CACAO NUT BALLS

For a while now I've been wanting to give the raw diet thing a go. All the recipes look so damn delicious and I really want to improve my eating habits. Since everywhere I turn, I keep seeing pictures of Power Balls / Bliss Balls / Cacao Balls / whatever else you call them balls, I decided this would be my first attempt. They look amazing and sound even yummier than the unhealthy chocolate truffle sweet tooth kind. I read a whole bunch of recipes first and it sounded like pretty much anything goes, so I went to the store and came back with a whole bunch of stuff. Here's what my recipe included:

• Mixed raw nuts (Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, Walnuts)
• Seeds (Sunflower seeds, Chia seeds, Ground linseed (flaxseed))
• Desiccated coconut
• Pitted whole dates
• Cacao powder
• Ground Cinamon
• Coconut oil
• 100% Nautral maple syrup
• Pure vanilla extract

I just put all the dry ingredients (except coconut and chia) in the blender first, and then putting that aside I put the dates and some water through the blender, soaked the chia seeds in water for a few minutes, then with my hands I mixed everything all together, then rolled the balls over the coconut, and refrigerated for an hour before eating. It only took like 10 minutes! I thought these would be really expensive to make but actually when you buy the nuts/seeds from one of those fill-the-bag-yourself sections, it's really quite cheap. I spent just under $8 for all of mine and made about 20 balls.