Recipe: Andy's Mama's Chex Mix

 The final product fresh from the oven. Delicious!

I used to not be much of a Chex Mix fan. I loved my Grandma Pat's homemade Chex Mix every Christmas Eve, but other than that, I could take it or leave it. Andy, not so much. He loves Chex Mix, and esepcially his mom Mary's Chex Mix. She makes batches upon batches every Christmas to give to family and friends (the buckets were lining the kitchen shelves this year!). I look forward to my Chex Mix and coffee breakfasts back in Sheboygan over the holidays :o)

Andy and I started making a modified gluten-free stove top version of Mary's recipe. We try to have it on hand when we have guests in town - my family especially loves the snack! Here's the recipe Andy and I use. If you want to add the gluten back in, you can play with the recipe by adding different cereals. 

Chex Mix

What you'll need:

• 8 cups Chex cereal (we use rice and corn)
• 2.5 cups pretzels (I like the Glutino brand the best)
• 2.5 cups mixed nuts
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1T Worcestershire sauce 
• 1t seasoned salt
• 3/4t garlic powder
• 1/4t onion powder

What you'll do: 

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
2. Mix together the Chex cereal, pretzels, and nuts in a baking pan
3. Warm the butter in a saucepan on the stove on medium heat until it's liquid
4. Mix the Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and onion powder together in a bowl
5. Pour the melted butter in the bowl with the seasoning mixture from step 4 and mix it all together
6. Pour the mixture from step 5 over the Chex cereal, pretzels, and nuts in the baking pan while stirring it regularly until it's fully coated
7. Cook the Chex Mix in the oven for 1 hour, stirring it every 15 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn

 Measuring out the ingredients.
 

 All the dry ingredients in the baking pan.

 Pouring the sauce and mixing the Chex Mix.

 Andy was teasing Ella pretending to drop the whole pan - she would have loved that!

I love this recipe because it's the perfect amount of saltiness for my afternoon cravings, and with all the mixed nuts, it's a somewhat nutritious snack compared to other options (I'm looking at you, potato chips!). Plus, it's super customizable based on your preferences. The only problem we have is making it last more than a week!

-Breanna