With the holidays around the corner, I can feel my stress level rising with each passing day. While my career as a middle school teacher is challenging I am blessed to have the holidays with my family and plenty of time to relax and enjoy the moment. The days right before the holiday break are the most stressful. In addition to the normal daily tasks I have shopping, cooking, decorating, and extra organizing/cleaning tasks. Not to mention a wild three-year-old that has embraced the idea of Santa Claus and despite our best efforts thanks Jesus for sending Santa to give him presents.

If you too are struggling with the holidays and find yourself going through the drive-thru or have suddenly lost any resemblance of healthy eating for the month here is a great healthy snack suggestion that will not spoil quickly, filling, and easy to accomplish. 

On your next trip to your local box store invest in a cereal container. They are usually a tall and skinny plastic container with a sealable lid. Next, you will need to collect an assortment of items to create your mix and many of them you may have stored in the depths of your cabinet. 

Our ingredient list consists of: 

Honey Nut Chex 

Vanilla Chex 

Unsalted Peanuts 

Salted Pumpkin Seeds (or sunflower seeds)

Sliced Almonds 

Dried Cranberries 

Dark Chocolate Chips 

Once I have all of my ingredients I layer them in the cereal container. The layer of Chex is about a cup for each layer and then enough of the others to cover the layer before. Once it is complete we ration our mix by 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup per serving and this will last us about 10 days with 2-3 people snacking on the mixture. If you buy large quantities of the ingredients then you can easily refill the container without an additional trip to the store. 

I hope you find this useful and you have a calm, healthy, and stress-free holiday season! 

~Stephanie~