Home » nut free

Tag: nut free

Snack it to me: Cherry Cordial Snack Mix

This post is part of Snack It To Me Week– a week full of recipes for my favorite snack mixes. The posts are: Fairy Berry Gluten-Free Trail Mix, Sour Patched Gluten-Free Trail Mix, Cherry Cordial Gluten-Free Snack Mix, Mango Lassi Trail Mix, Apricocious Trail Mix, Raisinably Delicious Snack Mix, Happy Endings Trail Mix, My go-to prepared snacks.

Chocolate should be a food group. And, in my professional opinion, it should be the base of the pyramid.

I mean, it is full of anti-oxidants and theobromine. It has been purported to do everything from boost your mood to decrease your appetite. Small studies have found that it is good for your heart, your skin and for diabetes prevention.

I even read that it can help make you smarter.

That is a whole heck of a lot of promises for any food to deliver on.

And to think something healthy was lurking in my love of desserts.

I am pairing it with dried cherries and coconut flakes today for a gluten-free trail mix that is a great sweet treat for the 3pm blues. Or the 10am blues. Or a last minute conference call. We can call this an all-occasion snack. But only if you don’t skip the chocolate.

cherrycordial

Snack it to me: Cherry Cordial Snack Mix

Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Mary Fran Wiley
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 4
This recipe was inspired by one of my day’s favorite treats: chocolate covered cherries. Those intensely sweet sugar-asked cherries died bright red and dipped in chocolate.
Ingredients
  • 100 grams high-quality chocolate calets (they look like slightly larger, flatter chocolate chips) or your favorite brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 100 grams dried cherries
  • 50 grams unsweetened dried coconut flakes
Instructions
  1. Weigh out ingredients and stir to combine in a medium mixing bowl.
  2. Store in an air tight container at room temperature for up to one month.
3.2.1337

 

Sour Patched Gluten-Free Trail Mix

Snack it to me: Sour Patched Trail Mix

This post is part of Snack It To Me Week– a week full of recipes for my favorite snack mixes. The posts are: Fairy Berry Trail Mix, Sour Patched Trail Mix, Cherry Cordial Snack Mix, Mango Lassi Trail Mix, Apricocious Trail Mix, Raisinably Delicious Snack Mix, Happy Endings Trail Mix, My go-to prepared snacks.

Life has been missing a little bit of its sparkle lately. Things that used to make me happy are just sort of there. My hands don’t want to knit anymore. My lips have been having a hard time remembering how to smile. My heart has started to feel a little heavier. I think I might have a case of the mean reds. 

“The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?” – Holly Golightly

Yes, Holly, I do.   And I needed some cheering up, so I thought putting sunshine in a jar might help.

Sour Patched Gluten-Free Trail Mix Today’s gluten-free trail mix is just that. Sunshine and childhood all bottled up. Dried pineapple is intensely sweet and chewy. The coconut flakes are just crunchy enough. But the real star of this mix is the glodenberry. Also called the  Cape Gooseberry or the Inca Berry, they are native to South America. They are both sweet and tart, just like some of my favorite candies – without all the chemical junk. They are supposedly full of bioflavonoids, vitamin A, betacarotene and anti-oxidants. They even contain a bit of protein. (The internets call them a superfruit. I call them candy.)

Snack it to me: Sour Patched Trail Mix

Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Mary Fran Wiley
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 4
The star of this mix is the [url href=”http://www.sunfood.com/food/incan-golden-berries.html”]goldenberry[/url]. If you can’t get your hands on those, dried sour cherries would work in their place.
Ingredients
  • 100 grams dried pineapple, roughly chopped (volume wise, this was just about a cup)
  • 100 grams dried goldenberries (volume wise, this was also about a cup)
  • 30 grams dried, unsweetened coconut flakes (this was about a quarter cup or a small handfull.
Instructions
  1. Weigh out ingredients and stir to combine.
  2. Store in an air-tight container for up to a month.
3.2.1337

 

gluten-free fairy berry snack mix

Snack it to me: Fairy Berry Trail Mix

This post is part of Snack It To Me Week– a week full of recipes for my favorite snack mixes.

My desk has two drawers, a shoe drawer and a snack drawer. I might be a snack food junkie.

shoedrawer

Well, sort of.

Living gluten-free for 7 years, I have learned to never take access to safe food for granted. Every time I go out to a new restaurant, there is a snack in my bag of some kind. Sometimes it is a granola/protein bar. Sometimes it  is a snack mix. Sometimes it is a box of crackers and a packet of almond butter. But there is always something. And often several somethings.

Having an easy to grab and delicious snack on hand is incredibly important for kids and adults.

snack it to me preview

 

This week, I am going to share 7 snack mixes that are endlessly adaptable, take less than 10 minutes to throw together. And above all are delicious. My goal is to rid you of that hangry feeling that can happen when you are out, hungry and there isn’t a decent gluten-free option in sight. (There is no GORP – good old raisins and peanuts for those of you that never went to Girl Scout Camp – on this list, I want show you just how fun snack mixes can be.)

They include:

  1. Fairy Berry Trail Mix
  2. Sour Patched Trail Mix
  3. Cherry Cordial Snack Mix
  4. Mango Lassi Trail Mix
  5. Apricocious Trail Mix
  6. Raisinably Delicious Snack Mix
  7. Happy Endings Trail Mix

And, once I have shared my recipes with you, I will share my favorite pre-made gluten-free snacks.

gluten-free fairy berry snack mix

I have admitted more than once to you that I often eat like a four year old. I love purple food. The more colorful the cereal, the happier I am. And I can never turn down fruit snacks.

So, I made you this mix.

This is not your ordinary trail mix. There are no nuts. No candy. No pretzels. No flashbacks to leaky tents and mosquito bites.

It appeals to my inner child (hence the name – what four year old girl doesn’t love fairies?). It is sweet and a little chewy. There are lots of little pieces to pop into your mouth. Bright colors.

And it appeals to the grown-up that I am trying to be. Jam packed with anti-oxidants and vitamin c. The sweetness of the cherries and blueberries is balanced by the tang of the goji berries. There are no artificial colors or refined sugars.

Enjoy!

Snack it to me: Fairy Berry Trail Mix

Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Mary Fran Wiley
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 4
Dried berries are like nature’s candy. Buy fruit without added sweetener – the naturally occurring sugars intensify as the fruits dry and additional sugar is not needed. Also, feel free to use this as a template for your own creations. Dried strawberries could be awesome here so could cranberries. Let your imagination run wild!
Ingredients
  • 50 grams dried blueberries
  • 50 grams dried cherries
  • 50 grams dried gogi berries
Instructions
  1. Weigh out and combine ingredients.
  2. Store in an air-tight container for up to one month.
3.2.1337

 

 

We are all stories in the end, so make it a good one, eh? - Quote from Doctor Who

Hello 2013. I’m glad you made it. I have big plans for you. Now let’s have soup.

It’s a new year. A clean slate.

So, eyes front soldier.

I can tell you what there will not be. In my life or on this site. There will be no checking over my shoulder to see what I should have done. No looking in the mirror and wondering why. No questioning my choices. No, as MammaCakes woud say, should-a, would-a, could-a ‘s. It’s all about the path ahead. It is time to look forward. To think about where I am going.

Read more