The Best Peanut Butter Bites

These peanut butter bites are not only good for you, they are filling with just one bite and they are suuuper simple to make.

 

How often do your kids come home from school and the second they walk in the door they say, “Can we have a snack?” Or, (oh my gosh, this is so me), it’s late at night, you have finally finished all your chores, the last email and everyone is in bed.  You are ready to sit and watch your favorite T.V. show.  You pull on the pjs, sit down, grab the remote and then it hits you…you’re are flippin’ hungry! So you’re thinking, “I shouldn’t be eating this late at night”…”it’s past 6pm”…”I didn’t even get in my workout today”…your belly speaks back to you, “growl!” Uuuugggghhh! No worries my friend, here’s your solution.

 

When I was pregnant I had big cravings for peanut butter and chocolate so I always had my peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies in the freezer to grab whenever a craving struck. When I was pregnant with my second child, I was always eating pb&j sandwiches because I needed to eat but was also chasing around a very active toddler.

 

 

Peanut butter is a plant protein

My son has always been turned off by all animal proteins. Over the past few years he has been eating more chicken but it needs to be cooked with perfection. He will also occasionally eat turkey bacon, thanks to his sister (she is always asking him to try her food). Being who I am, I have never pushed him to eat any of the animal proteins the rest of us are eating. Partly this is because of my witnessing of a friend forcing their child to eat meats. It completely turned my stomach and I vowed to never do that to my children.

He gets plenty of plant proteins and also eats organic dairy products. Our favorite way of serving up plant based proteins is through smoothies! One of our favorites is the pb&j smoothie —with peanut butter as the star.

 

 

 

 

A dietitian’s perspective

From a dietitians standpoint, peanut butter is actually a great choice. As a plant protein with naturally occurring fats, it’s a hit my diet book (oh, wait, I don’t have one…YET!).  It also provides niacin, magnesium and copper…think energy here. It also provides folate and fiber…respectively, good for those looking to become pregnant and then afterwards, to help with weight loss. The hard part about it is watching those serving sizes.  A full serving of protein is 2 tablespoons and that is SUPER easy to go over. So how do you handle this? Well, I like to pull out 2 small spoons, yes, small. I actually will use my kids spoons that they have just not been able to let go from when they were toddlers. This assures me that I am not eating more than the serving size.

 

 

Our favorite way to eat protein

My peanut butter bites are always a hit and they are not only packed with peanut butter and other nuts, but I add oats and my favorite gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan/non-GMO protein powder mix. So check out my recipe and let me know what you think in the comments below.