Almond Butter Chews

Oh crazy day!! I just wanted to take a minute to tell everyone that I am amazed by the amount of energy I have been having lately. My "normal" prior to becoming vegan was waking up in the morning feeling like I hadn't slept nearly enough, followed by a cup of coffee & laying around the couch for a couple hours trying to get the energy to get going for the day. Then I would get a small burst of energy that would get me thru to the afternoon, where half of the time I learned that if I had too much to try to accomplish for the day I wouldn't dare eat lunch because then my afternoon lull would come crashing in and I would be a pile of poo needing a nap! I would either hit up a Starbucks or possibly pick up a Red Bull just to get thru the rest of the day. Fast forward to a year ago when I went vegan and my energy level increased greatly but I was still drinking my coffee first thing in the morning (purely habit and I knew that on the days I didn't drink it I would get a headache). It wasn't until the last couple weeks that I became determined to stop drinking coffee. I didn't want to depend on something because if I didn't drink it I would get a headache. To me, that is a big red flag that something probably isn't the best for you when it makes you jittery after consuming it and then has headache withdrawls. I started reading a new book this last week called "Crazy Sexy Diet" by Kris Carr and she talks about your body's ph and how you need to make sure to keep it balanced otherwise your body is CONSTANTLY trying to compensate for all of the highly acidic (bad)foods you are consuming. The ph scale is from 0-14, 7 is neutral, under 7 is acidic and over 7 is alkaline. Ideally you want your ph to be just a little alkaline (7.365). She mentions how it takes TWENTY times the ALKALINITY to neutral out an ACID!!  Vegetables/Fruits are considered more alkaline (for the most part) and go figure, meat and dairy is highly acidic!!  She also mentions how Coffee has a ph of 4, and pop has a ph of 2!! That is crazy!!!! No wonder my body has been feeling like it can never catch up on energy, hence drinking coffee in the morning and continuing the cyle over and over again!! Anyways, I started doing half decaf/half regular and then finally for the last 3 days I have been drinking Green Tea. I have had absolutely NO headaches and NO afternoon lulls!! I actually feel like I have had more energy thru out the entire day then I did when I had the caffeine from the coffee working. I am determined to get my energy from my foods and boy is it working!

Ok, I just had to tell you guys about that! On to better things: Dessert!! Not just any dessert, dessert with only 5 ingredients, 5 minutes and no baking! I am going to tell you that you WILL want to make atleast double, possibly triple this recipe. 2 reasons: the recipe only yields about 7 crisps and these are amazing! Marcus CAN NOT eat just one, he eats atleast 2 everytime and tonight he ate 2, went and looked in the freezer and told me there were "only 3 left so we might as well finish them off!" So funny! So here we go guys, this recipe is from www.ohsheglows.com website, she is amazing and has such great ideas!!

Almond Butter Chews

adapted by Oh She Glows
 

1/4 cup natural Almond Butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup rice crisp cereal

3 tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup

1 tablespoon non dairy mini chocolate chips or cacao nibs

Line a plate with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the almond butter, brown rice syrup, and vanilla. Stir well and add in the rice crisp cereal and chocolate chips. Stir very well until fully mixed.

Wet hands thoroughly and shape the mixture into ‘golf-balls’. Press mixture together firmly so it will hold. Wet hands after each ball is formed so the mixture will not stick to your hands. Place the balls onto parchment paper and freeze for 5 minutes. You can keep these chews in the freezer in a sealed container. I keep mine in the freezer all the time. I like that they are not as messy and it takes you a little bit longer to eat one when it is frozen so you will eat less of them (hopefully).

Makes 7 golf-ball sized chews.