'Energy balls' are always delicious and nutritious. They're so simple to make and play around with by adding different superfoods such as dried fruit, nuts, seeds, goji berries, chia, and so on. Though they're a nice treat at any time, there is one time in particular where energy balls are a must for me: while hiking. I love having a high-nutrient/energy fuel on hand that leaves no mess and is super easy to pack, grab and eat.

Unfortunately, being 9 months pregnant is limiting my hiking adventures. But that's not to say it's limiting others'. My boyfriend and his best friend, visiting all the way from Germany, are soon embarking on a week-long camping/hiking/road trip through Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. (Yes, I'm jealous.) To help them on their journey, I'm providing a few treats- Coconut Energy Balls, to start. 

Coconut Energy Balls
(makes  16 large balls)

1 cup (packed) chopped and pitted dates (I used Honey Dates which are easiest to find at my grocery store)
1 cup whole, unroasted almonds
1/2 cup cashews (mine were roasted and salted but unroasted/salted are great too)
1 cup unsweetened, dried coconut
1/2 tsp each vanilla and almond extract (or 1 tsp vanilla extract if you don't use almond)
1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp salt

In a food processor blend up nuts until they are in fine pieces.
Add dates, coconut, extracts and salt and continue blending until the mixture falls away from the walls of the food processor. Check to see if it's ready by trying to form a ball with the mixture. If it's too dry it will crumble, but as the nuts release more oil, it will stick together. 

Transfer mixture to a large bowl and begin forming balls by squeezing mixture in the palm of your hand and rolling, or shaping balls. 

The meal with which I begin my day often dictates my eating pattern for the rest of the day. In general, healthy choices lead to more healthy choices. My favourite way to break my overnight fast (12 hours between dinner and breakfast is optimal!) is with a fresh, cold smoothie. Starting my day off with a couple servings of fruit, one or two servings of veggies and some omega-3 fats, while staying full and energized for a few hours is my kind of breakfast.

The basis of all of my breakfast smoothies is: 1 ripe banana, 1-2 cups of greens (parsley, spinach, kale, lettuce), 1 cup of frozen fruit (blueberries, mixed berries, mixed tropical fruit, etc), 2 tbsp of high omega-3 fats (ground flax seeds, hemp hearts or chia seeds), and some liquid.

Banana-Parsley-Berry Smoothie
(makes 1 breakfast smoothie, 2 snack smoothies)

1 medium sized ripe/over-ripe banana 
1 cup mixed berries 
1 cup packed parsley, steams included
2 tbsp shelled hemp seeds (hemp hearts)
1 cup of cold water, or non-dairy milk (more if needed)

In a high powered blender, mix smoothie until uniform and all the berries are blended. 

Note: some blenders don't have the ability to liquify greens, especially kale. Experiment with your blender and find its limitations. Depending on your needs, it may be valuable to get a strong and efficient blender to continue using for smoothies, soups, cashew creams, and other sauces. 

In the last year I've acquired some great kitchen tools- the essentials of a vegan kitchen. There's the food processor, the blender, and then there's the juicer. Perhaps not the most essential of all essentials, however, the juicer holds its ground well in my kitchen, getting used consistently once or twice a week.  

The benefits of juicing are mainly in the direct absorption and quantity of concentrated nutrients, vitamins, phytonutrients and living enzymes  directly into the blood and cells with little effort of the body. Although eating this food would also give you similar benefits, it is the quantity of nutrients which is the magic of juicing. While I wouldn't sit down and eat a head of romaine lettuce, a head of celery, a lemon, ginger, beets, carrots and an apple, I can easily drink it and absorb all the goodness without making my jaw tired, or my stomach too full. 

Juicing is used by many leading natural healing therapies, specifically the Gerson Therapy,  
(http://gerson.org/gerpress/the-gerson-therapy/)  where patients take in 15-20 lbs of organic produce daily to create an environment within their bodies to promote healing. It should be noted that the nutritional value of our non organic, conventionally grown fruits and vegetable are severely depleted these days (another reason to juice!). Ideally juicing will be done with only fresh organic produce in order to promote health and vitality in the body. 

On a personal level, after juicing I feel light, fresh and energized. A few hours after juicing I notice that my skin tone is healthier with a bit of a glow to my face. The taste alone is enough to keep you coming back for more, but knowing that you're ingesting high quality nutrients that will nurture and feed your cells and organs while creating an alkaline environment in your body is a great feeling that connects you with your body and the fruits of the earth.

Here's a good site with lots of recipes and tips to get you started.  http://myjuicecleanse.com/ And remember, if you're in the market for a juicer, a good juicer is any juicer that will be used! Pick one out, buy some organic fruit and veg, and start experimenting. 

So, cheers! To delicious health!