One of my favorite snacks to have is Ajil, also dubbed as Persian Trail Mix by the Sous Chef. It’s one thing to have pre-made Ajil and excitingly discover all the different ingredients that the person who made it put together. However, it’s a whole lot more exciting when you make your own Ajil. I will admit that I have been so enamored with Jordan Market’s mixed Ajil for so long that I never needed to make it myself. But then something happened that prompted me to march into the store and come up with my own mix.

You see I kind of went overboard with eating almonds and almond butter with apple slices. My skin looked just like it did when I was a teenager.  Oh it was bad, really really really bad! What made matters more challenging was the fact that we are scheduled to go on a camping trip to which I had committed and paid for two months ago. I needed some trail mix for our daily hikes. But it had to be a trail mix void of almonds and walnuts, both of which can be dangerous for my skin.

On a side note: No you are not having a vision, it’s really me! I am back after a little hiatus where life took over and pulled me in different directions.  I had to prioritize the commitments that provide monetary compensations and attended to them first! So I have been knee deep in lecture preparations and everything else that comes with teaching!

Anyway, back to what this post is about! I went to Westwood and went straight to the bins in Jordan Market where their dried fruits and nuts are stored.

In the name of my skin, I splurged and decided that I had to have some Shirazi Figs! I am glad I did, because they were soooo good!

I needed some variety in my trail mix but also selections that created no trash. The rule for the location that were were going to go to was that we had to pack out all of our trash. So I got Noghl, hazelnuts, Shirazi figs, shelled pistachios, golden chickpeas, shelled sunflower seeds, dried mulberries (another major splurge), green raisins, and my most recent amazing find at pitted Montmorency cherries aka albaloo!

I added half a cup of pistachios and golden chickpeas and all of the hazelnuts that I had purchased.

The I added half a cup of Noghl, raisins, mulberries, cherries, and all of the figs that I had. I ended up omitting the sunflower seeds because they tasted a bit funky.

I mixed them all up and I just could not stop eating the tart cherries, so I added more to my mix because they were so good! There is no right or wrong when it comes to portioning. The best part is that it is all up to you!!!

I packed my Ajil in a ziplock bag and labeled it accordingly!

The very next day we boarded a boat and made our way to Santa Cruz Island!

On our Saturday hike we enjoyed the MPK Ajil while resting at one of the peaks. It was a nice cool foggy day.

Then we enjoyed the trail mix some more the following day which was a gorgeous day.

The best part of it all? Sharing the MPK Ajil with friends!