Pro­tein balls are the per­fect on-the-go, yum­my snack. Ba­nana and choco­late chips make them taste ex­treme­ly in­dul­gent (it’s hard to think they’re good for you!) with­out ac­tu­al­ly be­ing in­dul­gent on your body. They are per­fect as a pick-me up snack for those lethar­gic af­ter­noons at work.

Make these pro­tein balls ahead of time, re­frig­er­ate and then pack as a be­fore-work out en­er­gy bite or quick break­fast in the morn­ing. You can al­so get cre­ative with the out­er coat­ing—add co­conut flakes or crushed nuts and seeds to give them an ex­tra crunch.

If you can't find choco­late pro­tein pow­der or, you sim­ply don't have it on hand, sub­sti­tute co­coa pow­der and ground chia seeds!

CHOCO­LATE-BA­NANA PRO­TEIN BALLS

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

1 ½ cups oat­meal

2 ta­ble­spoons choco­late pro­tein pow­der*

2 to 4 ta­ble­spoons al­mond milk

½ tea­spoon of hon­ey

¼ cup unsweet­ened choco­late chips

*Sub­sti­tute 1 ta­ble­spoon co­coa pow­der and 1 ta­ble­spoon chia seeds for choco­late pro­tein pow­der

DI­REC­TIONS

1 Grind oat­meal in a food proces­sor or blender un­til it turns in­to a pow­der.

2 In a medi­um-sized bowl, com­bine pro­tein pow­der and ground oat­meal.

3 In a sep­a­rate medi­um-sized bowl, mash one ba­nana. Add hon­ey and mix well.

4 Add wet in­gre­di­ents to the dry in­gre­di­ents; mix.

5 Then, grad­u­al­ly add al­mond milk un­til you get a cook­ie dough-like tex­ture.

6 Add choco­late chips and mix. Then, roll the dough in­to 1 ½-inch in di­am­e­ter balls.

7 Roll the balls in­to crushed, toast­ed nuts or seeds, co­coa nibs or co­conut flakes. Re­frig­er­ate and use at your con­ve­nience or, serve and en­joy!