{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 00:05 Cook Time 00:05

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!

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!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–