Hoard Hiding Granola Bites

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As we prepare for (yet another) interstate move it's become apparent that I'm a pantry hoarder. Clearly I died in a famine in a past life because I squirrel and stockpile and stash like  a motherfucker. Now, with the move looming, the clock is ticking to use all this shit up, and by shit I mean all glorious, gorgeous, goodies I've been lovingly collecting because you never know when you're going to need twelve different varieties of nut butter, eight types of nuts and seeds, five different alternative flours or several cans of coconut cream...My name is Katie, and I am a health food hoarder.

So, this wee creation serves the dual purpose of filling the fridge with clean snacks that both the big and little people will eat, and getting rid of some of the evidence of my little hoarding habit.

Get this stuff

1 C dates soaked in water for at least a couple of hours to soften then drained but soaking liquid reserved

1/2 C quinoa flakes

1/2 C rolled oats *

1/2 C puffed quinoa

1/2 C puffed buckwheat

1/2 C puffed rice - note this is plain puffed rice, not dirty old rice bubbles

1/2 C shredded coconut

2 T chia seeds

1/4 C nut butter

1/4 C coconut oil

1/4 C tahini ***

Substitution options:

* If you want to keep these gluten free you can either use gluten free oats if you can get your hands on them or sub in extra quinoa flakes.

** If you can't get your hands on all the different puffy thingies, or you just can't be arsed getting them you can just sub extra of the ones you do have or can get. Other interesting options include rolled spelt or triticale flakes, buckwheat groats, toasted whole quinoa... it's all about creating interesting and tasty textures so feel free to go wild with whatever you can get your hands on.

*** Tahini can also be replaced with extra nut butter if it's not your thing or you don't have it on hand

Do this with it

I really feel like I need to write a recipe that's complicated as all hell sometime soon to make up for all these 'just throw everything in the blender' creations. But, the fact is that right now I have two sleep thieving kids and a short attention span so anything that requires minimal effort and attention to detail is a big fat winner with me!

Start by creating a paste that will form the base by blending the dates, nut butter, tahini, coconut oil, oats, quinoa flakes and chia seeds. This should all come together pretty easily and create a relatively soft consistency, if the mixture is too stiff add a little of the date soaking water to smooth it out. Next in are the coconut and all the puffed bits and bobs. The reason for adding them second is to keep them on the chunky side rather than having just smashed into the mixture to retain some interesting texture in the balls so blend just enough to get everything well combined.

That's it. Roll into large teaspoon sized balls, or whatever size you fancy, and pop them in the fridge to set.

Job done and evidence of ridiculous hoarding shopping habits hidden - double win!