i'm nuts for nuts!

being unemployed and around the house most of the day, i find myself in front of the refrigerator quite a bit searching for snacks to eat between meals. i usualy pop popcorn, slice up some carrots or have a bowl of cereal, but since seeing this post, ive wanted to try to make my own granola bites.

you will need granola (homemade or store bought), different seeds & nuts (i used almonds and sunflower seeds), olive oil, maple syrup, honey (optional), vanilla (optional) and a meat pounder

 1. put granola, nuts and seeds into a bag and pound it out so its in small pieces

 2. pour the pounded mixture into a large bowl and add a dash of vanilla, a little bit of honey and olive oil and some maple syrup (the first time around i didnt use enough, so be generous with the syrup- this holds your mixture together)

 3. form little "balls" onto a waxy baking sheet and bake in the oven at 200 degrees farenheit for about 15 minutes

  4. mine literally came out like pancakes, but at this point its really easy to use a spoon and form little balls and they will stick and harden as they cool, so work fast  :)

 5. after the granola bites have cooled and hardened, they will look like this and be ready to eat

 6. i took it one step further (cause who doesnt love chocolate!) and melted chocolate to dip the bites into

7. dip granola bites into the chocolate halfway.

you want to taste the sweet chocolate, but you dont want the bites to be overly sweet

8. refrigerate so the chocolate doesn't melt

 9. have fun with it!

what's your favorite snack?