Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls

Remember those PB and Pretzel balls dipped in chocolate...well I made them.  And I may or may not have eaten 4 of them.  But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets recap dinner shall we?

Originally Jon and I had planned to meet up with some friends to watch the Final Four basketball games but when that fell through I had to figure out what I was going to cook up for dinner.  As I was flipping through my recipes two stuck out big time.  BBQ meatloaf and the best roasted broccoli ever. We had pretty much everything except the lean ground beef. 

I headed out to Whole Foods to shop each and every aisle looking for my next favorite find pick up the beef.  I walked away with a couple of other items as well.  Shocking, right?  As of now I am most excited about the cinnamon & sugar pita chips I picked up.  I think they'll be delish when dipped in a big ol' bowl of greek yogurt.

Yummy with or without yogurt!


I also picked up some strawberries that were on sale.... I can't even begin to explain how excited I am that the fruits of summer are starting to appear readily in supermarkets across town.  Summer is my favorite season for many reasons and not least of which is the fruit that starts gracing us with their presence during the warmer months.

Once I got home I started getting dinner ready.  Of course meatloaf tastes AH-MAZ-ING but even cooler than that is how quick it comes together.  I literally had the meatloaf in the oven within 15 minutes of getting home.  While it baked (for an hour!!! jeez, hurry up meatloaf!) I prepped the broccoli and started fixin' up my PB balls.  Every little thing was so worth the wait!

fresh out o' the oven

plate full of goodies!

These were both super easy to make and suuuper delish to eat.  I'll definitely be making these again soon.

BBQ Meatloaf Recipe - found on PBF
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  pounds  ground beef, extra lean (raw)
• 1/2  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 1/2  cup  chopped onion
• 1/3  cup  barbecue sauce, divided
• 1  tablespoon  prepared mustard
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  large egg whites
• Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, and onion, 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce, and remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.
Shape meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf or a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Spread remaining barbecue sauce over top of meat loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut loaf into 12 slices.
Nutritional Information:
(Recipe yields 12 slices, two slices per serving)

Calories: 203 (24% from fat)

Fat: 5.4g (sat 2.2g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g)

Protein: 27.3g

Carbohydrate: 10.5g

Fiber: 1.1g

Cholesterol: 61mg

Iron: 3.2mg

Sodium: 517mg

Calcium: 26mg

Best Roasted Broccoli - found on Carrots 'n Cake
Ingredients:

• 2 large heads of broccoli
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

• Cut broccoli into florets
• Toss florets in olive oil and sugar
• Cover baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or tin foil
• Spread broccoli florets on baking sheet
• Broil for 5-7 minutes until edges of florets turn brown and crispy

Now finally onto the PB balls!

These also came together in a flash  and Brewer loved the fact that I made them because she got to clean several spoons as well.

First you mix together 1/4 c. crushed pretzels with 1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter.  I also added chia seeds for some extra crunch and nutrition (nutrition in cookies??? yep!).

You then freeze the "dough" for 15 minutes until it hardens a bit and roll it into balls so they're ready for dunking in chocolate.

Can you spot Brewer?  Don't feel bad for her, she got her fare share of these bad boys. Once the balls harden a bit you dunk 'em in chocolate and they're ready to devour!  And devour we did!!!  I mean, can you blame us?

The finished product

Checkin' out the goods

Peanut Butter & Pretzel Truffles - found on Eating Well

1/2 cup crunchy natural peanut butter

1/4 cup finely chopped salted pretzels

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

Combine peanut butter and pretzels in a small bowl. Chill in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. Roll the peanut butter mixture into 20 balls (about 1 teaspoon each). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and freeze until very firm, about 1 hour. Roll the frozen balls in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.