Mary Beth Johnson is a wife and mum to four schooners, as she’s dubbed her children. On a normal afternoon, you would find her in moccasins, skinny jeans and a comfortable tee, camera in hand. Recently moving to the suburbs of Atlanta, Mary Beth spends her days homeschooling, sneaking away to the bookstore, trying to act the part of a southerner, and sifting through recipes in The Vegetarian Times. Food is her love language.

As a stay-at-home of four little ones I feel the struggle daily of snacking my way through the day. I try really hard to keep fresh fruits and vegetables cut up and easily accessible in the refrigerator, but I have a major sweet tooth that has followed me around since high school and sometimes I just want a little nibble that satisfies those cravings. I’ve tried a lot of things to replace it…coffee…diet coke…peanut butter cups…Starbucks…and I’m proud of none of it.

I’ve talked before here about my journey to get back into a better place with my health and emotional well-being and how I began to notice a lot of things were off balance towards the end of a really hard year last year. I’ve spent the last 5 months cutting out things that weren’t enriching my life. Easy things like Target clearance racks and drive-thrus. Hard things like gossipy relationships and caffeine/sugar addictions. As I slowly release my grasp from the things that have weighed me down I find more clarity and time to pray over the things that need changing in my heart. It has been a good and hard 5 months.

And very needed.

My friend posted these amazing cocoa balls on Instagram and mentioned they were sugar free so I had to try them! I’ve been regularly using medjool dates to get my sweet tooth fix and this recipe uses them as the base, so I knew I would probably love them. Oh. My. Word. I’m hooked. They are easy to whip up as you pretty much throw everything into a food processor and than mold into little bite-sized balls. I’ve made a bunch and frozen in the freezer (I like everything cold anyway) and pull them out for a treat. I’ve kicked my caffeine habit and I think I’m getting close to kicking my sugar habit!

//CASHEW + COCONUT + COCOA BITES

1 cup cashews (I used roasted) 

 1 cup pitted medjool dates

 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 

 Combine all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until everything is finely shopped. Pulse a bit more for good measure. Mold into small balls with your hands and store in the freezer or the refrigerator. Makes around 7 – 10 balls, depending on the size you like. 

ENJOY!!!