Right from the beginning my son despised raisins. It turned out to be the texture. He does not like the chewiness of dried fruit. In addition, we needed to avoid nuts since his closest friends have nut allergies and if you have ever given trail mix to a preschooler in a car…you know that its not going to stay in the bag. It may not even stay in the car.

So how does one make trail mix without chewy dried fruit or nuts or chocolate?

It helps to have a Trader Joe’s in your neighborhood. I am actually not sure where else I can get all these freeze dried fruits. Also most seeds are processed in a facility that also handles nuts. Which makes me wonder if these people know their market at all. The bags I have from Trader Joe’s all indicate that no nuts were involved. But that can always change so read labels.

The recipe is as simple as combining the following ingredients in a container that can hold six cups of dry material

2 cups sunflower seeds
1 cup pepitas
1 cup (a 1.2 oz package at Trader Joe’s) freeze dried blueberries
1 cup freeze dried bananas broken into small pieces
1/2 cup vacuum fried pineapple chips