingredients. I’ve had a lot of great real- life feedback about my recipes and the conclusions of these have been part of my struggle. I started this blog to show that insanely delicious, vegan food is super easy to achieve. However i got lost in the fabulous but seemingly overcomplicated world of the emerging nouveau green food trends. Whilst i rolled with these i dug it all- every unpronounceable, near impossible to find ingredient fuelled my flames for learning and broadened my scope for cooking. But all good rides come to an end and once i’d taken a step back it occurred to me that a lot of my more recent recipes were largely unaccessible. Making tasty food shouldn’t culminate in a nye on impossible search for the holy grail of super- foods. I started this journey as a means to get closer to a more natural, peaceful way of living and eating. So here i go trying to simplify my cooking and further recipes.
However, i will say that there are some ingredients i’ve come across that are way too cool, healthy and vital for me to renege on, those that act as the key to unlocking the next level of plant based awesomeness. Hey, its all about compromise right?!
Anyway, diatribe over and well done! if you’ve carried on reading thus far- bless your wee socks. So i’m gonna introduce one of my secret snack weapons. The Bliss Ball. Little globes of flavoursome, wholesome goodness.
I never thought of myself as a snacker but recently there’ve been so many times when i’ve been too busy/ enjoying my day so much that i’m loathe to step out my rhythm to make a wee healthy something to keep me going. This is where the magical Bliss Balls come in- they’re basically a canvas of dried fruits, seeds/ nuts that you flavour to hearts desire. They take at most ten minutes to knock up and involve getting really messy paws- which i personally think makes food so much more enjoyable. Full of protein, carbs, beautiful fats and a world of vitamins and minerals.
Hella good for keeping you going through your busy days, a quick powerful breakfast or my favourite- the perfect post supper pudding. I’ve flavoured mine two ways- a zesty coconut one for when you want to zing your tastebuds and body awake and a oozy salty chocolate one for when you need that chocolate hit. Saying that, its totally up to you and cupboards for how to tweak them. The skies the limit and these little guys will help you on your way.
(I get about 12 balls each out of the mixes but you choose a size you prefer.
Raw, Vegan and Gluten Free)
The “Salty Dog” batch:
- 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped Dates
- 1/4 cup Sultanas
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1 tbsp Tahini
- 2 heaped tbsp Cacao Powder
- a good pinch of Sea Salt
The “Gimme Some Funk” batch:
- 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped Dates
- 1/4 cup Sultanas
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- scant 1/4 cup Desiccated Coconut
- zest of 1 Lemon
- Blend up everything in each batch until the mixture starts to clump together. Adding more dried fruit if the mix isn’t sticky enough- you can check by pressing it to the side of the blender to see if it holds.
- Form into desired number of balls, roll the first batch in more cacao powder and the second in more coconut.
- They keep in the fridge for a good few days or in the freezer for ages.
Green & Leithy 
been looking for something to pack up as a snack! these are perfect 🙂
Just started following you! I have a vegan Lifestyle/recipe/beauty Blog as well… happy to connect with you 😀
http://www.veganneeds.com
Hehe I love the names of the bliss balls! They look super yummy. Could I use raisins or dates instead of sultanas?
they totally live up to their name- that wee moment of aaaahhhh! you can abolutely use either or both- i use sultanas as they’re cheaper but any dried dried will do the trick. you may need to add a little more of them though as they’re less juicy xxx
Thank you so much! 🙂
I’m considerably less adventurous than you with all the new super health food ingredients, and yet despite myself, I’ve nevertheless adopted a variety of these ‘hippy healthy vegan’ products into my usually quite reserved pragmatic style of cooking. Tofu I’ve been down with since the nineties, and as someone who can happily eat it cold and cubed in salad (at least with lemon, olive oil and chilli, or sesame oil, soya sauce & noodles) I’m a proud tofu fan. Quinoa is much newer to me, but is now staying as a staple alongside all the other good grains, all colours in fact (red quinoa and greens look fabulous together). As is red and black rice, though I tend to use them handily mixed with brown basmati. Flax seed is now a staple rather than some strange vegan egg substitute. Carob, much like tofu, has been with me for twenty years and will be staying with me for it’s roasty individual flavour as opposed to being some healthy alternative to chocolate (which it was originally and somewhat unfairly pedalled as). Vital wheat gluten flour (up until more recently a complete mystery) is also now a staple in my cupboard and provides an excellent and easy alternative to Quorn as work day sandwich fillings. I’m no longer a vegan cheese skeptic, and am happy with the spready stuff on crackers and the slices in sarni’s with tomato and onion, though I’ve yet to find something to match mozzarella. There are things I won’t be revisiting; goji berries for example, way too cardboardy for me, whatever their supposed health benefits. Still, I primarily remain a fan of the kinds of inexpensive readily available whole-foods that you’ve used here: dried dates, sunflower seeds, coconut, sultanas; you just can’t go wrong with these. Not glamorous, not ‘trending’, just reliable, accessible and welcoming, like old friends. Plus there’s nothing you can do with a pine nut that you can’t also do with a sunflower seed at a fraction of the cost. I don’t log on too often here at WordPress these days, but I’ll look out for you when I do. I really should make some bliss balls for work. I know I’ve got most of the stuff to hand, maybe Monday. I think I’ll add some coconut oil to my shopping list while I remember..