Elvis Snack Mix

I used to love weekends. After having kids I look forward to weekdays and when my kids go back to school. I thought I was the only one until I decided to ask my husband, thinking maybe staying at home made my opinion slanted. Nope, my husband is the same way. While work maybe stressful and busy, it doesn't have two boys yelling in my husband's ear all day. It also doesn't have 1,000 errands to do like every weekend seems to, or the family obligations that always crop up. When my husband and I were first married weekends were a time to relax and sleep in. I haven't slept in on the weekend since I was 27, my weekend morning normally start at 5:30 am when my youngest wakes up and demands breakfast. Then my day involves errands, laundry and cleaning up after 3 males. By the time Monday roles around I'm exhausted and spend most of the day cleaning up the messes that didn't get finished the last two days. I love my kids dearly, but I also enjoy when they wave goodbye from the bus Monday morning.

I tend to make snacks in batches. For a few weeks I make various muffin recipes, then breads, cookies, etc then switch to a new batch of snacks. Last week was Chex Mix week. I made a number of recipe variations and then stored them in the cupboard in air tight containers. It's nice since they stay fresh for a decent amount of time. The following is a recipe for Elvis Snack Mix.

Recipe adapted from Redbook Magazine.

Elvis Snack Mix

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• salt to taste
• 4 cups Rice Chex
• 2 cups banana chips
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Over medium heat melt the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and salt.
4. Toss with cereal.
5. Spread cereal mixture evenly on the baking sheet.
6. Let bake 10 minutes, stirring once.
7. Toss with the banana chips, peanut, and dark chocolate chips.
8. Let cool and then break into pieces.

Tips: 

• The dark chocolate chips can be replaced with semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips depending on your preference. 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips and a 1/4 cup peanut butter chips would also be yummy. 
• The Rice Chex can be replaced with Corn Chex (or other corn or rice cereals such as Crispix). 
• My husband prefers this mix with 2 cups of peanuts and 1 cup of banana chips. He has never been a banana chip fan, so experiment until you find a combination that works for your family (everyone is different!). 

White Chocolate Pistachio Snack Mix

Both of my kids are in school this year. That should be a good thing, it turns out it has brought about a lot of drama. My oldest was officially diagnosed with ADHD this summer (after 6 months of testing, doctors etc.) which has brought about a lot of changes. Just when my oldest got everything under control (he has straight A's in school this year), my younger son started having severe separation anxiety. I'm not talking about a little crying at the bus. Last week he had a full meltdown and wouldn't even get on the bus, leading me to carrying him almost a mile to school. Who needs cross-fit when you can carry a 45 pound child a mile everyday. He has his good days and bad days. Some mornings he wakes up and is ready to go, other days start with an hour of crying and me crossing my fingers he will actually get on the bus. I love both of my kids, but I never knew how hard it can be to deal with emotional/health issues. Luckily the more I deal with my kids issues the better parent I am becoming. I just wish that kids came with a manual, it would make everything so much easier.

In addition to the separation anxiety issues my youngest is skinny. So skinny that if he loses anymore weight it will become a problem (he has always been below the 5th percentile for weight, but he hasn't gained much weight in the last year). My oldest also stays thin and eats all the time, so I keep a constant supply of snacks in my house. Snack mix is always popular and can be made in big batches, which is always nice. The following is a recipe for White Chocolate Pistachio Snack Mix.

Recipe adapted from Redbook Magazine.

White Chocolate Pistachio Chex Mix

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups rice Chex cereal
• 1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Melt butter, sugar, vanilla and kosher salt (to taste) over medium heat.
4. Pour mixture over rice cereal.
5. Toss to make sure cereal is evenly coated.
6. Place mixture on the baking sheet in an even layer.
7. Bake until golden brown, approximately 10 minutes.
8. Toss cereal mixture with pistachios, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
9. Let cool and they break apart.

Tips: 

• This cereal mix can also be made with corn chex if you prefer. 
• The original recipe kept the chocolate chips whole at the end. My family loves it when the chocolate chips melt into the cereal and nuts. Either way works, so experiment to see which version you prefer. 
• I use salted pistachios, but if you prefer to reduce the sodium use unsalted nuts. 

Martha Stewart Living Nuts and Bolts Mix

We go through a large amount of snack food each week in our house. I try to cook as much of it as I can from scratch, but I have a hard time finding salty snack recipes that taste good. My husband and two boys love Chex mix and I have tried just about every variation of it that I can find. I was intrigued when a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for nuts and bolts mix that looked different than standard Chex mix.

This is an easy recipe to make. The ingredient list is short and the prep time is next to nothing. The most important part of this recipe is to make sure that the mix is stirred. The difference between this recipe turning out well or burnt is the stirring and preparation. I set a timer to go off every twenty minutes to remind me to stir.

Making the same snack recipe can get tedious. This recipe is a nice change of pace from the "official" Chex mix recipe. The resulting snack is a little spicier, due to the cayenne. My two kids liked the use of the bite size pretzels and I liked that, unlike other recipes, I wasn't left with a large amount of nuts with no seasoning once the more flavored part of the mix was eaten. This will be a snack mix recipe I will use again in the future to mix (no pun intended) things up.

For the recipe go to Martha Stewart Living Nuts and Bolts Mix

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