Hey friends! It’s been a little while. We took a break from posting, while we were in Italy hosting our first Abruzzo retreat. It was a dream come true, and we’ll be sharing more about that very soon.
Before we get into our favorite snack lately, we wanted to talk a little bit about growth and evolution as it relates to this space. We’ve been posting recipes here for close to nine years. It’s a practice that has almost unfailingly kept us inspired and excited about the daily ritual of cooking and nourishing ourselves and others. This whole blog is sort of a family album at this point, since we can pinpoint certain posts to the life events that were happening around us while cooking the dishes. It’s also surreal to be able to put something out there and know that a certain number of people will check out the recipe or even cook it in their own kitchens. It’s a special form of connection that we have with the world, and every time we hear from someone who has made and enjoyed one of the recipes is amazing. It never feels normal or old, truly.
Throughout these years, our interests have expanded beyond but not away from cooking. There are so many things that have had a magical effect on our lives in the same way that healthy, plant-based food made with our own hands has. These things range from small daily practices or rituals, to life-changing books that we’ve read and dog-eared excessively. At this point, we feel compelled to share more about those things here, as well as about some of our struggles, and expand the type of things we talk about. The food is not going anywhere, though!
We already do a little bit of that with the self-care interviews, which you seem to enjoy, but we now feel ready to share from our own perspectives as well. We toyed around with the idea of making a whole new website for this stuff, but in the end, Golubka Kitchen is where our hearts are, and it feels right to have it grow alongside us. Here are the things you can expect to see on here going forward. We hope you’ll follow along, but if some of this is not your cup of tea, that’s ok too.
- Weekly plant-based recipes
- Seasonal meal plans
- Self-care interviews
- Skin-care and home-care recipes
- Rituals/practices that we find supportive to our wellbeing
- Book Club (read along with us, our first book of the month is Renegade Beauty by Nadine Artemis)
- More videos!
Onto the matcha butter balls. Keeping nourishing snacks at arm’s reach is definitely a priority around here, since it helps prevent things like: snacking on handfuls of chocolate chips, impulse purchases of expensive and/or less than healthy snacks with wasteful packaging, hangriness, lightheadedness, etc. etc. I’m absolutely in love with cacao butter as an ingredient and use it in desserts and snacks (and even in homemade skincare products) all the time. This generally involves gently melting the cacao butter in order to incorporate it into the other ingredients. It was Elenore who recently turned me onto the idea of skipping the melting step for recipes that involve a food processor. For example, in this recipe, the chopped up cacao butter just gets thrown into a food processor with the rest of the ingredients for a few minutes, where it gets melted by the heat of the motor and makes a beautiful, quick snack ball batter. I love this shortcut.
These balls are full of good stuff, like essential fatty acid-rich seeds and energy-boosting matcha powder. The texture is velvety thanks to the cacao butter, and the flavor is only slightly sweet and a bit grassy, thanks to the matcha. One to two of these balls usually work well as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up (be careful with the amounts if you are sensitive to caffeine), and they are kid-approved as well. I use this matcha. It’s definitely not the best ceremonial grade matcha out there, but it’s the best one I’ve found for the price, since good matcha can be very pricy. Hope you’ll give these a try!
- 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- ⅔ cup raw sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup hemp hearts
- ¼ cup flax seeds
- 1 cup chopped or shredded cacao butter
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons maca powder
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 1 teaspoon ashwagandha powder (optional)
- Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process for 3-4 minutes, or until the heat of the motor melts the cacao butter completely, and you have a nicely formed batter. Taste for sweetness and adjust if needed.
- Shape the batter into bite-sized balls or bars. Sprinkle with more matcha, if desired. Keep in an airtight container in a freezer or refrigerator.
Gabby @ Putumayo Kitchen says
These look so wonderful – the texture looks delicious and I love the vibrant green colour. So glad to hear you will be posting more – I’m such a fan of the self care series and am looking forward to reading more about your favourite rituals/skin care recipes etc! xxx Gabriella
Anya says
Hi Gabriella,
Thank you so much for your support! So happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying the interviews :)
Rocio says
Ohh I love that you are following your heart with this one. I really look forward to reading your posts on these other beautiful topics! Excited for this new chapter in your Golubka Kitchen journey!
Anya says
Thank you so much Rocio! <333
Sandy says
Very excited to see more from you!
Anya says
Thank you Sandy :)
Audrey says
I really love the way you are focusing your blog, because one thing really takes you to the other… whenever you start to be mindful about the ingredients and ways of cooking your food, you also pay attention to the seasons, how to make less waste and in the process you end up feeding your soul. Your blog, and book, has definitively helped me in that journey! I’m looking forward to your Book Club, more beautiful videos with inspiring recipes and places, and hopefully a future retreat. Now I just want to try these matcha treats ;)
Anya says
Thank you so much for this meaningful note, Audrey! So happy to hear the book and blog have been of help :)
Michael says
Keep sharing such kind of awesome recipes. I am an avid follower of your blog.
Anya says
Thank you Michael!
Healthy Kitchen 101 says
I so admire your beautiful works. Keep working hard ❤ Btw, looking at your matcha balls really makes me crave a hot matcha latter immediately as it’s rainning outside xD
– Natalie
Anya says
Thank you so much! We always appreciate your words of encouragement :)
Lidija says
These are exactly what I’ve been looking for to make. I have all the ingredients on hand and will make them as soon as I get home from work, can’t wait!
Anya says
That’s so great! Hope you enjoy them :)