Zesty Vegan Bits & Bites

Happy Monday!  Is my cheefulness annoying you first thing in the morning on the first day of the week?

I am happy to say that after a challenging week, we had a fantastic weekend.  Despite no naps as usual, Little A was actually in a wonderful mood.  I'm wondering if her especially stormy mood last week was due to not only fatigue, but the bad cold she and I were suffering from, and perhaps this weekend she (like I) finally started to feel better.  Whatever the case, she was her delightful self that we haven't seen in a while.

We had a birthday party and several playdates and the girls had a fantastic time.  Yesterday Big A had a 'date' with her adorable boyfriend.  Big A proudly gave him a bag of this recipe, our latest culinary creation to enjoy.

With the exception of during my pregnancies (when hormones were doing all sorts of strange things), I am not a salty snack person.  You can shove a bowl of potato chips right up to my face and it doesn't tempt me in the least.

The only exception is certain nuts - I love peanuts, cashews and almonds.  But pretty much everything else in the salty snack food category I can do without.

Adam, on the other hand loves them.  He doesn't eat them often, but if they are around, he'll sneak a handful here and there.  Big A has almost as big a salt-tooth as she does sweet-tooth.  Fortunately, she isn't too discriminating, so she's just as happy with rice cakes or homemade popcorn, as she is with potato chips.

However, of her favorites, is Bits & Bites, you know, the snack mix made from preztels, cheese crackers, Cheerio-like cereal and Shreddie-like cereal, thats chock full of refined flour, trans fat, sugar and chemicals?  So unfortunately for Big A, this mama ain't buyin' it!

So when Big A started pestering me for some this past weekend, I got the idea to make some ourselves.

I still favour the girls snacking on fruits and veggies over anything else.  But if they do want a treat, this ain't so bad.

I strayed from tradition and didn't include any o-cereal, but used the healthiest versions of the other standard ingredients I could find at the grocery store: 






You can adapt the recipe to suit your tastes. If not making it or children, feel free to play around with the seasoning and try curry, or something spicy.

Zesty Vegan Bits & Bites

4 cups whole wheat cereal squares
1 box whole grain cheese snack crackers (180g)
1 bag Mary's Gone Crackers pretzels (or 2 cups whole grain pretzels)

1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Herbamere or regular sea salt
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbls vegan worcestershire sauce
2 tbls lemon juice
1/2 cup organic canola oil

Toss dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the seasoning mixture.  Pour over the dry ingredients and toss until well mixed.  Spread mixture on a baking sheet (covered 2 large sheets for me, you can do it in batches if necessary) and bake at 350F for 10 minutes, stirring 1-2 times.  Let cool and then store in an airtight container.

This recipe was entered into Diet, Dessert and Dogs' Wellness Weekend.