We have had so much rain here in Queensland that I just had to make something that resembled sunshine! I absolutely love rainy days (especially on the weekends) when I am at home, but days and days and days of rain can get on anyone’s nerves.

I got this recipe from the Thermomix Lunch Box and After School Ideas book and adapted it to suit myself The original recipe had oats instead of quinoa flakes, but I don’t trust oats with the whole “contaminated with gluten” risk, so I did a little substitution (you can substitute quinoa flakes as oats in any recipe). I bought my organic quinoa flakes in the health section at the Coles Supermarket.

Sunshine Balls

• 40g sultanas
• 85g orange juice (make in Thermomix first using one orange)
• 150g dates
• 150g water
• 1 banana, peeled
• 250g quinoa flakes
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 Tbs raw honey
• 1 Tbs cocoa powder
• 45g desiccated coconut (mixture and for rolling)

1. Soak sultanas in the orange juice and set aside.
2. Place dates and water in TM bowl and cook for 7min at 100C on speed 1, then blend for a further 3 seconds on speed 4.
3. Add remaining ingredients into the TM bowl and blend for 30-45 seconds on speed 4.
4. Roll mixture into balls and roll into coconut.
5. Place on a plate and put in the fridge or freezer to harden up and to stop you from eating them all (out of sight, out of mind?).

My hands were sticky so Kirk took over as my photographer and as you can imagine, he had a whole set up going!

I made these Sunshine Balls as part of my meal planning day and they went straight into the freezer before we ate them all. Now, we just need some sun!