Trail mix is traditionally a mix of nuts and dried fruits (and sometimes chocolate) meant to give one energy.

While trail mix may seem simple, finding a trail mix everyone likes is usually pretty difficult. Especially if kids are involved. They like the chocolate. I like the nuts – and I hate the raisins. What usually ends up happening is everyone picks out their favorite part of the mix and you end up with a bag of raisins or dried apricots that no one wants.

The solution is to make your own! It’s easy and then you get to control exactly what goes into it. You want to make sure there’s enough protein and a little sugar to produce a small burst of energy while you are out an about all day. This is why it’s traditionally a perfect snack for hiking or camping. The key is to make sure the sugar is natural.

I like to have yummy, healthy trail mix on hand for satisfying snacking. Let’s be honest, kids normally don’t go in for a handful of mixed nuts and I want them to eat more than just the chocolate out of the mix. So I like to go with a base of home made granola instead of nuts.

Granola Base:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 2-3 tbsp oil (vegetable or coconut)
• 2-3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes (these, here, are my favorite kind!)

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and pour out onto a lined baking sheet. Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes.

I find using maple syrup instead of honey yields a less sticky granola, if you want clusters of granola use honey. I’ve used maple syrup here because I don’t want the stickiness and I find it has a more mild sweetness when baked.

Seeds:

• Sunflower seeds
• Roasted pepitas

Because our base is granola instead of nuts, use as many seeds as you want here and a lot of them. You can use roasted or raw seeds or a combination. I roasted them with a little olive and oil and salt because the kids will gobble them right up!

Mix-Ins:

• Savory Roasted Chickpeas (my favorite recipe, here)
• carob spirulina pieces
• raw coconut flakes
• extra chopped nut pieces

While in the bulk isle at Whole Foods today I decided to play a trick on the kiddos and sub out the chocolate. Shhhh! I bought these carob spirulina energy cubes that have seeds and puffed rice in them and cut them up into smaller pieces. They taste just like little pieces of crunchy dark chocolate but have less sugar, more fiber, and more protein with the spirulina. By cutting up the cubes I was able to make a 1/3 lb of them go really far.

I added those in with roasted chickpeas, raw coconut pieces (mainly for color), and some extra chopped raw nuts. This is where you can really make the trail mix your own, often I’ll toss in some sesame sticks. Try something unexpected, see what you can find in the bulk aisle that peaks your interest.

There’s no right or wrong with trail mix – only that every ingredient gets happily gobbled up!