Taste the Rainbow Bliss Balls (Gluten Free, Vegan)

The calendar might say that Spring has started, but Colorado Springs is making April Fool's Day a week-long event with the weather this week. So what's a girl to do besides whip up her own rainbow in the kitchen? 

To be honest, these bliss balls actually emerged by accident. It was a quiet weekday night and I needed something to soothe my mind and fill my belly...so, of course, there was no better option than playing around in the kitchen! Since I'd finished off my Iron-Packed Banana Bombs the previous week, bliss balls were a must...and they turned out even better than imagined. Not only are these gluten free and vegan, but they're also paleo, refined sugar free and easily adaptable to any other food allergies. Perhaps the best part? These colors are 100% NATURAL thanks to a variety of superfoods and fruit. What rainbow can be better than that? 

While they taste like dessert, my rainbow balls also pack gold-star worthy nutrition. Besides being packed with fiber, dates also offer high doses of potassium, copper, manganese, iron and Vitamin B6. Bananas have also been shown to boost heart health (thank you potassium) and aid digestion - and the added superfoods' health benefits are just a bonus!

If you're ready to brighten up a dreary winter day, start by gathering the following ingredients (to form around 20 nickel-sized bliss balls).

Basic base:

11 dates, soaked in water for a few hours or until tender
1/2 ripe banana, mashed
Liberal shake of cinnamon

That close up!

Extras: 

Enough coconut, buckwheat or rice flour to create a doughy texture 

Crunchy add-ins like chia seeds, puffed rice, cacao nibs, rice flakes or anything else your heart desires!

Flavorings like nutmeg, cacao, maca, vanilla extract, mint extract, etc.

As complicated as these colored bliss balls might look, they are actually super simple. Start by soaking your dates in a shallow bowl of water for a few hours or until extremely gooey. Then, pour out the date water (or save it for future baking or smoothies!) and mash your dates in a bowl. You could use a blender or food processor, but a fork works just as well! Then, add in your mashed banana and cinnamon. 

My kind of rainbow...

Now, for the fun part. To make separately colored bliss balls, I keep that base mix in one bowl and transfer small portions to another bowl for coloring and mixing. Add around a tablespoon of your date/banana mixture to a separate bowl. Then, mix in enough flour(s) to make the mixture more doughy than sticky (typically around a tablespoon or two), along with any of your other flavorings or crunchy toppings. 

Now, for part you're been dying to know about: the natural dyeing! Just follow the list below: 

• Yellow - add a spoonful of turmeric to your separate mix 
• Blue/green - spirulina powder 
• Chocolate - a mix of maca and cacao powder or, like I did, a spoonful of Macaccino 
• Indigo - mashed blackberries (you can add acai powder if you have it) 
• Pink - mashed raspberries 

Add these final powders/berries in, mix well, and roll into balls! I kept mine nickel-sized ('cause then you get to mix and match flavors!), but feel free to make them as big as your heart (and mouth) desires.

I actually didn't initially plan to create a rainbow, but once I saw how beautiful the turmeric and spirulina balls turned out, I challenged myself to see how many other (natural) colors I could create. Some other colorful ingredients you could experiment with include:

• Black - ground black chia seeds and blackstrap molasses 
• Orange - puréed sweet potato
• Red - mashed strawberries 
• Green - puréed spinach 

Really the sky (rainbow pun intended) is the limit! 

My favorite breakfast!

The same can be said for how you eat these rainbow bliss balls. Because of their mix of easily digestible carbohydrates, they make perfect pre and post workout snacks, or an ideal pick-me-up during that 3 o'clock slump at work. You can also enjoy them on smoothies (because what can't you put on a smoothie, really?) or yogurt parfaits. 

To store them, you can put them in a sealed container in the fridge for one week or keep them in the freezer. Freezing them will ensure they stay fresh for at least a couple months. To eat, just pick out a few that you want and let them thaw at room temperature for around 10 minutes. 

There's a poem I recently discovered by Aberjhani that says: "Dare to love yourself/as if you were a rainbow/with gold at both ends." Now, I won't claim that these rainbow bliss balls are guaranteed forms of self love. 

Which would you eat first?

But I do think taking the time to experiment in the kitchen with zero expectations and filling your body with beautiful, healthy treats is a pretty good start! 

So, whether Spring has peeked its head in your neighborhood or winter is still the word, just know that rainbows can definitely be in your near future...and in your stomach! 

*Also found at What'd You Do This Weekend, Melt in Your Mouth, Made by You, Create Link Inspire, Tasty Tuesday, Turn it Up Tuesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday, RunningwithSpoons, Pretty Pintastic, Share Fest, Snickerdoodle Sunday*

What would be your favorite colored bliss ball out of this rainbow? How do you show self love? Comment below!