Chocolate Brownie Balls

I can’t complain about this work week, it’s been much better than last week being shorter and not on call. But still happy tomorrow is Friday and I decided to celebrate early with hubby by stepping out to Baagan for lunch for this week’s salad trio – a unique shaved brussels sprouts, apple, and mustard salad, wild rice with fresh herbs, and a fabulous spinach and blueberry salad with blueberry lemon dressing.

The brussels sprouts salad was my favorite with a unique and tangy flavor and great texture for raw brussel sprouts.

I continued my early weekend celebration by trying a new raw chocolate ball recipe that came out wonderfully if I may say. Last week my boss asked me for a hearty vegan protein snack recommendation after trying a bunch of pricy bars. I recommended trying a basic raw vegan dessert ball recipe of 3 cups hemp seeds, 1 cup packed pitted dates, and 2/3 cup chocolate powder in a food processor and rolling it into balls. He was so excited after trying it he texted me gushing how much his wife and kids liked the balls too and he needs to order hemp seeds in bulk!

It got me craving chocolate, but I don’t have any medjool dates on hand currently, just a pantry container full of organic raisins I bought in bulk from Costco. Not sure how the combination of chocolate and raisins would go together in a raw dessert ball, so I got daring and decided to try it. Guess what? The flavors work great together! Which is great because organic raisins tend to be cheaper than medjool dates.

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The mixture looks like a loose powder before adding the raisins into the food processor.

And like a clumpy dough after processing in the raisins and vanilla.

The flavor is perfect for me, a rich dark chocolate that’s sweet, but not too sweet. And the texture has a nice little crunch from the chia seeds.

These make a wonderful dessert or workout energy snack. Or maybe even dinner after a bad day.

While I was creating dessert, hubby was working on dinner using Trader Joe’s Chicken-less Seitan Strips in a stir fry.

I appreciate the low calories and high protein content of these strips.

And a sexy hubby who prepares gorgeous vegan meals!

I really liked the strips, they had a hearty texture, seasoned flavor, worked great in the stir fry, and were easy to prepare. My only minor complaints were the texture was slightly rubbery and the high sodium content. But they were great for a fast and easy meal.