Easy and Yummy No-Bake Almond Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

My husband was painting the upstairs hallway white (from red) so we can maybe move in this century, and he let the kids paint their names on the kitchen carpet because THAT is also going bye-bye.

Oh boy. I am always looking for things to make around my house that are fast and easy and that my kids love. I'd heard of energy balls for a long time but never tried them. I kept seeing them here and there online so I decided to give them a shot. Here's the recipe we use at my house, but you can customize them any way you like (add chia seeds or flax seeds or even peanut flour).

1 cup quick cook oats
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth, but I am in love with the Trader Joe's chunky kind!)
1/3 coconut flakes (I use the sweet kind)

1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon protein powder (can get this at Amazon; I like the Trim Healthy Mama brand; we added this because my daughter gave up meat for Lent and I wanted to make sure she was getting protein)

Instructions:
In a medium-sized bowl, mix all ingredients together. Might I suggest doubling the recipe now because you will love these things?!

Stand at the counter with a spoon and eat from the bowl either right away or after chilling.

Or you can take a small scoop and make the mixture into balls and put the balls onto wax paper. This works if you are serving these to a group of kids who are not yours. 

Otherwise, just dig in as a family because it's a lot like cookie dough only with no flour or white/brown sugar or eggs or dairy of any kind.

Here are a bunch more energy ball recipes to try over at Living Well Mom.

Are You Planning on Starting a WordPress Blog?

Every day there are many people who flock to the web for information on how to start a WordPress blog. It happens for valid reason; WordPress is really a fantastic platform for blogging. The best bloggers in the whole world use it. Some bloggers who are new to blogging and not very knowledgeable yet also use WordPress. It is an open source platform, indicating that anyone can use it because it is free to use. Here in this article, I am sharing information about WordPress and hopefully it will help you in starting a WordPress blog.

To start a blog on WordPress, you first need a suitable theme. There are so many free themes that you can use on your blog. The theme contains all features, from the layout to the colors that are available in the design. In case you want something that reflects your personality a bit better, you can also have a theme custom-made for you. If you don’t like any at all, then you can buy a premium theme with several in-built features. After selecting the theme for your blog, now you need to search for web hosting.

This procedure is simple, though sometimes it can give you difficulty but you can power through. Actually, the entire procedure can take just a few minutes, in most cases. There are many companies available that offer web hosting services and you should do your research to find the best one. You can check out famous bloggers in any online community to save your time. Check what type of hosting service they are using. If people are taking help from a company, it indicates they are going to be secure. Next I’m going to touch on WordPress installation and setup.

If you are coming to the step of WordPress installation then it can be as simple or as tough as you like to make it. With the interface type of C-Panel that is utilized by web hosts, set up can honestly be quite simple.

It can get a bit challenging, so I suggest that you find someone with complete experience to help you. I am suggesting this method since are new to using WordPress. When you take help from an experienced person you can install your blog professionally. After, you just need to configure some important things inside the administration options of WordPress. You need to edit your contact information, email address and password. For security reasons, you should change the login user name and password of your WordPress blog. The greatest thing that you need to execute with your new blog is to install the important and most popular plugins.

These plugins are attractive features that you are installing on your blog to add much more improved functionality. These special and important plugins will add much more, including automatic blog backup thus you do not lose any of your work, and cut out junk mail and those who leave spam comments. It completely depends on what you like; there is a suitable plugin for almost every condition. Whatever functionality you want to add on your blog you can add through available plugins. 

Get a $5 Bonus for Being my Referral on #Swagbucks

March is here, and it's bringing you the chance to get a $5 bonus from Swagbucks! Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash.

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a $5 bonus! Here's how:

1. Sign up using this link.

2. Earn 300 SB total before 4/1/17. You'll get a $3 (300 SB) bonus for it!

3. If you spend at least $25 through Swagbucks Shop* you'll get another $2 (200 SB) bonus on top of the cash back you'll get from shopping. If you have some shopping to do online, just go to Swagbucks first and visit the store through them. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but you'll get SB points for every dollar you spend (on top of the bonus)!

That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned 59,553 Swagbucks ($595.53) since I started and always get PayPal cash!

*You must receive your shopping SB before May 1st.

British Soccer Camps Pre-Review @usfg @ChallengerCamps

Once again my family gets the opportunity to review something very cool! I get to enroll Samuel in a British Soccer Camp this summer, and he LOVES soccer so this is very exciting! Thank you to US Family Guide and British Soccer Camps!

British Soccer Camps are the most popular soccer camp in the US. With an innovative curriculum that develops skills, speed and confidence in players ages 3-18, The British Soccer Camp provide boys and girls with the rare opportunity to receive high-level soccer coaching from a team of international experts right in the heart of their own community. In addition to teaching new skills and improving game performance, each British Soccer Camp provides lessons in character development, cultural education and is the most fun your child can have learning the sport they love!

Enroll your child in a British Soccer Camp today REGISTER FOR CAMP & GET A FREE SOCCER JERSEY, SOCCER BALL, T-SHIRT & POSTER with code: CAMP17

Get Paid to Try #Hulu through #Swagbucks

If you've been thinking about trying Hulu, this is the time to do it. Thanks to an offer through Swagbucks, you get $25 (paid in the form of points called SB) for trying Hulu for a month. That will cost you $7.99, so you're making $17 on the deal!

Hulu has tons of current and classic programming, movies, brilliant original series, and more. Here's how you do it:

1. Click this link.
2. Create your Swagbucks account (takes 30 seconds)
3. Click "Continue" and sign up for Hulu
4. Enjoy Hulu! You should have your points within 30 minutes.

Personal  note: We've had Hulu at my house for as long as I can remember and watch a lot of shows on it because we don't have a DVR or cable, and our channels are very limited. My son likes to watch his CW superhero shows, and I like to lately watch "This Is Us" and "Celebrity Apprentice." There are also a lot of great movies on there and documentaries too! We have the commercial-free option and there's even a Showtime add-on you can get to catch your favorite shows from that channel!

Haven't tried Swagbucks yet? They're a site where you earn points (called SB) for doing things like online shopping, watching videos, taking surveys, and discovering deals and services you might like to try (like Hulu!). You then take those points and turn them into free gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash.

This is a great time to join because when you sign up through the link above and get your 2000 SB, you'll get a bonus 300 SB at the beginning of March. So that's $23 (2300 SB) for trying Hulu plus your $3 (300 SB) bonus, which gets you 2600 SB, which means you make money just for watching TV!