Make Your Own Trail Mix

My son is 11 and has just hit a growth spurt. He is eating us out of house and home! I'm not kidding, either. He is in constant much mode, even after eating a complete meal.

I'm trying to keep healthy homemade snacks on hand to keep him filled up. Last week was a setback because I couldn't use my oven - long story dealing with air conditioning repairs not done in a timely manner, it's all fixed now. So I made some trail mix because all it required was a bowl for mixing and snack-sized baggies for storing.

I used nuts and fruits that I had on hand. It's very easy to change this recipe to suit your family's tastes. My basic formula was 3 cups nuts, 1 cup dried fruit, 1/2 cup seeds, and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Here's what I used:

2 cups whole almonds, roasted but unsalted
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chocolate chips

After mixing everything in a large bowl (the kids helped!), I divided the mix up into snack sized baggies for portion control.

The kids were able to grab a snack when they wanted one, and I didn't worry about them eating a lot of unhealthy ingredients. This was better than any trail mix I've ever purchased at a store.

So, what do you feed your growing boys to keep them filled up?