Trail mix is delicious – too delicious. I’m fairly sure it’s defined as “a calorically deceptive mixture of nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit and other delicious portable snacks”. A handful of trail mix is less like a snack and more like a meal. It’s designed to be a quick source of energy but there are thousands of varieties, many of which aren’t that nutritious. It can also be pretty expensive. The best solution is to make your own. I tried to strike a good balance between fat, carbs and protein. This first attempt is a spicy-sweet mix with spicy peanuts, honey mustard pretzels and dates. No measurement or ingredient is absolute, modify this recipe to your liking.
Ingredients:
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2 cups spicy peanuts
2 cups salted soynuts
1 cup raw almonds
2 cups grape nuts or other firm cereal
1 cup peanut roasted chickpeas
2 cups pretzel nugget pieces (honey mustard & onion flavor)
1 + 1/2 cups chopped dates
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large sealed bag and shake until well mixed. The grape nuts tend to sink so shake the bag around before each snack session. For best results, transfer to a bowl or napkin before eating or you will eat to much!
Additional Info:
| Nutrition Facts |
|---|
| Serving Size 1/4 cup Servings per Batch 46 |
| Amount Per Serving |
| Calories 120 |
| Total Fat 5.7g |
| Total Carbohydrate 14.5g |
| Dietary Fiber 2.6g |
| Sugars 4.5g |
| Protein 4.5g |
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LOVE your “more angelic” trail mix variety!!
Mmmm, my kind of snack–maybe with a chocolate chip or two thrown in! ;) Okay, maybe not with the mustard flavor. Okay–I love trail mix, but I’d go for a sweet variety first! Love the idea of dates in there, Nick.
But have you tried those honey mustard & onion pretzels before? They are surprisingly sweet and incredibly addicting! ~ Nick
This sounds great, I’ll have to try it out when I get some more of the ingredients. I’m always looking for a good trail mix.
Trail mix = crack.
PBB’s trail mix = i can eat more crack.
Yeah, why is trail mix addictive? When it comes to it (and a regretfully large number of other PB items) I’m like a dog, will not stop eating until it’s gone!
This version looks fantastic Nick! I don’t care so much about the calories and fat (switched to low carb looooooong ago), so I like that this recipe doesn’t have any added sugar/syrup/honey. Thanks!
I only care about the calories because I tend to eat way too much and if it’s calorie-dense that spells stomach trouble even faster! ~ Nick
I <3 regular trail mix, obviously the basic nuts and fruit… but with garbanzos, cereal and pretzels- sounds great!
By the way… serves 46? 11.5 cups of mix… oh yeah, I guess this would be good for a big party/event! :)
Well that’s if you truly consider 1/4 cup to be a serving, which seems to be the standard for measuring trail mix although that’s ridiculous. Plus you could easily cut the recipe in half or eighths even. ~ Nick
Ohh this does sound good. Dates huh? Never thought to use dates, but hey why not they are super good for you.
This looks really good!
This sounds like a really great combination of flavours & textures in one mix. I especially like the inclusion of honey mustard pretzels – yum!
Love the picture! Thanks for sharing!
The dates did if for me….
Mmm good stuff. Love the homemade trail mixes… whenever I run out of food I just throw almonds/raisins/whatever else I can find and throw it into a bag and call it trail mix ;)
ADORE spicy peanuts. And the hot mustard pretzel nugget pieces? What is this you speak of? Are you going to get me addicted to another food now?
Spicy peanuts are one of my favs too…Look in the pretzel section for Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzels, they offer them in two different sizes, “nuggets” and “pieces”, the pieces have a lot more flavor but more fat, but they are so delicious! ~ Nick
Totally love this! Trail mix is so delicious!
Minus the dates and pretzels (you’re a guy so you can handle the carbs, LOL), it looks fab! Never thought of adding roasted chickpeas to a trail mix. The savory flavoring sounds like a nice change from overly sweet trail mixes, yum!
Haha, I’m sure girls can handle some carbs as well =). Overall it’s not too many carbs. Just make sure you pair it with something else filling, I like to mix it with cottage cheese for some reason. Makes it really filling and nutritious. ~ Nick
Highly addictive stuff and you’re right – calorically deceptive but oh so good.
Nick, you write as though the caloric load of trail mix is a BAD thing! Some of us need all the calories we can get ;-) But I’m with you: I love making my own trail mixes filled with odds and ends from the cupboards. Like Katrina, mine almost always has chocolate chips–for energy!
Your recipe sounds great.
Thanks Rose-Anne. The caloric load of trail mix isn’t a bad thing on its own, only when I snack on it as if it were rice puffs. The stomach doesn’t really like 1000 extra calories after a hard days eating =) ~ Nick
Just stumbled by you.. wish I had found you sooner. Great blog, holy cow, so much good stuff here. I need a day to sift through it all!!
Thanks so much Donna, enjoy! ~ Nick
if there was such a thing as TOO delicious, this would be it :) good thing i’m roasting some pb-coated chickpeas right now!!!
Sweet deal, how’d they turn out? ~ Nick
Lovin’ the trail mix Nick! Great one :)
Mmm, this trail mix sounds fabulous. I love do-it-yourself trail mixes–you can put everything you love in there and control the amounts. Perfect!
Great combo of ingredients. I like the addition of the pretzels.
Great stats for your trail mix Nick, and I love the addition of honey mustard pretzels. Nice touch!
Great- honey mustard pretzels are a nice addition. Love those things!
I simply love trail mix. What a great combination that you have created. I will have to try this version!
Yours looks much healthier than mine, I always add yogurt pretzels and sometimes…M & M’s!
what a great spin on good old trail mix—thanks for posting Nick!
I LOVE honey mustard pretzels!
Mmmm… looks great!
Nick, your comment about rice puffs (#16) reminded me of a little trick I have when making trail mix. I always eat way more than the serving size (1/4 cup, are these people serious? really?!) so I like to “dilute” it with low calorie, crunchy, puffy things, like puffed wheat or puffed brown rice or even Cheerios. That way, I can eat way more in volume for the same amount of calories. Plus, if it’s a really tasty trail mix like the one you have here, the cardboard flavor of the puffed wheat is totally disguised by the other yummy stuff.
Exactly, that was my goal in using cereal, but I need to use a “fluffier” one next time. The only problem I found is that some of those fluffy cereals absorb any moisture in the mix and get mushy so you need to find a firmer cereal. It’s a work in progress! ~ Nick