Tasty Trail Mix

Trail mix is a quick and healthy snack that is perfect for when your family is on-the-go. The great thing about trail mix is that you can make it with any of your favourite cereals, nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

Some suggestions for what to include are:

• Almonds
• Peanuts
• Cashews
• Popcorn
• Pumpkin seeds
• Dried cranberries, apricots, pineapple, apple
• Raisins
• Cereal (Cheerios™, Crispix™, Shreddies™)
•  Goldfish™ crackers

Once you have picked your favourite ingredients, mix them together in a bowl or shake them up in a large freezer bag. It’s up to you about how much of each ingredient to add to the mix – add more of the ones your kids like the most. Give your child a task to add, mix or shake the ingredients, they will feel proud once they see the end product that they helped make!

To make the trail mix more fun and enjoyable, serve it in a regular or waffle ice-cream cone! Add mini marshmallows to sweeten up the snack to serve as a dessert.

Nutrition Facts on the Snack:

Trail mix is loaded with protein and energy that will energize your little ones. You can also find fibre in this snack, which keeps your kids healthy and lowers the risk of disease in the future.

You can look for unsalted peanut and nut options in stores to help lower the amount of sodium in the snack. Although sodium is common in many packaged foods, you can look for reduced sodium options. Sodium is something that you want less of when buying foods for the family because it can lead to health problems like high blood pressure.

Does your child have a peanut allergy? Have no fear! Peanut-free trail mix can taste just as great. You can even include yogurt-covered raisins in place of peanuts.

Tip: Shop for the ingredients at your local bulk-food store – you will find great deals!

Photo credit: http://imagesw.frugalvillage.com/conesnack2.jpg.