Wholly Rollies Protein Balls

I'm always looking for new whole foods-based pre-workout snacks. I was on a Larabar kick for months, and I still love them, but I've had all the flavors so many times now that I'm getting bored with them. This review shipment of Wholly Rollies Protein Balls by Crazy Richard's couldn't have come at a better time.

These little frozen protein balls are made with just 5-6 ingredients! No added protein powders (not that I'm against that, but it's nice when the protein comes from whole foods). No added sweeteners (just natural dates!).

The PB & Cacao are my fave, and they're definitely more peanut buttery than chocolately. They're made from peanut butter, oats, dates, cacao nibs, and unsweetened toasted coconut. The nibs add a fun little crunch and burst of flavor.

The Cinnamon Oatmeal balls are made with peanut butter, oats, dates, golden raisins, flax, and organic cinnamon. And they taste like little peanut buttery oatmeal cookies. Isn't peanut butter the missing thing in all oatmeal cookies? PB belongs in EVERYTHING. There's also a PB & Strawberry flavor I'd love to try.

Each ball has 4 grams of protein, and I've been eating two before light workouts (runs of 3 miles or less) for 8 grams of protein and 12 grams of carbs.

One interesting thing about these: They recommend keeping them frozen so they hold their shape. I didn't read the instructions though and left them in my fridge for days. They still held their shape just fine! But then I moved them to the freezer when I finally noticed the package said to store them there. And I've found that I really love the texture of the frozen balls. You can eat them straight out of the freezer!