How To Make 'Trail Mix' [If You Have A Nut Allergy]!

I remember as a kid I always loved sneaking into the pantry closet to get a hold of my mom's stash of trail mix because she always bought the kind with m&m's, something we didn't usually keep in the house. (I know, rough life, right?) Sure, sometimes I'd eat the nuts... so long as they were salty enough, of course.

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However, on one stormy, dark July night, I discovered my allergy for tree nuts. I took a whopping bite of freshly made Rocky Road fudge from a shack up in Vermont and started to not be able to breathe. It was a horrifying experience, and now that I think about it, a heartbreaking one because my mother's trail mix is nothing to me anymore. Le sigh.

On the bright side, I learned how to make my own 'trail mix' and have decided to share my secrets with you today. Because that's what I'm all about, right? Sharing my secrets so you can all be as awesome as me? YUP!

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First things first, we need to find some nutritional ingredients that you can eat. (We're not 7 year olds sneaking into the pantry anymore, let's be real.) The whole point of these mixes are to be healthy and easy and blah, blah, blah... MAN, I want a chocolate bar.



Some of my favorite 'healthy' trail mix additives are:

• Dried fruits: banana chips, raisins, cherries (my favorite), cranberries, pineapple, blackberries are some options
• Peanuts - personally, I'm only allergic to tree nuts, so I can eat them
• Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin (basic white girl?), sesame or flax
• Crunchy, salty stuff: pretzels, cereal, light popcorn

And some of my not so healthy, but oh so yummy faves:

• Yogurt or chocolate covered raisins
• M&M's
• marshmallows
• White chocolate chips

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My All Time Favorite Mix Consists of: Peanuts, white chocolate chips, dried berries (cranberries and cherries mostly), yogurt covered raisins and a few m&m's.

I make enough for about a week and then make something else for the next week!

These are just some of my favorite things to put in a trail mix but it's really up to you. Go to your local grocery store and just wander, you never know what you'll find. My mom went out and came back with bags upon bags of dried fruit for under $10 and we're still using all of them months later. Add variety, make it fun, mix up your day!

What are your favorite things to put in a trail mix?

(PS- it wasn't a dark, stormy night.... I was on vacation in the middle of a scorching hot w England summer, so)