I'm gonna get me some DATES!!!!!

Honestly, I was a doubter . . . I thought the only people that should be eating dates are my grandparents . . . not gonna lie. Boy, was I wrong!

For the last 20 days, I have been living religiously by the "Whole Life Challenge" guidelines. The WLC consists of creating healthier habits in 6 areas: Nutrition, Exercise, Stretching, Supplemtation, Water and Lifestyle. There are 3 levels you can choose to do this challenge: Kickstarter, Lifestyle and Performance. I picked the performance level. Most of the 6 areas are relatively easy or at least manageable, but the nutrition part tends to be a little more challenging, only because it doesn't allow for any sugars (except Stevia), no grains and no dairy (which isn't a big deal to me). The hardest part was supressing my 'sweet tooth' . . .

A few people in the WLC mentioned freezing dates (they said it makes them taste like caramels). Others said use dates for this . . . and, that. So, I thought, if dates are being mentioned time and time again, they must be pretty good and super sweet.

A recipe for "hockey pucks" was put on the WLC FB page. It took me awhile to muster up the guts to try a date (you know, dating is SCARY!), but finally I bought some and made them. OMG . . . they are the BEST thing ever!!!! You MUST try them. These are not just for your grandma :-) They are sinfully delicious.

This recipe makes a double batch.

Hockey Pucks

2 C Medjool Dates (15-20)2 C boiling water

1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 C coconut oil

30-40 mini-cupcake papers

- Slice dates and remove pits

- Boil 2 cups water

- Once water is boiling, add dates and turn off heat

- Stir occasionally for 5-10 minutes until dates are soft

- add dates to a food processor

- pulse a few times then let it run until dates are consistency of a paste. Scrape sides of processor as needed.