Category: Golden State-of-the-Art Blog

Oatmeal Energy Balls

Published on by Author Melissa Crismon
Oatmeal Energy Balls with lavender yarrow flowers. Pic by M.C
Oatmeal Energy Balls with lavender yarrow flowers. Pic by M.C.

I tried a new juice bar in my area and liked their balls. That’s what I said—to you, not them. I tried to figure out what was in them. They were like a peanut butter oatmeal cookie in an energy ball. There were definitely oats, peanut butter, raisins, cinnamon, and maybe flaxseed meal and I think walnuts. I tried oats whole, quick cook, and flour. I prefer quick cooked since they are cut and form a ball better. These make a great snack with tea, meal replacement, or after a hike—just keep them iced. Two tablespoons of Bob’s Red Mill golden flaxseed meal have protein-3g, calcium-24 mg, iron-1 mg, and potassium-113 mg.

OATMEAL ENERGY BALLS
1 cup oatmeal, gluten free
2 Tbsp. Four Sigmatic vanilla protein powder or golden flaxseed meal
4 Tbsp. peanut butter
1/4 cup agave
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. chia seeds
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips, Enjoy Life semi sweet mini chips
2 Tbsp. raisins
7 halves of walnuts crushed

Yield: 9-12 balls

Directions:
I use whatever form of oats I have. You can always put whole oats in the blender to get them the texture you want. Combine oats and protein. The protein helps cut the stickiness. Flaxseed meal cuts the stickiness really well and is more affordable and adds an even texture. Add the peanut butter and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir as you go. Sometimes I have to put the glass bowl of “dough” in the freezer for ten minutes. Then roll balls. I always end up with at least nine. Store in a container and then freeze for ready to eat use.

Happy Vegan!

Recipe from blog of melissacrismon.com

© 2023 Melissa Crismon

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X-flare

Published on by Author Melissa Crismon
NASA X-Class: A Guide to Solar Flares.

Renaissance Man told me a solar flare hit Earth over the weekend. He said it caused a shortwave radio blackout that impacted ham radios. I thought, why isn’t this bigger news. I heard talk about a year ago that ham radios were going to be outlawed in California. Ham radios are the last means of communication. I found an article on Space.com that says it’s an X-flare.

Now that wouldn’t normally make me think of it other than a name or a way to identify the flare. But Dark Journalist has discovered in his research a designation X and steganography for secret technology. Except it’s not so secret when it’s hidden in plain sight.

So then why is the solar flare designated with an X? Newsweek explains the flares are classed from weak A-Class to moderate B-Class, C-Class, M-Class to strong X-Class and then are on a scale of 1 to 9. The solar flare recorded on the Sun on Sun., July 2, 2023 was rated “X1.08” meaning it was on the weak side. The exception, X-Class solar flares can go past the scale to a 10. An X-Class flare can occur 10 times a year.

Search for solar flare videos and you will see beautiful flares dancing in and out of the sun.

Below is a copy of the Space.com article by Robert Lea. Click on the link for the video.

A giant sunspot exploded on Sunday, July 2, creating a powerful solar flare that lashed Earth’s atmosphere and caused a radio blackout over parts of the U.S. and the Pacific Ocean. 

The solar flare erupted from the sunspot AR3354 which is seven times the width of the Earth. The flare which blasted out of the sun at 15:14 EDT (1914 GMT), was seen as a bright ultraviolet flash by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). It was classified as an X-flare, the strongest type of solar flare that exists. 

Spaceweather.com reports that radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a deep shortwave radio blackout over western parts of the U.S. and the Pacific Ocean that lasted around 30 minutes. Solar physicist Keith Strong shared stunning footage of the flare on Twitter, writing “X FLARE IN PROGRESS!!! Sunspot region AR3354 near the NW limb just produced an X1.07 Flare (between the 10th and 14th biggest flare so far, this solar cycle). That is the 18th X flare during SC25 [Solar cycle 25, the current solar cycle] (compared to just 14 from SC24).”

Happy Vegan!

From blog of melissacrismon.com

© 2023 Melissa Crismon