Yesterday I discovered Picnik and spent an hour experimenting with their pretty fonts. Then I learned Picnik will be shut down in three weeks. It felt a little like handing a child a brand new toy and taking it away at once. Not cool, Flickr.
Anyway, enjoy these short-lived font experiments. They might distract you from the fact that I completely forgot to photograph my lunch. It was fabulous: a salmon burger with spinach, arugula, tomatoes, red cabbage, hummus and sriracha, all wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla the size of my head. Apples and peanut butter on the side.
Backing up to breakfast — does this look familiar? I actually wanted hot oatmeal, but I overslept by about thirty minutes because our fifth smoke detector battery decided to die at 3 a.m. I needed something quick that didn’t require standing over the stove. Can I just say how much I love Van’s waffles? They’re inexpensive and they stay crisp, which is important when building a waffle stack for breakfast. (I’m looking at you, Kashi — some frozen waffles definitely don’t hold up.)
Here’s a quick visual of lunch:
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Yummy.
These turned out to be really tasty. If my earlier tone sounded sarcastic, that was intentional — sarcasm is often my default voice in writing. Katie posted a lemon poppy seed no-bake cookie recipe that immediately grabbed my attention for several reasons:
- No-bake — perfect for days when I don’t want to cook.
- I already had most of the ingredients on hand.
- I can’t go a week without a ball-style snack.
- I have a soft spot for lemon poppy seed flavors, just as much as I love chocolate.
I made a few substitutions: I used chia seeds instead of poppy seeds because I didn’t have any poppy seeds on hand. I didn’t have unflavored protein powder either, so I used two tablespoons coconut flour plus two tablespoons vanilla protein powder. I also added a few tablespoons of coconut milk to reach a dough-like consistency suitable for rolling into balls. The result still had that bright lemon poppy seed muffin flavor and packed a decent amount of protein.
No Bake Coconut Lemon Chia Balls
Author: Gina Matsoukas
Servings: 9 | Prep: 20 mins | Total: 20 mins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- Juice from 1/4 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds (substitute for poppy seeds)
- 2–3 tablespoons coconut milk, as needed
Instructions
- Add the dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, protein powder, chia seeds, salt) to a bowl and mix to combine.
- Melt the coconut oil and warm the coconut milk; stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir very well until a dough forms. Add coconut milk a tablespoon at a time if the mixture is too dry.
- Roll the dough into balls or flatten into cookies, place on a plate or baking sheet, and chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up.
- Keep chilled and enjoy as a protein-packed snack.
Nutrition (approximate per serving)
- Calories: 126 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Fat: 11 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Sugar: 1 g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximation.
Look — natural light in a dinner picture! I find that shooting at sunset actually speeds up my workflow: fewer edits and less fuss than emailing phone photos to myself, uploading to Flickr, and downloading again. I was alone for dinner, so I experimented. I roasted a stuffed portobello and enjoyed it with a side of hard apple cider. It wasn’t flashy, but it was satisfying and added a bit of green to finish out the month’s meals.