{Food Prep Idea} Nut-Free Toddler Trail Mix

This Nut-Free Toddler Trail Mix is the perfect make-ahead snack. Make a batch during your food prep session and portion into bags for kids to eat throughout the week.

Thanks to Nuts.com for sponsoring this post.

Hi Friends –

As you know, I'm constantly thinking about new snacks for Squish. Just like his mama, he's a big snacker so I try to have lots of healthy options on hand for both of us.

Lately I've been loving trail mix. My current favorite is from Costco. It has peanuts, almonds, cashews, m&ms and raisins in it. Squish always sees me eating it and begs for his own handful but I don't feel comfortable giving him a big handful because there are such large nuts in it. My other favorite snack mix is this Sweet & Spicy Popcorn Snack Mix, which I also don't give him because I'm still not giving him popcorn. Have I mentioned that one of my biggest fears as a parent is one of my kids choking? I worry about it every single time they eat.

Anyways, I decided it was time to give Squish a trail mix of his own. One with only small pieces in it so I felt comfortable with him being able to eat it safely. I also decided to make it nut-free so those of you in nut-free schools can use it too. Instead of nuts, I used pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. And, inspired by my friend Christina who recently shared a kid-friendly granola recipe, I used dried blueberries instead of raisins as a fun way to change things up. Squish is obsessed with frozen wild blueberries and I've found that dried blueberries are a good alternative when I don't want him walking around with his entire face a nice shade of purple for the day – because nobody wants to fight the face-wiping battle more often than you have to, am I right?

So where do I get all of these ingredients? Nuts.com!

Despite the name, they sell a ton of things that aren't nuts. I ordered the dried blueberries, the pumpkin seeds (a good source of fiber and protein) and the chocolate covered sunflower seeds (a fun change from m&ms…plus I love that they have ones that are naturally colored!) in this trail mix from them! Then I just added a couple of our favorite cereals – Rice Chex and Cheerios.

There are a couple different ways you can make this trail mix:

• You can mix everything together straight out of the box. If you're doing this, you might want to use cereals with a little more flavor (like Love Grown Polar Puffs, Cinnamon Chex, etc).
• You can make it with just a little butter and cinnamon like I do.
• You can add a little brown sugar for extra sweetness.
• You could use plain sunflower seeds and add some chocolate chips.

I've found that Squish doesn't love plain pepitas, but when I added a little butter and cinnamon, he eats everything in the trail mix no problem.

So here's what I did:

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Nut-Free Toddler Trail Mix

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Preparation 0:05 2017-06-02T00:05:00+00:00 Cook Time 0:05 2017-06-02T00:05:00+00:00 Serves 1     adjust servings

This nut-free Toddler-Friendly Trail Mix is the perfect make-ahead snack. Make a batch during your food prep session and portion into bags for kids to eat throughout the week.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Rice Chex
• 2 cups Cheerios
• 3/4 cup pepitas
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chocolate covered sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar, optional

Instructions

Put cereals and pumpkin seeds in a large, microwave-safe bowl.
Pour butter in and stir well to coat.
Sprinkle in cinnamon (and sugar if using) while stirring.
Microwave 90 seconds. Stir.
Microwave an additional 90 seconds.
Spread on a baking sheet to cool.
When cool, add dried blueberries and sunflower seeds.
Portion into bags and enjoy for a snack!

by Lindsay

Recipe Notes

Remember that the butter/cinnamon mixture is often. Feel free to just combine cereals, seeds and blueberries and enjoy. Customize with your favorite cereals!

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Squish has been loving having his own trail mix to eat when I enjoy mine! And I won't lie, I've enjoyed a few bags of this version as well! I threw a bag in my purse before we headed to a play date yesterday and Squish traded it with his new friend for some peanut butter crackers. New friend gobbled up the whole bag so I took that as a good sign!

Looking for a nut-free snack to stash in your purse this summer? Try this Toddler Trail Mix!Click To Tweet

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

The post {Food Prep Idea} Nut-Free Toddler Trail Mix appeared first on The Lean Green Bean.

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