…until I leave for Spain! My family is already there…and reading everything they are up to is absolutely killing me. I know that sounds lame since I’ll be joining them in no time at all, but it’s hard to keep my jealousy in check as they make their way through the White Hill towns of Spain. I’ll manage…
In the meantime, I keep meaning to share my sister’s blog with you all. She has been abroad since March (in case you forgot here’s her travel schedule) and she’s been able to blog fairly consistently as she makes her way from continent to continent. It’s awesome to read.
*Warning: her posts will make you want to quit your job and take up traveling as your full time occupation. Seriously. Read with caution.
So, now that I’m in last minute prep mode, I’m getting pretty boring with my meals. Instead of yesterday’s numerous bowls of cereal (boring), I’ll share a recent recipe that I created.
Inspired by the raw ingredients of Larabars and the portability of Mama Pea’s balls, I created a kind of hybrid tropical fruit powerball thing. Now if that’s not the catchiest name ever…
Maybe I’ll leave the naming process up to you guys? For now I’ll call them continue to call them tropical fruit power balls.
Here’s what was in them:
- 1 cup Tropical Traditions shredded coconut
- 1 cup assorted dried fruit (whatever you want works – I used dried mango, blueberries, apricots, pears, and strawberries)
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup almonds (I used 1/4 cup raw + 1/4 cup salted, dry roasted)
- 1 tbsp Nuts Online cacao nibs
- 1 tsp stevia
- 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s (now sold out) peanut flour (similar product can be purchased online here)
- 2 tbsp water
Add everything except the water to the food processor and pulse away.
You may have to pulse a long time.
Eventually the coconut and dried fruit will create a sticky enough texture and it will start to hold together more.
Side note: at this point (prior to adding the water) this recipe would make the perfect crust for a raw (or not raw) pie/cheesecake/dessert/whatever.
Instead, I added water which immediately changed the texture of the ingredients from a course but loosely ground consistency to a thick and cohesive one.
Thus began the process of balling…
Scoop and roll. Scoop and roll.
I used a 2 tbsp scooper which yielded 15 balls. And thanks to sparkpeople I even managed to figure out the nutritional stats for the recipe.
Nutrition Facts for Hungry Hungry Hippie Tropical Fruit Powerballs (15 Servings)
Amount Per Serving (1 ball)
- Calories 107.1
- Total Fat 5.9 g
- Saturated Fat 2.2 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
- Monounsaturated Fat 2.4 g
- Cholesterol 0.0 mg
- Sodium 3.7 mg
- Potassium 211.0 mg
- Total Carbohydrate 13.4 g
- Dietary Fiber 2.5 g
- Sugars 7.5 g
- Protein 2.2 g
- Vitamin A 4.9%
- Vitamin B-12 0.0%
- Vitamin B-6 2.5%
- Vitamin C 2.7%
- Vitamin D 0.0%
- Vitamin E 5.6%
- Calcium 1.9%
- Copper 11.2%
- Folate 1.9%
- Iron 4.4%
- Magnesium 7.4%
- Manganese 12.7%
- Niacin 2.8%
- Pantothenic Acid 1.6%
- Phosphorus 5.7%
- Riboflavin 3.6%
- Selenium 1.9%
- Thiamin 2.0%
- Zinc 3.3%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Good luck eating one at a time.
Don’t they just call to you?
Even with the stevia and dried fruit they weren’t really that sweet. The cacao nibs had a good crunch factor and combined with the coconut, it was quite the flavor punch.
Get in ma belly. 😀
Elise these look GREAT!
I make white chocolate & mango raw chocolate chip cookie dough balls and I am all about using the tropical dried fruit action! These look stellar! Moist and perfect. <— Even tho that's not a great word to many people..they really do look M and awesome!
Have fun in Spain! I'll be gone on vacay too!
YUM! these look realllly good. and LOVE that nutritional stats calculator! I’m totally using that!
So jealous you’re going to Spain! That’s SO EXCITING 🙂
Yum! I love having handy little snacks like this that pack a nutritional punch! And I’m definitely stealing that Spark People nutritional calculator! I’ve been looking for an easy way to get the stats on some of my recipes!
One more week! Ahhh! How exciting! Soooo jealous!
