Munchie Monday: Hula Bites

Lenny Gale at the YouTube channel:  LifeIsNoYoke put out some great recipes recently. Ones that he thought would help with weight loss possibly.  He uses a Vitamix to make the recipes he posted since he is a Vitamix guy.  This one has been pretty popular around here.

Hula Bites

1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dried pineapple
8 pitted dates

Coconut for rolling the balls

Place the almonds, oatmeal, macadamia nuts, dried pineapple, and dates in the Vitamix and blend well.  Lenny says don't over-blend.  My second batch I under-blended (or else I left out the dates) and the mixture did not stick together very well so I pushed it into a pan.  That seemed fine until I tried to take them out.  Not so successful. 

To make them the proper way, take one tablespoon of the "dough" and roll into a ball then roll in coconut.  Actually, Lenny has you take a small piece of the dried pineapple and form the dough around the pineapple then roll in coconut.  Those look really good.  One of my test subjects said,
"Use the coconut."  I still have not found it.  I guess I will get some at the store.  That is sure to help the bag we already have to turn up.

Another hula batch is coming up very soon.  I will try quality control...in that I will try to follow the recipe better. I did not have macadamia nuts the first time.  Instead I used raw cashews.  They came out really well.  Since the macadamia nuts are so expensive, I may just continue with the cashews.

This silicon pan was meant to use when making millet loaf. I thought instead of making it in a loaf pan I would smush it into these wells then bake it.  My intention was that it would be exactly right for millet loaf sandwiches.  This hula bite project was the first time I have used the pan in the year since I bought it.  Oh well.