I was well into my snack-making mommahood when I realized that you can serve your toddler more then just plain raisins for a snack! It was like a revelation! A big ol' slap the forehead revelation!
Dried pineapple!
Dried cherries!
Dried blueberries!
Oh my!
The possibilities are there for you to explore and trust me when I saw, that your toddler will scarf down all of these dried morsels of yumminess so fast you will not know what hit you, or them!
There are so many things that I love about making my own dried fruit mix - the first being that you can add whatever you want to it (or whatever is on sale) to your mix. Blueberries and cherries are pretty expensive so I grab them up when they go on sale. The second thing that I love about this mix is that after you pack a good handful of it in a to-go snack container for whatever adventure you have planned that day, you will feel so satisfied with your awesomeness for packing a healthy snack that is full antioxidants, beta-carotene, vitamin A and C, fiber and calcium that you are going to high-five yourself! No, that is not weird?
But the best, very best thing ever is that this snack takes about zero seconds to make and can store for up to month (longer if you kiddo doesn't mind stale-ish dried fruit) so as you unpack your groceries get out an air-tight container, dump in all of your dried fruit selection and give it a good shake-shake-shake. Snack time is done for the month!! Now if everything in life was this easy...
Dried Fruit Mix
1/3 cup dried pineapple
1/3 cup dried raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries
Instructions
1- Mix the dried pineapple, raisins and cherries in a medium air-tight container until well incorporated.
Even though I put measurements above, there isn't a real recipe for this dried fruit mix. Just get a selection of whatever dried fruit you like and mix it all up. This selection could include dried blueberries, dried strawberries, dried mango, dried coconut flakes, dried pineapple, dried currents, raisins, golden raisins....okay you get the point.
Makes - 1 cup of dried mix
Storage - 1 month in air-tight container