snack time

On this family's journey, to make better food choices, we have left many things behind. With two children that love to have snacks twice a day, I had to find satisfying snacks that would be a little better than potato chips and cookies. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a cookie, but instead of buying the prepackaged kind, I bake my own. That way I know the ingredients minus all the preservatives. Nobody has complained yet!

Besides pumping into them, all the in season organic fruit I can find. They also like the salty snack here and there. We love a snack mix or chex mix (whatever you call it)around here. Again, I wanted to make it myself and make enough to last a couple weeks at a time. Being a lover of all things Pioneer Women (she is so funny), I found the perfect recipe at her site and tweaked it a bit. Her recipe is just right the way it is, I just like to use the whole box of the cereals and add in different nuts.

Chex party mix

Ingredients

• 3 cups corn chex
• 3 cups wheat chex
• 3 cups rice chex
• 2 cups pretzel sticks
• 2 cups mixed nuts (I add sunflower seeds too)
• 1 -1 1/2 sticks of butter (because I make so much at once, I add 2 sticks). Don't be scared!
• 3 TBLS Worcestershire sauce (again, go for it! If you like it spicy!);)
• 6-12 dashes Tabasco sauce (FIRE....Somebody call 911!!!!)
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (just don't breath in my face afterward.....) Garlic is good!!!
• 1 tsp Lawry's season salt (touch more, if you dare)
• 1/4 tsp onion powder (same here)

Preparation Instructions
Dump cereal, pretzel sticks, nuts, and the kitchen sink in the biggest bowl you have. In a microwave-safe bowl, add remaining ingredients and microwave until butter is melted. Stir together and spoon butter mixture into cereal mixture, stirring as you go.
Transfer mix onto one or two baking sheets, and bake in a 250-degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Let cool and store in an airtight container.
Grab a handful every forty minutes. Eat. Spoil your appetite.

These are another new weakness of mine.

Banana chips are awesome!

Publix has them over with the dehydrated fruits in the Greenwise section.
Enjoy!!!