A TREAT FOR TODAY. FOR YOU.

Recipe of the week... Bliss Balls!

Hi everyone,

I hope you’re having a supertastic weekend!

As I write, it’s a sunny Sunday morning in Sheffield. It’s officially October now and we’re rolling quite quickly into autumn. I’m sat with a cuppa in a comfy armchair, in a wonderfully clean living room (!!!) as CoolyColey took procrastination to the next level yesterday… and cleaned the entire ground floor of our house. I’m very thankful for this. And for the spectacular things that people can achieve, when they’re procrastinating, and failing to do something important instead.

This weekend has me thinking – a lot – about how fleeting life can be. Yesterday, me and a dozen or so other members of my family, took part in a Memory Walk event held nearby to us at Clumber Park. Over 4,000 people walked on the day, to show support for loved ones suffering with Alzheimer’s, and to raise fund to help the work of the Alzheimer’s Society.

My family at the Memory Walk yesterday

Lots of walks were held around the UK and over 100,000 people were walking in total. It was immense to be a part of such a big show of support, walking alongside all sorts of people, all uniting over our shared experiences with this one illness. It was very touching to read the messages fellow walkers had pinned to their backs about who it was they were walking for. Their loved one with Alzheimer’s.

My family were walking as my grandma is ill with Alzheimer’s at the moment. My grandma has been there for every one of us for our whole lives. For over 50 years she’s been a source of stories, advice, gossip… buffets! She’s laid on a spread SO MANY TIMES. And she’s put the kettle on and produced a loaf cake, seemingly from nowhere, for us all every time we’ve nipped over. All we’ve had to do is knock on the door. Or just walk in!

My grandma is the lady that taught me the steps for putting on lipstick. And she got my mum’s old bridesmaids dresses down from the loft so I could try them on. And she let me drape myself in all her beads and jewels. She was my audience while I sang karaoke in the living room! She always took me and my brother to the shop for sweets and magazines. She looked after us so often over the years, and she let us lick the bowl every time.

All down to my grandma

I remember my grandma being a little muddled over people’s names at our Christmas dinner last year. And now she’s in hospital really confused, and she struggles to recognise family when they come to visit her. There is no dignity to it. Hopefully, my grandma will be able to come home next week and then together we can look after her – as she’s always looked after us. But it won’t be the grandma from my memory who is coming home, really.

All this concern for my grandma, and the Memory Walk yesterday, have got me thinking about just how fleeting life can be. It could begin to fade away – or it could dramatically end – for any of us at any moment. And so we should make the most of lives! We should take care of ourselves and treat ourselves, and spend as much time as we possibly can with our friends and family.

Me and my mum at the Memory Walk

And so, today, me and CoolyColey have booked ourselves into a spa in Sheffield for 70-minute aromatherapy massages. Ultimate indulgence? YES. We’ve gone for it!! There’s no occasion and no real reason for this sudden need for a massage – but pay day came around and we fancied a treat. And so we’re going to have a verrrry luxurious afternoon. Why not?!

If you fancy a treat but don’t want to break the bank, maybe you could treat yourself to something a little luxurious from the kitchen instead? This morning I revived a classic ChefBeHere recipe… and got my hands messy in the kitchen making Bliss Balls! These are a raw, vegan, chocolatey treat that I used to make as an incentive to get me writing during the dark times of my dissertation at uni!

Bliss Balls are reeeeally rich and tasty and they’re also good for you! A treat for your taste buds and also a treat for your insides. Fancy a go? You can check out the recipe HERE.

I hope you all take a moment to think about what it is that’s important in life. And then focus your life on what it is that’s important. Because the other stuff doesn’t matter at all, really.

I hope the sun sets after a great day for you

Have a lovely rest of your weekend,

Hayley

BLEND YOUR WAY TO BLISS

Raw, vegan, eat clean, energy-packed, superfood titans...
Bliss Balls

 

Time taken: Half an hour

Ingredients: 1 cup of dates, ½ a cup of almonds, ½ a cup of hazelnuts, & 2 tablespoons each of chia seeds, ground flax seed, cacao powder & coconut oil. (Optional extras... desiccated coconut & goji berries).

