I’m not sure of the exact year
Chex Mix came into our lives, but I can remember making it in our first house
which dates it to the mid-70s. It’s long enough ago for friends and family to look for it when they come by or when I put together gift
baskets. I send the kids and grandchildren off with big ziplock bags of it
after the holidays.
Over the years, I’ve stuck to a
simple version of the recipe that appears on the Chex cereal boxes, which I always
double.
Rice, Corn & Wheat Chex
Pecans (several handfuls)
Redskin peanuts (couple of
handfuls)
Pretzels (couple of handfuls)
Seasoning Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Butter and Olive Oil
Nope, no onion or garlic powder,
not that we’d turn our noses up at yours if you include them. We just like our
simple basic mix. If the first recipe I followed included them, I must have not
had the ingredients on hand, or I left them out in deference to a husband and
children with less than adventurous taste buds.
The one change I usually make now
is to use half butter and half olive oil. I read about substituting olive
oil for all the butter several years ago in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette “Idea Alley.”
I like the flavor
the butter adds, so I made my own adjustment. (If I’m feeling particularly
health conscious, I use 1/3 butter to 2/3 olive oil.)
This year, I put my first double-batch
of Chex Mix together the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in preparation for our Georgia bunch and our college-age grandchildren coming home. I had planned to keep count of
the number of boxes of Chex I used between then and New Year’s Day, but I’ve
lost count. (I cut out the Boxtops for Education and will send them to the first person who gives me her address.)
During that visit, Maria told me
that my granddaughter, Caroline, had been surprised there was no Chex Mix this
summer when they were in Little Rock. That brought home to me the strong association she’s
made between Gran and Chex Mix. My reply
was “If you’d told me, I’d have made a batch.” And I would have happily done so.
Maybe someday my grandchildren will reminisce about how Gran always made Chex Mix during the holidays.
Now that's a nice thought, isn't it?
Does your family have a favorite treat you make each year?
Taste and see that the Lord is
good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
