2.0’s snack mix
This is a variation of a snack mix recipe that one of my students, Eda, gave me. Eda is in my Ballet for Seniors class. Yah, that’s right. Every Tuesday I’m faced with a group of the coolest seniors on the planet. Trust me, you wanna be them. Über cool. Awesome like the bestest, funnest kitten ever. Your best friend, mother and idol all rolled into one. Some of these ladies are now in their seventh year of ballet – some started with absolutely no dance experience. What did you take up last week? Oh. You started watching a new reality show? Sure, that’s almost the same.
When you’re a ballet teacher, you’ve basically got it made. First off, they pay you to dance and stuff, which is pretty cool, and people think you’re all sophisticated and crap (despite your use of words like crap). And you get to slap on lounge wear for work, people. I wear yoga pants every day. And I’m not like the pathetic men you see at the grocery store wearing elastic cuffed sweat pants and white sports socks – they’ve given up hope. I’m basically required to wear comfy clothes every day. Because I sweat. That’s the downside. Not for me – for anyone standing around me.
Back to Eda. Eda has, for the past few years, sent me home with a tin of her homemade snack mix just before we break for the holidays each December. And at first, this was awesome – because I could sit on my couch alone and watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation after the last night of teaching, eating my tin of snack mix. But then I met 2.0. And 2.0 has figured out that around the holidays, people bring their ballet teachers lots of treats. I guess this is because people think we are pathetic and can’t take care of ourselves. (In fairness, we don’t smell great and usually look pretty dishevelled.)
When 2.0 tried Eda’s snack mix for the first time, I knew we were going to have a… situation. 2.0 has developed a new routine strategy for December. He greets me at the door each night, pretends to care about how my teaching day was, and then searches my bag. He’s interested in all of the goodies, but mostly, he’s looking for Eda’s tins. Every time he sees a festive cookie tin, he rips the lid off. And sure, he feigns interest the the wee shortbreads and carefully decorated sugar cookies he usually finds inside. But he doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about that stuff. Not until he’s snagged his snack mix.
So last year, after yet another tin of snack mix was ripped from my hands, nary a Cheerio consumed by yours truly, I asked Eda for the recipe. Mostly to shut 2.0 up. And Eda kindly passed it on. Then I forgot about it. But 2.0 didn’t. With the changing leaves came his pleas for snack mix. So I made some last week. To shut him up. I tweaked the recipe a bit – based mostly on what I could find to throw in there. And you could do the same. Add in some cheese nips like Eda does. Or maybe some Shreddies – I bet they’d be good in there. And guess what? This recipe is so easy to throw together that a monkey could do it. Provided that monkey could dig the roasting pan out of the corner cabinet without breaking any of the glass dishes that have been precariously stacked on top of it.
And after you’ve made yourself some snack mix, maybe you should join a class or some other activity that doesn’t involve your couch. Do something with your life for cripes sake.
. . .
2.0’s Snack Mix – inspired by Eda Elliot – print and bake
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- 3 cups Cheerios/toasted oat cereal
- 3 cups thin pretzel sticks
- 2 cups mixed nuts
- 1 cup raw pistachios (shelled)*
- 1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds, hulled and unsalted*
* you could substitute the pistachios or pumpkin seeds with cheese nips, Shreddies or any other dry ingredient of your choice
Preheat oven to 250°F (120°C).
In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and celery salt.
Combine the dry ingredients in a roasting pan. Pour half of the butter mixture over the dry ingredients, and mix well. Add the remaining butter mixture, and mix well.
Bake until the ingredients are dry, mixing about every 10-15 minutes, for 40 – 60 minutes..
Hey, hey ,hey. What’s wrong with wearing sweat pants and white sports socks and being generally morose and disgusting? Don’t belittle my life :D. In all seriousness, this is a great sounding snack… there’s lots of it. hmm.
Crack out the dressy sweat pants and invite some friends over!
cheerios?? sold.
We saw a car at the grocery store last night that said something like “OMG We Love Our Seniors!!!,” and we both immediately thought the message would be greatly improved if “Citizens” were added to the end … Life would be just a bit rosier:)
Agreed!
That snack mix sounds so good right now! My grandma used to make a version of that. It’s addictive, horribly addictive, but so good you don’t really care that it’s going straight to your butt. Ha! I would love to take a ballet class! The thought never even occurred to me until I read this. I can’t quite envision myself in a leotard without shuddering though. 😉
Well, that’s why my seniors don’t wear bodysuits, silly! They get to wear yoga pants too. Though, that being said, a couple do wear full ballet regalia, and are putting me to shame!
If I had this mix at work I’d be snacking at my desk all day. But I fidget a lot so it evens out! 😉
Yes, my gluttonous little sloth, it all evens out in the end! (You’ve got a great blog, by the way.)
When I was a kid my mam loved Bombay mix. It was like a really hot spicy dry mix with chick peas and other crap in it. I have quite strong memories of her munching away while watching the soaps.
I have never been one for a dry mix though. Just never got into it. I do, however, love a good hand full of cheerios while I potter around the kitchen.
Therefore I will make an effort to make some dry mix. Not right now. Chill out. In a few weeks running up to Christmas. It is on my “to-do” list 🙂
Pretzels…. I hate them with a passion. But once I eat one I can’t stop with the damn things. What is that all about?
I don’t know what to say to you. How can you hate pretzels? What’s wrong with you?
Oh, wait. You’re British. I’ve been learning a lot about the Brits from my friend Emma over at 95 acres of sky. ‘Nuff said.
Toby and I just read this is bed this morning we laughed a lot and now we need to get up and eat because you made us hungry 🙂
Mission accomplished.
That snack mix sounds dangerously addictive… no wonder 2.0 is so obsessed! Also, I am now lamenting that I never took dance (of any kind) when I was younger… now I’m old, clumsy, and my yoga pants are only a lame attempt at appearing like one of the cool kids. Well, that and they’re really comfy. Elastic waistbands are one of the greatest inventions of all time. I once bought pregnancy pants as a teenager, not knowing what they were, and I thought they were the coolest thing ever. True story.
I modified this a tad to include my favorites: Quaker corn bran crunch, chex cereal, sesame sticks, sweet sesame snacks and instead of mixed nuts, just got the raw almonds and unsalted peanuts out of the bulk food bins. Of course, it turned into a huge 12 cup mix so I needed more butter and Worcestershire sauce! Can’t wait for it to come out of the oven! Ohp, time to stir! Thanks for this recipe!!!
You’re so welcome! I’m sure your additions made the mix extra awesome!
Comments on this post are now closed as it was published in October 2011. Happy baking!