Coconut Chocolate Nutty Power Balls

Another quick and easy recipe, using only the food processor and a plate! (I’m all for reducing the washing up!)  This recipe makes about 22 balls, so it’s a great recipe to make at the start of the week, and they keep really well in the fridge.
Original recipe here.

Pulse 1 cup raw almonds in a food processor for a few minutes, they will become fine with a few bigger chunks throughout
Add in 1/4 cup raw cashews and pulse again until mixture is crushed up into small pieces (not a fine meal though!)
Then add in the following:
~ 2 Tbsp coconut milk (I used Tcc brand) or cream (Ayams)
~ 1/4 cup liquid coconut oil (I used Absolute Organics which was $13 for 900ml from Costco)
~ 1 heaped Tbsp organic raw cacao powder (Organic Road is around $8 from Maloney’s Grocer)
~ 1/3 cup shredded coconut
~ 1/4 cup raisins
~ 6 dried dates
~ 2 Tbsp flax seeds (also called linseeds), ground (I used a coffee grinder, but you could alternatively use premade LSA powder)
~ 1 Tbsp chia seeds

Whiz for a few seconds on low/medium, until the mixture starts to clump
You should be able to form a solid ball with the mixture – if it’s a bit dry, add a bit more coconut oil; if it’s a bit wet then add some almond meal/shredded coconut/ground flax seeds/LSA
Roll the balls in some more shredded coconut
Place on a plate in the fridge to set

** You can mix the recipe up by using 1.5 cups of any mixed nuts – walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews
** Swap out the raisins for cranberries or currants
*** Don’t feel compelled to use everything listed above – as long as you have nuts, fruit, coconut oil, coconut cream and cacao it should work just fine!

Near North Food Tour In Chicago

I’ve just arrive back from 2 weeks in the States, and of course one of my main sightseeing tasks included food!  Since I’ve never been to Chicago before, and didn’t know the city very well, I booked in for a Chicago Food Planet Tour.  Here are some of the dishes we ate along the way:

Reuben Sandwich, with their own swirled rye bread, home made sauerkraut and thousand island dressing (which includes beetroot and boiled egg!) at Ashkenaz Deli:
  

Deep Dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s – more like a pie than a pizza, the pastry-like crust is delicious:

Next stops were TeaGschwendner, then Old Town Oil which had one of the best in store signs I’ve seen in a while:

The Spice House was next; they are experts in anything to do with herbs and spices – my personal favourite was the Porcini Salt Cream:

The onto the sweet part – The Fudge Pot, where we tried some delicious honeycomb chocolate crunch:
  

After learning a bit of history of the area, we finished at Delightful Pastries for some traditional Polish treats:
  

Overall, it was a great tour, from the food aspect and from the historical aspect.  I’d highly recommend it for people who have not visited Chicago before!