{recetas} Trail Mix

The first week back to school was a tough one. As a teacher, I know I am incredibly blessed with the schedule that I have. Summer. Winter Break. Spring Break. I am lucky, and I know it. But, that doesn't make the rest of the year any easier. The hours are long, and the demands are high. And it's easy to forget what it is like to wake up at 5 when you get a two week break from work!

But we made it through, and we're on to week 3 of being back at school. Thankfully, our sleep schedule has gotten back on track (thanks, Kid!) We are back into the routine of school and daycare and life is good. The yawns are plentiful, but life is good.

One of my goals this year is to be quite prepared in the food department. I'll be really good at meal and snack planning for a couple of weeks, and then we will fall off the wagon. Hubs will stop for lunch at McDonald's or Chipotle. I'll run to the gas station before work for some midday snacks. In hopes to eliminate my many gas station stops, I decided to make a huge (and I mean HUGE!) batch of trail mix.

We have a favorite mix from Target that includes peanut butter chips, and it's quite expensive for a small jar. I went to the local Mills' Fleet Farm to grab the supplies for cheap. If you don't know what Fleet Farm is, let me just tell you that it is an amazing store. You can find just about everything you need at Fleet Farm--shoes, clothes, office supplies, camping gear, farm supplies, the list goes on. It's one of the best places to get nuts and baking supplies, too.

What you need:

• 1 lb raisins
• 12 oz. chocolate chips (I got milk chocolate)
• 12 oz. peanut butter chips
• 1 lb peanuts
• 1 lb M&Ms (they're called Choco-Buttons at Fleet Farm)

What you do:

• Pour all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Use a spatula to stir. To be extra-fancy, pour the ingredients in a little at a time: half a bag of raisins, some chocolate chips, some M&Ms, etc. I just went for it. Dumped each bag in one at a time.
• Anyway. Stir. Again, to be fancy, use a funnel to pour your trail mix into your storage container. I got extra-large glass jars at Target a year ago that had been sitting empty. They were the perfect size.
• If you aren't fancy (like me) make a "funnel" out of a gallon freezer bag by cutting off one of the corners. Use that to pour the mix into the jars. Or, just store it in the freezer bag. Lots of options. It's up to you.
• Finally, enjoy the trail mix by the handful. It really is delicious.
• Oh! Another thing I did. Kid loves to eat whatever we eat, but I am a little nervous about him eating peanuts and M&Ms (choking hazards). I took a half cup of raisins, a quarter cup of peanut butter chips, and a quarter cup of chocolate chips and made him his own jar of "trail mix." He LOVES it, and he thinks he's pretty cool eating trail mix with mom and dad.