I am almost done with my third week of Whole 30 and at this point I have fallen into a sort of rhythm with what I am eating. I have figured out what foods work best for me for breakfast and lunch and am even discovering some regular dinners to keep in my rotation. I am hoping that once Whole 30 is over, I will be able to keep on track with eating little to no added sugar in my diet. Don’t get me wrong, I will occasionally indulge in baked tasty treats, which are my biggest weakness, but Whole 30 is teaching me that I have the willpower to resist. Which I think is pretty cool!
One of the things we have struggled with the most while on Whole 30 is the lack of quick snack and “dessert” options. Now I know that one of the points of Whole 30 is to try to move away from the idea that you need to eat something sweet after every meal, and I totally agree with this, but sometimes you just want to have something dessert like after you eat. This was especially true for us in the first two weeks, when our sugar craving were at their worst. I did some looking online and on Pinterest for Whole 30 dessert substitutes, and found the area to be generally lacking. So I thought I would try to come up with something I wanted to eat. The result are these Chocolate Coconut Banana Balls. On their own they are slightly sweet from the banana and the cocoa powder gives them the feeling of being a treat without all the junk generally found in desserts. If you want something sweeter you can add a little honey to the mixture, but I don’t think it is necessary, they are plenty tasty and satisfying on their own!
Ingredients
2 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup almond butter
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut, plus an additional 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut for coating
3 tbsp honey (optional, if not making for Whole 30)
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until well incorporated. If your bananas were very large you might need to add an additional 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to thicken the mixture.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 1 hour to cool.
- Spread the additional coconut out on a small plate.
- Remove the mixture from the fridge. Take one large tablespoon of the mixture and use your hands to roll it into a bowl. Coat the ball in the coconut you spread out on the plate. Repeat until all the mixture is gone.
- Keep refrigerated until you are ready to eat.
Yum! I made Almond Butter yesterday and I have some gooey Bananas; a great treat!
Thanks Lisa!