no bake snack balls

Somehow, summer seems busier that the school year. It's always funny how that happens. It's in all of the very best ways - visiting friends, playing outside, sitting on the beach - it's just lovely, and the time seems to fly. In addition to hanging out with those (usually) sweet boys of mine, I've been spending some time at the camp (our camp!) cleaning, cleaning, painting, cleaning some more, and then painting. That place is getting some love. And it's on the verge of inhabitable! A couple of coats of paint on the floor (and the cleaning of the floor beforehand) and we'll be good to go. This is the kind of work that I am literally bouncing out of bed to do on the mornings that I go. Quiet time on my own in the woods to putter and make things homey? Yes, please!

A few days ago, I took a minute to have a snack on the porch and watch the birds, between coats of paint. In the midst of a thundershower, and covered in sweat, grime, cobwebs, and happy as a clam, I had a couple of these for a snack. Since it's summer and all, I thought I'd share a flexible recipe that packs well to take on hikes or in the car, is tasty, filling, will keep the kiddos happy, and it takes ten easy minutes to make. How does that sound?

No-Bake Snack Balls

3/4 cup peanut butter 
1/2 cup honey
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup ground flaxseed 
1 cup dried cranberries, coconut, almonds, chocolate chips or any other ingredient you love

Melt peanut butter in microwave for a few seconds until it's softened. Mix with honey, and stir into other ingredients. Shape into balls, and refrigerate. 

You may find that you need to adjust the peanut butter / honey amounts to suit your additional ingredients so the balls aren't too dry or wet. My peanut butter was quite dry (I used some crunchy natural stuff, which was great, but a bit on the dry side), and I assumed that perhaps they would stick together better once refrigerated. Not so - it seems that they'll stay about the same amount of stuck together as they are when you put them in the fridge. So play around a bit, and find some ratios that you love! Enjoy!

And if you like these, you might also like these date rolls I posted awhile back.

And I finally did get that rhubarb jelly made! (The gluten free cracker experiment still hasn't taken place. The stars of me feeling like tackling it, and having time time and space in the kitchen just hasn't happened yet. But now that the jelly's piling up, we'll have to have some crackers to spread it on!) The jelly didn't turn the pretty pink that it has before, but it is delicious, and I kind of like that colour.

Happy Wednesday!