Breakfast Balls: The Quick, Easy & Healthy Breakfast-On-The-Run for Time Poor People

Breakfast Balls: The Quick, Easy and Healthy Breakfast-On-The-Run for Time Poor People

These oaty balls of balanced goodness are ideal for breakfast on the run.  If you’re a regular breakfast skipper then you should think about keeping a stash of something like this in your freezer for those mornings when it simply isn’t possible to squeeze in the extra five or ten minutes to prepare and eat breakfast.  Smoothies are also a great way to nourish and energise your body in preparation for a busy day ahead, but sometimes it’s nice to actually eat something. 

If you need a quick and easy snack ready to banish the low blood sugar crankies in the afternoon then these scrummy balls will do the trick. High in protein,  fibre and slow release energy (aka low GI) they’re the perfect afternoon or after school snack. They’re also a convenient snack to throw in your exercise bag.

I’ve also added probiotics to help maintain a healthy and robust garden of microbes in your gut which support the health of your brain, digestion, immune and cardiovascular systems as well as your emotional health. Prebiotics in organic oats help to feed and nourish these good bugs.

Tired of super sweet bliss balls made from dates?

After growing tired of the overly sweet taste of date based bliss balls, these organic oaty breakfast balls have become a bit of an any-time staple snack for a hungry 18 month old and 5 and ¾ year old  and their mum. I have found myself reaching for them when my blood sugar levels need a nudge in the right direction in order to survive a busy afternoon and still be on speaking terms with those around me 😊  

Annnnnd you don’t even need a blender.  No blender and no baking.  And both of my kids love them.  Winning.  

Don’t have time for a slow food breakfast?

I know that slow food is the go these days but motherhood has really tested my love of cooking and spending time in the kitchen.  Pre kids, cooking was one of the ways I used to relax and nurture myself.  Post kids, food often feels like a necessary evil.  I just want something quick, easy and healthy that’s made from real food. 

You don’t need kids to have a go at making these. They are a perfect freezer friendly snack or even meal replacement for time poor busy people wanting convenient real food solutions.

 Breakfast balls tick all of the right boxes

• Gluten free (oats are gluten free but often contaminated with gluten from other grains, use contamination free oats if you need to ensure they are 100% gluten free).
• High in fibre (the right type of fibre that feeds and nourishes the good bugs in your gut)
• Sustained release or low GI carbohydrate.
• Vegan or vegetarian (using a non dairy protein powder such as brown rice or hemp protein).
• Dairy free (if using a non dairy protein powder).
• A source of healthy fats.
• Encourage a healthy gut microbiome with probiotics and soluble fibre (prebiotics).

Breakfast balls contain nuts so they’re not suitable for school lunch boxes but you can replace the nut butter with sunflower butter made from sunflower seeds which is available in health food stores and supermarkets or make your own seed butter in a food processor from sunflower seeds, pepitas, sea salt and coconut oil.

I’ve played around with 2 different recipes, neither of which require a food processor.  For the first recipe, Choc-Orange Breakfast Balls, I’ve aimed to use ingredients that you’ve probably already got at home, or, if you need to buy them then you’ll get them from most supermarkets and any health food store.

The second recipe, Berry Delicious Breakfast Bites are a bit more fussy requiring more in the way of specialised ingredients.  These breakfast bites are packed with ingredients that help to support your body as you get older vs providing a dense hit of protein and energy for growing bodies and brains that the choc-orange balls provide.

Both recipes are extremely forgiving and you don’t even really need to measure the ingredients, guestimates work just fine.  Aside from the oats and protein powder as the base and nut butter as the binder, feel free to add or subtract ingredients as you please or your taste buds (or those of your kids) dictate.

Note:  These breakfast balls are NOT overly sweet.  You can adjust the sweetness up or down as needed using either honey, maple syrup or Lakanto (a combination of Monk fruit and erythritol, a sugar alcohol similar to xylitol which is absorbed very poorly from the digestive tract).  If you do have a bit of a sweet tooth then I’d recommend REDUCING the sweetener rather than increasing.  You will get used to the less sweet taste in time, I promise.  These aren’t meant to be a sweet treat, they’re a real food on the run alternative to processed breakfast and snack bars.