No-Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bites

These little power balls are amazing!  I adapted this recipe from Skinny Ms.  Her recipe is 203 calories per energy ball but I was able to get the calories down to 178 calories per ball and 11 grams of fat to 9 grams of fat.  With 5 grams of protein and 19 grams of carbs, you'll never know what hit ya!  Maybe it was just in my head but not only could I not eat just one, but if I ate a couple in the late evening, I couldn't get to sleep right away.  And of course, they are gluten free!

No-Bake Energy Bites

1/2 cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup natural peanut butter or almond butter
2 cup oats
1/4 cup oat flour
1 medium banana, smashed
1 tsp vanilla (or more.  I always add more!)
Pinch of salt
3 TB chia seeds
1/3 cup honey
1 TB cocoa powder
1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)

What to do:

In a large bowl, combine oats, oat flour, chia seeds, salt, cocoa powder and coconut.

In another bowl, combine the smashed banana, peanut/almond butter, honey, vanilla and chocolate chips.

Combine both bowls together.

Using your hands, make small balls and place them in a parchment-line container.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours.  Makes roughly 20-23 energy bites.  Freezes well.  Enjoy!


Per energy bite:
178 calories, 9 g fat, 19 g carbs, 6 g protein

Summer Recap 2016

My dad used to say, "The easiest thing in the world to do is to turn off your alarm clock and go back to sleep."  He's right.  But one of the hardest things in the world to do is to take time out for yourself. My new saying since this Summer has been:

"My life has been like going off the rails of the crazy train."

I love to write but it has been put on the way back burner for a long time because everything and everyone else has been more important.  I'm not asking for a pity party.  I've had free time here and there and I really can't complain.  What I do complain about is that I'm using that free time all wrong. Iphone... games... TV.... need I say more?

Lately, I've noticed views on my blog through Facebook and it has inspired me to get back to writing again.

Thank you to whoever is visiting me!

In the past, I'd write on a regular basis but it seemed that no one was ever reading my posts.  No comments, no views and it got lonely and discouraging as a writer. To me, it seemed that most people who were writing blogs had hundreds of followers and tons of comments.  And me?  7 followers, whom 5 I didn't even know and no comments on any of my posts.   I had to bring myself back to the real reason why I started a blog in the first place.

For me.

In my latest post, Reading My Past I wrote about all 30 years' worth of my journals that I found.  Back then, I wrote because I liked to.  I didn't write to catch fame.  I wrote so I would remember the crazy stuff I did as a kid, the places I went and the friends I had.  That was satisfying enough to write just for me.  So when I started All About Jillzy, it was easy to get caught up in the eagerness of "fame" and get as many followers as I could.  But I guess God had a different plan for my writing.  He kept it grounded for me.

So those handful of views I've gotten lately, Thank You!  You've inspired me to get back to the keyboard and get back to work!

So, with the promise of my Summer Recap, here you go!

We moved!  Our landlord decided to sell our condo and off we went to new adventures.  It wasn't a big move, but big enough where my daughters had to change school districts.  It has been an adjustment, needless to say, but my girls have adjusted to their new schools and I've adjusted pretty well to a bigger house, a basement and an attached garage!  With that being said, our Summer wasn't that super fun, although my girls had way more fun than I did.  They got to go on a couple small trips, swim with friends and sleep in and hang out.  Me?  I cleaned out and organized my house and I must say it feels good to have gotten rid of so much stuff!!!

At times, we all get down on the fact that we had to move.  We were so happy where we were. I miss meeting my friends at the bus stop every morning, the fact that my girls were old enough to run out the door and play with friends pretty much any time they wanted and I didn't have to worry about them.  They could ride their bikes and there was always someone to play with.  Our neighborhood was truly "It takes a village to raise a child" kind of environment.  I knew one of my neighbor friends would be around if I didn't get back in time for the school bus in the afternoon, or knowing that they would be okay if they had to be home alone for a while.

I tell my girls that God has a plan for us.  We may not know what that plan is (or why we had to move) but in God's way and in His own time, we'll know what that plan is for us... and it will be Good.  We just have to be patient.  

In the meantime, I'm enjoying a bigger house, a really nice neighborhood, friendly neighbors, really good schools for my girls, loving my part-time job and enjoying all my grandchildren. God is good!  In a couple of weeks, we start painting!!!  I'm looking forward to looking at color in my house rather plain white walls!

Thanks for stopping by!

Reading My Past

I recently came across a couple of large keepsake boxes that I've kept for years.  Unfortunately, the hard rain of this past summer had gotten to the boxes and made almost everything inside moldy and musty smelling.  It was heartbreaking to see some of my childhood items, accomplishments and memories ruined, but oddly enough it didn't seem to bother me as much as I thought when I first saw the dampened boxes.  Lately, I've been going through corners of my house and getting rid of stuff that I either haven't used or have forgotten about.  I'm getting tired of pushing things around that I really don't need and frankly, I'm starting to feel claustrophobic in my house.  These two large boxes were no exception that I had to go through them and decide what to keep or...  

PURGE

I hate that word.  PUUUUURGE!

The fact remains that I can't take this stuff with me, I haven't enjoyed any of the contents for years and my kids aren't going to care about most of it anyway.  So I had to make a decision.

What am I going to do with all this stuff???

I found my high school and college diplomas, photos of people I haven't seen since I was a kid, books I didn't even know I had, prom and homecoming corsages, plaques, and awards... 

...But most importantly, the box on top wasn't ruined (just really musty smelling) and it contained all my journals. I have been writing journals since I was 8 years old.  

What a blast I had reading through all those journals and the different phases of my life.  I read about memories I had forgotten about, friends I used to hang out with and the things we did, and thoughts about anything and everything.  30 years of my life written down, how my handwriting had changed, ticket stubs and receipts I've kept, even brochures of camps and activities I did.  

Remember that word that I hate?  Purge.  That's exactly what I did to most of my journals.  I threw them all away.  Why?  Because not only will my kids not care about friends and boyfriends I used to have (because there's a reason why I'm not friends with or dating them anymore) but I don't want them to know the first time I smoked a cigarette, the first time I got trashed at a party or sneaked out of a friend's house when I slept over and the potty mouth I once had.  I was appalled at myself and so thankful that I no longer know that girl I once was.  Sure, it would've been nice for my daughters to read some of those journals someday.  They could've learned a little about me and maybe even relate to me when they become a teenager someday.  My girls will learn more about me reading my blog and my current journals that I did keep.  I kept the journal when Jeff and I were planning our wedding and what we went through those couple of years.  They'll learn about what it was like when I was pregnant with them and the first years of their life as their mom.  Those are the journals they'll be more interested in reading and those are the ones I've kept.

Although it was nice reading those old journals, it actually felt good to throw them out.  Those bad memories are gone forever and the good ones that were worth keeping are still in my heart.  I can't take it with me when I go someday and it's refreshing to simplify my life with a little (ok a lot) less clutter.  My only regret throwing away all my journals: I didn't take a picture of how many notebooks I wrote over the years.