Honey-Lemon Turmeric Energy Bites

For the last couple weeks, I've been a little sick and a lot busy. That's not the greatest combination. It means my lovely sweet food blog sometimes gets shoved to the back burner. The good news is that it also means I have this fantastically healthy, get-back-on-your-feet-or-prevent-you-from-falling-off-your-feet-in-the-first-place recipe for you. (Yes, I do enjoy hyphens; why do you ask?)

Anyway, when I was lying around revising my second novel and taking care of my kids and feeling pooped, I stumbled upon a recipe that used turmeric in these energy balls. In case you don't know, turmeric is, apparently, the golden elixir of health. It's an anti-inflammatory, good for your joints, good for your gut, lowers your risk for lots of dreadful diseases, slows aging. You know, magic elixir stuff.

Unfortunately, we here in America don't eat it with a whole lot of stuff. We might put it into a delicious Indian dish here or there. But this takes time and isn't what we want to do when we're already feeling a bit under the weather.

On the mighty Pinterest, I've found (and pinned of course) several recipes for using it in teas or milks. But I've yet to make any of those teas or milks because they seem a little unfamiliar and weird, and I just haven't taken the plunge. But granola-bar-esque energy bites. We Americans can totally get behind this. They're easy to make and eat and people won't see a yellow turmeric milk and freak out. They don't even taste turmeric-y. The honey lemon is a beautiful foil for the otherwise spicy pungent turmeric. 

And peeps (does anyone still say peeps wait--did anyone really ever say it in the first place except me and my sister-in-law?), they have more than just the mighty turmeric. They've got almonds and dates and chia seeds, raw honey and lemon zest. It's like a deluge of health trends all in one ball. You're welcome.

Also I got to use my new Valentine's gift to make them:

Romance--right there. 

And I may have tried rolling some of them in powdered sugar like tiny little anti-oxidant encouraging tea cakes:

Don't judge.

Though the truth is that I liked them without the powdered sugar even better (that was not a truth for my daughter, who wolfed those powdered sugar ones down).

Honey-Lemon Turmeric Energy Bites

adapted from Natalie's Food and Health
Makes about 18-24
prep time: 15 minutes
Cost:

12 dried dates, pits removed
1 C oats
1/2 C almonds
1/2 C coconut (I used sweetened, but unsweetened would work too and you would feel more superior)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
juice from one lemon (4 Tbsp)
zest from lemon
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 Tbsp honey

First soak your dates in some water and make sure there are no bits of pits in them. (Reserve a bit of the water if you think about it.)

While they're soaking zest and squeeze your lemon.

Put the dates in a food processor and whiz it. Mine didn't all pulp up, and that was okay.

Now add the oats and almonds, and whiz them in the food processor. Add coconut, chia seeds, and turmeric. Whiz. Whiz until everything is pretty ground up.

Now add the lemon zest and juice, the vanilla and the honey. Whiz. I needed a bit more liquid, so I added some of the water I'd soaked my dates in. (Normal water will likely work too.). I just needed a couple tablespoons of it.

Whiz whiz whiz until everything starts to come together in a ball.

Then roll into balls. Coat with more coconut or lemon zest. (Or powdered sugar or lemon zest mixed with sugar if you are a less upstanding human being.)

Eat 'em up (but not, like, all of them unless you are a teenage boy. But if you are a middle aged woman, remember that turmeric is great and all, but eating all of these is, like seven million calories--of goodness, yes, but still...)

PRINTABLE RECIPE