 

Hi readers,

Life. How IS life today? How are things going for you?? It’s mid-week right now, so take a minute to think… How is this week going? Where is it heading? Evaluate your week. I hope things are looking tip top!

 

Today in Newcastle… January is ploughing on and we’ve had a day of wild, wild weather! Really, it thundered with rain, then there were raging winds, a brief snow storm, some beautiful clear skies, more flurries of snow… it’s madness!

As a result, I think everyone has made the decision to stay inside today, as much as is possible. I certainly have. Plus, everyone in North America is holed up still to hide away from the Juno Blizzard. And if all they’re doing across the pond is tweeting and berating weather forecasters… then I’m not stepping outside to jog.

So, instead, today I channelled my energies into some serious KITCHEN CREATIVITY. I got excited online the other day after I happened upon a blog called Deliciously Ella. This was recommended to me by my Mother Bear’s hubbie, Mr Mash. He said this blog was full of very ‘me’ (read, healthy) recipes, so I rushed to check it out… and it is! I love this blog! So many colourful photos and interesting ideas for things to try out in the kitchen. Check out Deliciously Ella HERE.

I was struck by one recipe that Ella makes for superfood snacks, to munch on during the day when you’re busy. This is exactly what I need right now for energy when I’m working in the library. I’ve drunk so much coffee that it’s increasingly just leaving me feeling dazed.

Instead of being caffeinated, this snacks are full of all-natural goodness. For a boost the right way! They're vegan, gluten-free and raw. Totally clean. Ella calls her creations ‘Ultimate Energy Bites’ but I’ve seen similar ideas online with the lovely name of… Bliss Balls. How cute??
 

I had to give them a go! So, I sacked the budget and invested in some exciting ‘cacao powder’. This is a  raw version of cocoa, I believe, which can be bought from health food shops like Holland & Barrett. It cost me a fiver. And, I’m such a squirrel, I realised that was the only ingredient I needed to buy for these! So, today, I had a cosy morning hiding from the weather, and set about making my first ever batch of Bliss Balls.

You should too! Here’s how to blend your way to bliss in five easy steps:

1. Scoop your tablespoons of coconut oil out of the tub, and melt in the microwave for a minute so that your oil turns from solid to liquid.

2. Chuck your almonds, hazelnuts, flax seed and chia seeds into a blender. Blend until a flour forms and the nuts have crumbled.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I had to stop the blender to shake things up a few times, in order to make sure that all the nuts had been blended.

3. Add all your remaining ingredients and BLEND AGAIN. Within a minute, sticky dough should have formed.

4. Use your hands to rolls the sticky mixture into truffle-sized balls.

5. If you like, roll your bliss balls around in some desiccated coconut or goji berries, or both! These stick to your balls and give them a tasty coating.

And you should have yourself a delicious batch of bliss balls, like mine. :)

You store them in the fridge and eat them whenever. Probably at a rapid pace. What do you think? Don’t these look so impressive?! I think they’re wonderful! Once you have the crazy ingredients, these aren’t hard to make at all. In fact, they’re quite fun! You get messy fingers and it’s an explosion in the kitchen. An explosion OF FUN.

And these taste… unbelievable. I don’t use protein powder, so I switched that out of Ella’s recipe in favour of extra cacao – this was a superb decision. These Bliss Balls are stodgy, sweet, chocolatey, yummy, indulgent, lovely little snacks. Guilt-free chocolate truffles. They taste SO GOOD. Like heaven! They’re the best. The BOMB.

I can't decide if I like the Bliss Balls with the coconut or with the berries more. I will have to eat more before I decide.

And I've been saving up cute fro-yo pots when I finish with them. So I'm going to use these to store my Bliss Balls in, to take to the library with me. :)

 

I am a convert. I love Bliss Balls! I feel… blissful. Readers, if you have the will and the budget to go buy the ingredients for these, then you definitely should. No regrets, I promise. Do this for your health and your happiness. Go.

Feel bliss safely,

Hayley