Dried Fruits, Seeds and Nuts 'Energy' Balls

January 19, 2012
apricot-seeds-nuts-balls

Helloooo my Lovelies.... I am back in Blogging World.
And I hope it is not too late to wish everyone a Happy 2012... 



 Dried Fruits, Seeds and Nuts 'Energy' Balls


We barely into our 1st month of the Gregorian Calender... another New Year is looming in 4 days ... Chinese New Year. Whoa... feels like eating session will carry on forever!! when will I be able to lose the kilos I piled on during Christmas.... 

Rabbit is surely moving out of the scene and Dragon will soon be here... which reminds me ~ I have to read about Year of the Dragon and Feng Shui...

What I love about celebrating Chinese New Year in H hometown... ~ its festive atmosphere... somehow the air smelled different... possibly due to the firecrackers blasting all night long... slight smell of sulphur still hangs heavy in the air. The distance sounds of Chinese drums and Cymbals, where the troupe performing Lion or Dragon dance, to bless houses.
Kids were the happiest at this time of the year... they get to put on new clothes, new shoes, could eat all the sweets treats to their heart content... and most of all their faces would be beaming with joy whenever they were handed angpows (red packets with $$$) by their parents, aunties, uncles...

My kids would be making a passing remark on their 'Loss' of angpows,... whenever we celebrated Chinese New Year in Perth, hehehe...  awww...too bad kiddos

Visiting relatives is a must during Chinese New Year, paying respect to your elders ie grandparents, uncles, aunties... and guests are served with Chinese New Year Goodies... cookies, dried fruits, mandarins and nuts along with Chinese tea.... followed by 'Steamboat' lunch.

Its Chinese New Year and its time to celebrate... we tend to forget about 'healthy eating' and stuff ourselves with high sugary food...  Whats left on the serving tray would be the dried fruits and some odd seeds or nuts...

And what if we mix all the 'healthy' snack left over in the serving tray?

 Dried Fruits, Seeds and Nuts 'Energy' Balls

The result would be this Energy Balls... a mix of dried apricots, candied winter melons, pepitas (or kuaci), dried dates, add black sesame seeds, honey and spiced it up with cinnamon.

Kids would not have noticed that these were made from some 'healthy' snack... adults too  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

wishing our families, relatives, friends, followers and readers....


GONG XI FA CAI
Have a good one 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dried Fruits, Seeds and Nuts 'Energy' Balls Recipe 

(adapted from Delicious with modifications)

1 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup of oats
100g dried apricots-chopped
50g pitted dates - chopped
50g pepitas
50g candied winter melons - chopped
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried dessicated coconut
  1. Place the chopped dried fruits, seeds, nuts and oats in a food processor and whiz for 2-3 minutes.
  2. Add cocoa powder, cinnamon and honey and whiz for another 2-3 minutes until all the ingredients comes together.
  3. Lightly moistened hand and roll into a large marble size balls.
  4. Roll the balls in the coconut to coat.

Comments

  1. Gong Xi Gong Xi!! Welcome back, you were missed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gong xi fai cai! I wish you a wonderful year of the dragon.

    Those energy balls looks fantastic! Something I adore.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sooo pretty and I love dried fruits and this sounds so perfect!
    Gong xi fai cai!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gong xi fa cai!!! Happy new year too!
    May this dragon year bring us more energy! Keep it up in bloggin! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pickyin
    Gong Xi Fa Cai to you too :D

    Rosa
    Thank you Rosa...wishing you a prosperous Dragon New Year too :)

    Ann
    awww thanks Ann :)
    Gong Xi Fa cai

    Torviewtoronto
    :D

    Leemei
    Wishing you the same dearie :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a terrific way to use up all those extra fruits, seeds and nuts in a healthy way - Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy New Year Lisa~~~! So happy to hear you are back! How's cooking in your new kitchen? =) Thanks for the delicious post. Your photos make us drool all the time!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy year of the Dragon to you and famiy! sooo true about the 'sounds' and 'smells' of CNY...
    Good thing my kids r not complaining about missing ang-pows yet, as they are not used to the concept...wait a few years time..then for sure it will be diff:)ha! ha!

    ReplyDelete
  9. jeanette
    Thanks Jeanette :D

    Nami
    Its good to be back...
    Kitchen is fun but getting to know the oven will take some time ;)
    Happy New Year to you too Nami :D

    Lina
    Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and family...
    LOL... once 'gotten' the red packet... they'll be asking for more... even on Christmas (no more presents :P)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Chinese New Year Lisa. Hope you get some angpow from your hb. It's been 6 years since I received my last angpow. Married or not, I used to get from the office and their contractors..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Flower
    Happy New Year and Terimakasih...
    Ang pow from lo'kong ... sudah semestinya...
    Kat KL .... by this time of year (plus Raya)... we all boleh buka mini grocery store with hampers ;)...with a record high of 20 delivered...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lisa,
    I ni teringat masa kat Msia. Time2 gini tempat kerja I dulu, kita semua dapat angpow. Banyak2 pulak tu. Kerja kat property developer, banyak lah contractor. Bila bagi bukan saja angpow, kalau hampers banyak sangat, we all semua boleh share. Lepas tu CNY lunch kat hotel2. Makan free, grocery free, poket tebal...

    Your lo'kong bagi angpow, my lo'kong tak pernah lak bagi chrissie pressie..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Flower
    LOL...Itu SOP (standard Operating Procedure) for my lo'kong ;)... semuanya red packets be it CNY or Christmas or Raya and even birthdays ;) ... so no surprises at all hehehe ... tak lomantic langsung kan?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great post.Thanks for sharing such a useful information with us.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Lisa, happy new year and wish you all the best in dragon year.
    Very creative ideal of the energy balls. Looks good.
    Have a nice weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bulk Vegetable
    Thanks :D

    Amelia
    Kong Hei Kong Hei... :
    Gong Xi Fa Cai :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. ohhh yummy! i always enjoy reading about what ppl normally do on CNY for tradition and also other festive holidays... can already feel the "mood" and atmosphere from reading about them, thx for sharing urs! i LOL-ed when you said you forgot abt "healthy eating" this time of yr cuz i think a lot of us can identify haha! happy year of the dragon to you and fam, wherever you are! =D

    ReplyDelete
  18. These seeds and nuts energy balls sound great. Thanks for the post and pictures.

    ReplyDelete