Sweet Snack Sunday ~ Sweetheart Trail Mix and Streusel Mini Muffins

My hubby has a new job that requires him to take his lunch to work with him.

  He’s been a trooper about eating leftovers and cold food, something I despise.  Even though I am a pretty bad cook, I decided that each week, I want to make a little homemade snack to pack in his lunches.  Every Sunday, I’ll find a new recipe for something fun and kind of healthy (that also makes five portions: one for each day) and if it works out, I’ll share it with you!  Today I made Sweetheart Trail Mix & Streusel Mini Muffins.

Trail Mix seemed like a safe project to start with, very little can go wrong with mixing things together.   It was a snack staple at my home as a kid, usually a combination of various nuts, raisins and one sweet treat.  My dad used m&m’s, but I used candy hearts.  I mixed the ingredients together and divided it into five portions.  It’s ridiculously easy!  All the ingredients were purchased at ALDI:

-         1 bag sunflower seeds (5 oz)

-         1/2 can party peanuts (8 oz)

-         1/2 bag of whole almonds (12 oz)

-         1/2 box of raisins (7.5 oz)

-         1 bag of mixed fruit (6 oz)

-         1 box of candy hearts (1 oz)

The streusel muffins are actually a box mix from my 

mother in law- a GIANT box of Cinnabon Streusel from Cosco.  Since I don’t bake a lot of coffee cake (or really bake anything, for that matter), the enormous box had been looming in my cupboard since Halloween.   I experimented with the mix by making mini muffins in tiny valentines baking cups.  I used half the ingredients, mixed dried cranberries in the batter and added ground flax seed to the streusel topping to give the muffins more nutrition.  I baked them for 15 min and threw a bit of pink food coloring into the glaze packet to make them festive. They are yummy and adorable.

I stole my friend Crystal’s idea (from Pinterest) to divide all the food into plastic bags for quick lunch packing.  I love looking at the things she has on Pinterest.  She finds some of the greatest ideas to post on her boards, this one is good for children’s lunches and husband’s.