Can’t wait to see your posts on Spain! I currently live in Madrid, but am visiting family in the States right now! You will make it to my home before I will 🙂
These sound great! I love Larabars so I’m sure I’ll love these!
Hope you´ll have a pleasant stay in Spain. I love Spain, I´ve been to Madrid once and it was the loveliest holiday ever. All those art galleries, great architecture, amazing food and such.. I would go again if I could leave the work now:)
Ahh you’re going to have such an amazing time in Spain!! I’ve only been there briefly, but Barcelona is awesome. Kind of jealous of your sister, too!
Those look amazing! I’m running low on my balls so you gave me a good recipe to try-Thanks. 🙂 I hope that you have a wonderful trip to Spain- take lots of pictures!! I’d love to see.
Have a wonderful vacation! Thanks for the recipe, these look like the perfect pre-run fuel. I’ve really never found a recipe with coconut that I didn’t like, and coconut PLUS cacao nibs sounds like a home run.
I can’t believe your trip is coming up so soon! I totally missed this, but where will you be going in Spain? I studied abroad in Madrid in 2007 and absolutely fell in love with the whole country. These powerballs look like an amazing on-the-go snack. Thanks for sharing the great recipe!
oh i’m so jealous! i looooove travelling! i hope you have an amazing time!
i bet those balls would be great frozen & then eaten in almond milk! did you ever eat cookie dough ice cream when you were little? it might be kind of like that! 🙂
Thanks for sharing her blog. Good luck with your one last week and packing!
After being here in Seville for almost 4 months I can safely say that the vegan options are few and far between. Make sure you go to Los Coloniales for the BEST tapas (they have a few salads-the best one is the arabe salad and you can omit the cheese), and for meat eaters make sure they get the almond chicken.
Also, La Habanita is really good and has VEGAN options! yay for habanita.
The hummus is scarce-it’s really sad.
Anyway, have fun! And if you’d like any recommendations for things to do, I have lots!
These look awesome–it is pretty cool that the recipe is also versatile and can be used as the balls or a crust! 🙂
i studied abroad in barcelona and have been back several times – i LOVE spain…this is the first trip im going back to spain but not going to bcn. im going to sevilla, madrid, cordoba, toledo, and then paris for the last few days. so excited!!!
thanks for the heads up! i know ill miss hummus 🙁 feel free to send any other recs my way!!
im SO going to try freezing them!! yum. that sounds amazing.
you are going to have SOOO MUCH FUN in spain! I am absolutely so jealous!! I have aunts +uncles, and cousins who all live over in barcelona, so we visit there every once in awhile and it is absolutely GORGEOUS!! I hope you’ll truly cherish and enjoy your trip; and eat some yummy spaniard food for me! xoxo
“you may have to pulse a long time.”
that’s what she said!
i seriously can’t wait to put your balls in my mouth.
that’s what she said!!!
(i thought of that one after posting the other one. and couldn’t resist. obviously.)
How fun! Andy and I are actually going to Spain with some students from the school he teaches at in June. I’m so so excited!
I’ve been loving larabars lately and I bet I’d love making those balls!
Those little balls look scrumptious! And how fun to go to Spain, I spent a week in Barcelona and fell in love 😀
Ah man, I hate it when my family is all on vacation together without me–it happened this past winter when they were all having fun skiing in Colorado…
Anyway, can’t wait to read about all your adventures in Spain!
aghhhh what a lucky! so jealous. i cant wait to see photos from espana, though.
Do you have any good tips for getting a good food processor? I NEED one bad. Then I can get even crazier in the kitchen! Seems like good ones are pretty expensive… any ideas for good deals?
i obviously need to come over and use your food processor, and your bread maker.
So excited for you!! Also, those little balls look painless to make and yes, they are calling to me. At 3am.
ah! i’m so jealous of your spain journey! i studied abroad there and then went back for two weeks (that’s where my husband proposed to me!) Granada is dear to my heart, because that’s where I studied — and Ronda is definitely worth seeing! Have so much fun!
That sounds and looks so yummy! Thanks for posting.
I am SO excited to hear about your travels to Spain. My fiance and I are knee deep in honeymoon planning and Spain is on the top of our list.
We all miss you and cant wait for you to come! See you sooooon sissy! xoxo
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I love yogurt because it’s so versatile! Recently I’ve been enjoying my greek with chopped cucumbers, onion, and mango!
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