I refuse to accept the cold weather. It’s spring and I should be tanning poolside after class. Sadly, Memphis went from being sunny and in the 80s last week to stormy and in the 40s and 50s this week; but that gives me an extra week to get my body into bikini shape (thank you Annie Herman and your Shape-Up Rhodes blog!). Besides being the beginning of spring, this also happens to be one of the most stressful times of the year, with every teacher scrambling to get in that last test, essay, and project. I can deal with all the work, my problem is that when I get stressed- I eat… constantly. It usually goes like this:
- Flip through my planner and see that I have way more work than I thought this week,
- Go get my books to start that work,
- Grab a box of Gushers (a snack we were never allowed to have in my house growing up, and that I am now addicted to) and bring them back to my desk,
- Try to start working, but realize that I have just eaten the entire box of Gushers and am now way too hopped up on sugar to focus on anything.
After 2 years of this, I finally realized that my mom was right to keep me away from this sugary snack and I should probably find a more constructive and healthy way to deal with my stress. Cooking has always been something that relaxes me, so I flipped through my notebook where I keep my favorite recipes and found one from the December 2010 issue of SELF magazine for Tree-Trimming Trail Mix. This salty-sweet recipe consists of mainly popcorn, dried fruit, and almonds. The almonds is what makes this recipe so great, they are full of healthy fat that can lower cholesterol and fiber that may speed up weight loss.
Ingredients
1 bag plain, unsalted microwave popcorn
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ tablespoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup chopped dried figs (I usually substitute in dried dates here)
½ cup sliced almonds
Preparation
- Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pop popcorn as directed on the bag and set aside in a large bowl.
- Combine honey, oil, bay leaves and salt in a small saucepan over low heat, stir frequently for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and remove the bay leaves (they can be thrown away now that the flavor has been cooked into the mix)
- Add the almonds and the dried fruit to the warm popcorn and toss until the almonds and fruit are mixed throughout the popcorn.
- Drizzle the popcorn-fruit-almond mix with the honey glaze and toss so the honey glaze covers all the popcorn.
- Spread mixture evenly over a baking sheet and bake for about 3 minutes (or until golden brown).
- Remove the baking sheet, turn off the oven, and toss the ingredients using a spatula.
- Re-spread the trail mix evenly on the baking sheet and return to the (turned-off) oven for 2 more minutes.
Photo credit: allrecipes.com