Though it has been challenging thinking of new recipes to post 4 times a week there are so many bloggers who made this experience look easy. I am sure they are hustling and sweating behind the camera like the rest of us. Well at least I hope I am not the only one with shaky caffeine hands and a kitchen that looks like a bomb went off.

These are just a few of my favourite VeganMoFo bloggers:

Fork and Beans 

She has turned the ghoulish into adorable (I mean terrifying…) vegan AND gluten-free Halloween treats for everyone to enjoy. Bravo!)

Vegetarian Snob 

LOVE the Lazy Sunday recipe idea! Especially the Tempeh Bacon Quiche, the Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls, all of them really!

Olives for Dinner

I have drooled over these recipes and amazing photography.

Popcorn and Nooch

I am glad someone loves movies and television as much as I do and then recreates it into amazing meals.

Zsu’s Vegan Pantry

Burgers for an entire month? Sign me up! Thanksgiving, Irish, Eggplant Sriracha, Gyro….the list goes on! 

To the fine creators of VeganMoFo, I applauded your hard work to build an annual vegan food-sharing community. Because of this event, I discovered sites and accounts that I fell in love with and have bookmarked to check on the regular. My hat goes off to you!

 Now why would I include a borderline dessert as a staple? This is not just your average dessert since it has protein (from the hemp hearts) and omegas (from the chia seeds). I feel it is important that every kitchen have a little something-something kept the freezer for your work/school week because it always kept me from buying (although vegan) the not-so-good for you “snack foods” out there. I would be in a store after school or work and could tell I was getting a little hangry, I just needed something to get me home but thankfully with these guys in the freezer waiting for me I could talk myself out of grabbing a chocolate bar or a bag of chips. I would think to myself “Why waste the calories/money in a treat that I don’t really want?” and put that snack down and wait until I got home. Now I pack one or two in my dinner that I take to work since I don’t get a break (ever!) but need a little boost when it is blindingly busy or when a table is particularly rude to me.

They are quick, easy and can be made in one bowl. Hooray! Oh did I mention that they are vegan, gluten free and insanely delicious, especially right out of the freezer. The roasted almond butter melts as you chew it, revealing new flavours like coconut, nutty oats, caramel-y dates and chocolate. Swoon! For this recipe I used my One-Ingredient Roasted Almond Butter (another staple!) to make these balls however I am sure any almond butter of your choice will do.

So if someone asks why a little protein-filled dessert is considered a staple, tell them to try it first and if they still don’t get it, just stop talking to them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. Haha! Saw that one on Pinterest and I felt it applied.

It has been such a pleasure for me to share with you some of my favourite recipes that I make every week. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments and blog love! I am so grateful for all the readers of my site and there is plenty more coming from my kitchen after VeganMoFo has ended. Check out Tuesday’s post for the final recipe of this month long vegan food fest. I have been saving the best for last. 

Happy Sunday!

The post One Bowl Chocolate-Caramel Almond Balls {No-Bake, Vegan & Gluten-Free} appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

A lot of it was breaking habits: Mark no longer got a beer after work, skipped his morning, afternoon and mid afternoon coffee and I no longer reached for fries at work as a snack. We both are in a weird sort of daily schedule since we both attend school in the day and go straight to work at the same restaurant at night so we are gone from 7:30am and don’t return home until well after midnight. Did I mention we don’t get a break at work? This is true from all restaurants I have ever worked in so whatever we want to snack on has to be super quick.

How many super foods can you fit into an energy ball? I counted 5! 5 super foods ah ah ah! (Oh how I miss the Count from Sesame Street)  I Googled “super foods” and while it varied from resource to resource these five foods stayed fairly consistent: quinoa, chia seeds, hemp hearts, cacao (including cocoa powder) and goji berries.

I went to Pinterest (I am on there too!) and the site boasts a toooon of recipes for energy balls but a lot of them contained a serious dose of sweetener and nut butter. While I am not against these things I wanted to make a recipe that everyone could enjoy and that would give you tons of energy in a hurry. These Super Energy Balls (I thought about naming them Super Balls but Mark giggled so that was a no-go) are lightly sweetened, super chocolately and contain awesome nut-free, gluten free, oil free and refined sugar free ingredients for a little boost mid-day or at 7pm when the dinner rush is hitting you hard and you need to make a million hot waters with lemon.

Makes 20 1-tablespoon sized balls

•  1 banana
• 6 pitted Medjool dates
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• ¼ cup hulled hemp hearts
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao nibs
• 2 tablespoons goji berries
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ – ½ teaspoon kosher salt (start with ¼ and add more to suit your taste. The salt helps bring out the flavour of the cocoa)
• 1 cup puffed quinoa

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add the banana and pitted dates and blend until well incorporated and makes a paste. Add the banana-date paste to a large bowl, add all the ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. With a 1-Tablespoon measuring spoon, measure out the mix and roll in your hands to create a ball. They may seem a little soft at first but the chia seeds will firm them up. Continue with the rest of the mixture. Makes 20 balls.

The post Super Food Energy Balls appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.