Granola Balls

One thing I've learned as I've been running and working out more consistently is that my meal schedule is not conducive to getting in workouts. My lunch time (not by choice) is at 10:45. By the time I get home from work around 4:00, I'm seriously ready to eat. I'll usually end up having a light snack before getting dinner started, and we try to eat dinner by seven every night. It usually works out pretty well; however, once I started working out I noticed some issues. If I tried working out right after work and before snacking, my stomach would hungrily gurgle and my muscles would quickly fatigue from lack of energy. If I ate when I got home and then tried working out before starting dinner, my snack was usually still fresh in my stomach and uncomfortable to exercise on. I knew that I needed something that I could take with me to work and snack on around 2:30/3:00, but I didn't feel like forking out the money at the grocery store to buy snacks (and they probably wouldn't be that healthy anyway). So, I did some hunting online and found these: Granola Balls. And a great find it was. These little guys are super tasty (and customizable), totally filling, and travel really well. Plus they keep in the fridge for a few weeks--perfect for what I needed.

Granola Balls
(one batch makes about 35, depending on the size of the ball)


1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup wheat germ or flax seed
2 cups assorted dried fruits, chopped nuts, and/or chocolate chips

Stir together peanut butter and honey until well mixed. Add in oatmeal and wheat germ. Mix in the dried fruits/nuts/chips. Shape into balls (I used a cookie scoop), and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate overnight. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge (can also be frozen).

Did I mention they were also incredibly easy? These are definitely worth giving a shot--they have enough sweet in them to make you feel like you are indulging, but since you can control the mix-ins, you can make them as healthy as you like!

Note: In the granola balls pictured I used a mixture of white chocolate chips, diced dried apples, golden raisins, chopped pecans, and chopped almonds. I've made them with other combinations though and they've still been great!