Chocolate Blueberry Trail Mix

Trail mix can get pricey, and if you're a health nut you may not be a fan of unhealthy additives into some trail mixes (such as dried fruit coated in sugar, salted nuts, etc.). I am personally not a fan of added salt and sugar in my foods so I prefer to make everything myself. Trail mix is no exception! The best part about making your own is you can customize it to include your favorite ingredients and know exactly what's going into it. Here is a recipe for MY personal favorite trail mix. Everything here can be purchased at Trader Joes.


Ingredients:

Raw unsalted cashews
Raw unsalted almonds
Raw unsalted sunflower seeds
Semi-sweet dairy free dark chocolate chips
Dried wild blueberries (without added sugar)

Instructions:

Mix everything together and store in a tupperware or zip lock bag! Perfect snack when you're on the go or out hiking to give you the protein you need to stay energized throughout the day. This has been extremely helpful for me when traveling, sometimes I can't always find vegan food easily and need a pick me up in between meals. Well balanced and delicious, this trail mix can be subbed for small meals as well since it has plenty of protein (but does have a good amount of calories so make sure to divide it up into appropriate portion sizes to keep you from eating the whole batch at once!).

The above ingredients are just some of my personal favorites, but feel free to sub out ingredients for others such as any other nuts or seeds (think- pistachios, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.) other candy/chocolate (try peanut butter chocolate chips, dairy free at Trader Joe's!, other flavor chips, or candies that are not totally loaded with sugar and corn syrup), and other dried fruits, which you also can make yourself in a dehydrator or the oven (try mango, strawberries, cranberries, figs, apricots, raisins, apples, pears, etc.- but opt for dried fruits WITHOUT sugar on them, I promise they don't need it!). You can also add other snacks like granola and coconut shreds.

Trail mix stays fresh a long time if you keep it in a sealed container. The summer heat can make chocolate melt, but no worries, it just creates tasty "clumps" which are fun to eat!