Tomorrow is the first day of school.

Wyatt’s backpack is stocked with a new homework folder, some new-ish pencils with only a few dog bites in them, new erasers, and a package of lined paper. His teachers requested these things in the email they sent way back in June. I vaguely remember opening this email and thinking I should remember to reread it in August. I didn’t. Good thing school knows that some of us are laggards and re-sent it last week.

Wyatt also has in his backpack an extra KF-94 mask, hanitizer, a band aid that’s “looks 1,000 years old” but is still sealed in its wrapper and therefore viable, and a tube of sunscreen. We removed his tooth brushing kit because even though his orthodontist wants him to brush his teeth after every meal, brushing his teeth after lunch at school during COVID seems unnecessarily risky to all other parts of his body.

Weighing the pros and cons of tiny decisions like whether it makes sense to brush teeth at school during COVID makes me tired. Have you read this piece? It sums up so well the experience of being a parent of an under-12 child these days. I now get hot and prickly at the mere mention of a future commitment because the past 18 months have taught me that planning, a pillar of my existence for decades, is at best just a starting point and at worst a farce.

Regardless of how the school year ultimately unfolds, Wyatt will need lunches and snacks. He has made clear that both categories of food should be delicious and fast to eat so that they don’t take up precious play yard time. I have made clear that one of his morning jobs is to pack his lunch and snack. He was totally on top of lunch packing by the end of last year, except that he ate his lunch at snack time because maybe there wasn’t a snack, which meant he was consistently hangry after school. But on discussing it this weekend, neither of us could even figure out what a “good” snack would be (see criteria above), so I started looking online for granola bar-type snacks that are seed based (so he can avoid bringing nuts to school). I baked one recipe which was not good, and then made up my own recipe after having read a few more I found. I’m sure this recipe of mine can be refined further, but I’m happy with how our little Seed Bites turned out, and you may be in the same “What? They need a snack, too?” boat as me, so I wanted to share now. Perfectionism is the enemy of progress, right?

Seed Bites

Dry Ingredients

1/2C Raw Pumpkin Seeds

1/2C Raw Sunflower Seeds

1C Large flaked coconut (unsweetened)

1/4C Untoasted Sesame Seeds

1/4C Chia Seeds

1/4C Hemp Seeds

1/4C Ground Golden Flax Seeds

1/2t Kosher salt (or 1/4t sea salt)

1/2t Ground Cardamom

(I also added about 2T ground dried Sea Palm seaweed. I ground the seaweed leaves in our spices-dedicated coffee grinder. It adds to the flavor in a super subtle, wonderful way, and it is very nutritious. But maybe seaweed isn’t your thing? If so, omit.)

*Note: Feel free to mix and match seeds—total volume of seeds is the key, I believe, so if you’re missing one or more, make up the volume with one that you do have. But don’t omit the ground flax seeds, because they help bind everything together. Also, if coconut is a nut that’s not welcome in your community, omit it. Maybe add some additional seeds or some kind of dried fruit.

Wet Ingredients

2T Coconut Sugar (or substitute some other sugar)

3T Coconut Oil (or substitute some other oil)

2 1/2T Sunflower Seed Butter

1/4C Pure Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 325.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir so everything is mixed-up.
Warm all of the wet ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk until smooth and pourable.
Pour the wet ingredients over the mixed-up dry ingredients and fold the mixture over and over with a spatula until it is well combined. You can spread this mixture in an 8”x8” baking pan you have coated with baking spray, or you can do what I did and use a mini-muffin tin instead. The baking spray is key, so be sure to coat everything well. Pack each “muffin” tightly and fill about 3/4 full (mine, pictured below in the pan, were a little bit too full and overflowed a touch when baked). Bake about 20 minutes. You may need a little more or a little less time depending on your oven. You’re looking for a golden brown color overall, a little darker around the edges.
When baked, remove from the oven and place the pan on a baking rack to cool for about an hour. I was worried mine would stick, so after about 20 minutes, I used a butter knife to slightly loosen each mini-muffin. After an hour, remove from pan and continue to let cool for another couple of hours. At that point, you can slice into bar shapes if you opted for the 8”x8” pan.

I put our mini-muffins in the freezer because I’m betting that the delightfully crispy exterior will become less crispy and more sticky if left on the counter or in the fridge. Because there’s so little water in these, Wyatt will just pull one (or more) from the freezer in the morning and it will be fully thawed by snack time.