Mookies: The Ultimate Travel Snack (and other healthy munchies you can hit the road with)

It’s officially summer!  Crazy adventures, lazing by the pool, days at the beach, road trips, and vacations — here I come.  No, here I AM! 

Hmm, isn’t it strange how the beginning of summer is always full of excitement and anticipation about our “fun plans” and “stuff we want to do” and then we turn out not doing much of anything cool because ironically summer is always the busiest time of the year?!  I apologize for the run on sentence but I had to give vent to my feelings.  I can’t be the only one to lament ending this season totally exhausted and wondering why I don’t feel refreshed.  Isn’t that what summer is about?  Taking a break?

Okay.  Resolution:  Focus on actually resting and relaxing this summer.  A ton of plans and set-in-stone commitments don’t leave you with much breathing room!  Make sure to keep some time for yourself to rejuvenate and become restored.  If we let it, summer can be a time of healing and hope.  Choose to be less busy and let the whisperings of your heart be heard.  Sloooow dooown.  Just be.  Let faith and freshness revive in your soul.

A great summer memory I have is taking a road trip with one of my best girlfriends!  It was such a fun time of getting away and letting our hair down.   But what and where we would eat was a concern, and since we are both gluten- and dairy-free we had to get creative with travel snacks.  By the way, eating on the road with food allergies or when sticking to a healthy diet really aren’t as bad as they seem.  It can be done quite easily with just a bit more preparation and an adventurous spirit.

With gluten sensitivity and Celiac’s becoming more widely known, many restaurants have a gluten-free menu or at least will work with you to modify an item to meet your needs.  But what about when you get the munchies while on the road?  Gas stations aren’t a reliable place to find health food.  Heh.  Okay this is when I must introduce the Mookie to you!  (No, not “wookie”.  M-m-mookie.)

First of all, I will explain why mookies are called mookies.  Here’s the quick version: I was experimenting in the kitchen with my friend, H (that’s my nickname for her – she’s not really named that!).  We were starving and only had a few ingredients on hand.  We threw them all together and they came out a cross between muffins and cookies.  They were delicious and we called them mookies.

Since then I’ve perfected our hastily thrown together recipe and the prized mookies have been on many an adventure, offering sustenance and enjoyable snackage when called upon.

They hold together well and keep for several days if packed in a cooler.  They’re vegan, gluten-free (if using certified GF oats), low-sugar, and dairy-free.  With the flaxseeds and chia seeds you are getting a load of nutrients and fiber – always helpful when stuck in a car for long periods of time. Mookies adhere to the healthiest of travel food restrictions without tasting like it.

I have two different recipes for y’all, Raisin Walnut and Chocolate Chunk Pecan.  They are highly adaptable so feel free to add different mix-ins or substitutions as you want and use the comment box to share with us your crazy concoction!

Raisin Walnut Mookies

Dry Ingredients:

1¹/₄ cups oat flour

¹/₂ cup almond meal

³/₄ cup rolled oats

¹/₈ cup ground chia seeds

1 teaspoon baking soda

¹/₂ teaspoon cinnamon

¹/₄ teaspoon sea salt

Dash of freshly grated nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

³/₄ cup almond milk

2 tablespoons applesauce

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

6 packets PureVia OR SteviaLeaf (SL is healthier)

¹/₂ teaspoon blackstrap molasses
¹/₃ cup chopped walnuts

¹/₃ cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Combine the oat flour, almond meal, rolled oats, ground chia seeds, baking soda, cinnamon, sea salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Whisk almond milk, applesauce, maple syrup, vanilla extract, PureVia, and blackstrap molasses together.  Add the almond milk mixture to the large bowl, mixing until just incorporated.  Stir in chopped walnuts and raisins.  Drop from teaspoons onto a cookie sheet and flatten.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 2 dozen mookies.

And now for the chocolate one!  This is my favorite between the two…actually, wait, I don’t know.  They’re both really good and I’m very hungry at the moment…

Chocolate Chunk Pecan Mookies

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups oat flour

¹/₂ cup flaxseed meal

¹/₈ cup ground chia seeds

1 teaspoon baking soda

¹/₂ teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

³/₄ cup almond milk

2 tablespoons applesauce

2 tablespoons maple syrup

3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

6 packets PureVia or SweetLeaf

¹/₃ cup chopped pecans

¹/₃ cup 90%  or 100% cacao chocolate bar, broken up into pieces

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Combine the oat flour, flaxseed meal, ground chia seeds, baking soda, and sea salt in a large bowl.  Whisk almond milk, applesauce, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and PureVia together.  Add the almond milk mixture to the large bowl, mixing until just incorporated.  Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate pieces.  Drop from teaspoons onto a cookie sheet and flatten.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 2 dozen mookies.

To give you some more ideas, here are some additional snacks that I like to have on hand while traversing the country in a motor vehicle:

• Triscuits
• Nut thins (GF)
• Rice chips (GF)
• Roasted almonds or other kind of nuts (I roast them myself to avoid the preservatives and unhealthy ingredients in the canned variety).  You can sometimes find raw almonds at a gas station and of course in a grocery store.
• Pack a small cooler and fill it with: guacamole, tuna fish salad with chopped apple (make sure to make or purchase it without any high fructose corn syrup in the mayo), carrots, celery, romaine lettuce leaves (washed and put in a ziploc) for dipping.
• Fruit – apples and clementine oranges.  Both keep well and aren’t really messy if you have a trash bag to throw the leftovers into.
• Package of water bottles or a thermos to refill.

If you’re flying, ditch everything and just take mookies in your carry-on.  There.  Now you’ve got everything you need.

Here’s to a happy and restful summer…with good snacking!

Also seen on Foodie Friday, GraceLaced Mondays, Make Your Own Monday, Monday Mania, Must Try Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Healthy 2Day Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, Whole Food Wednesdays, Thriving on Thursdays, Showcase Your Talent Thursday.

Tagged as: chia seeds, healthy munchies, relaxing, road trip snacks, taking care of your heart