I bet nobody has ever told you that I’m a great chef…and with good reason! I’m just ok. My family gets home cooked meals at least five days a week, but it’s often not me who cooks them (that’s a story for another time). That said, I was highly motivated to find something my daughter would eat in her lunch, so I made a variation to a more traditional protein ball recipe. By the way, my daughter is the reason you need this “school safe” recipe, because she’s one of those unfortunate peanut allergy kids.
Having an allergy kid means I have nuanced knowledge about things you don’t care about – like the fact that Costco sells an almond butter that was not manufactured in a peanut facility. But you can’t take almond butter to school. After trying other peanut-safe products, discovering SunButter has been a game changer for us; it’s very similar in taste and texture to peanut butter, and has more protein in it than the nut butters do. To be clear, this is not a sponsored post; I just think SunButter is awesome. I make at least one batch a week of these “Fun Balls,” as my kids have named them, and I keep them in the freezer until we need them. They’re great for lunches, or for when I’m running late (again) for who knows what.
The Recipe:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (the balls don’t stick together with the larger chips)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup SunButter
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together and roll into balls. If they’re too sticky, I sometimes roll them in some extra rolled oats. Best served frozen.
Variation: Thanks to a lack of chocolate chips in the house after Halloween, I discovered these taste quite yummy if I smash up a bunch of Smarties in lieu of the chocolate chips. It adds colour and makes the kids feel like they are getting a treat (because they are).
Enjoy!
Photo Cred: Katherine Gillis Photography
PS – my blog is not a recipe site but it’s a great way to share some of my personal mom hacks, like this recipe.
Yum! These sounds like something I need to add to my snack rotation at our house! Love that they are school safe❤️
They can be the energy kick you need for dealing with challenging students lol!
Is your house seriously this neat and tidy….it’s gorgeous and I cannot wait to make these peanut free protein balls! Thank you
You’re sweet! My house always has little corners of mess in it…I just leave those corners out of the photos. One day, I said to Dana, “I’d like to take a photo but there is no corner of our home untouched by mess right now!” I hope your girls love this snack!
Sounds yummy! I use natural peanut butter…no nut allergies here luckily…so I’m going to try this with PB. Something else I’ve included in ones I’ve made in the past, is chocolate protein power for the extra protein. I’m not sure of completely peanut free ones, but you could look around if it’s something you’d like to add. 😊
You are lucky that you have an allergy-free home! I personally love peanut butter sooooo much. But the SunButter has even more protein than peanut butter, so at least that’s a win.
Lucky about peanut butter…but not an allergy free home. Our daughter (now 25) is fine now, but growing up had an allergy to oranges and had to carry an epi-pen. You can imagine how sporting events were…seeing as that is one of the most common snacks. She was also made fun of at school. Which is the most ridiculous thing ever, but it happened. 🙁
Thanks for posting this Sarah! This is a great recipe and I can never find where I saved it on my phone! I threw in some cooked quinoa just to mix it up. They turned out great!
Thanks, Ainslie! I figured it was easier to send people to my site than to keep texting people the recipe lol.