No-Bake Energy Bites

No-Bake Energy Bites (makes 18-20 bites)

1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

**PS. Many of you have been asking about a calorie count on these...if you scroll through the comments section you can read various calorie counts from many of my awesome readers based off of different add-ins and size of the bites :-)

**PPS. Many of you have commented about substitutions and YES! you can substitute almost anything for any of the ingredients to work around food allergies, special diets, etc. Soybutter, almond butter, cashew butter, sun butter, etc all works in place of peanut butter. You can use creamed or liquid honey, or agave nectar or even maltitol syrup in place of the honey. If you do not like or cannot eat coconut try some type of crushed cereal, wheat germ, whole wheat flour, granola, cocoa powder...the possibilities are really endless. If you cannot find ground flaxseed you can buy it whole and grind it yourself in a coffee grinder or magic bullet or you can substitute any other dry ingredient in it's place. Yes, the mini chocolate chips can be regular sized or carob or you can use raisins, cranberries, goji berries, or crushed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, whatev) of some kind.

  I know writing out all these substitution possibilities seems silly but you will not believe the amount of comments and emails I get every day about "Can I use this instead of this? or "I don't like this ingredient, what can I use instead?" etc. Just remember, if you make any substitutions you may have to play with the quantities of dry to wet a bit to ensure you have a mixture that can be rolled into balls (if you want to eat them in a ball-shape, you don't have to do that either!) It's a really great recipe to play with so please don't worry about adding in a different ingredient if you cannot eat a particular one due to allergies, etc. My motto is always, 'Just try it, you might like it' when it comes to making these. We change it up depending on what is in our pantry and you can too! Oh! And you can also make these vegan and paleo-friendly, it's just a matter of buying the right ingredients, we do it all the time! ENJOY!
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