RECIPE #398, DAY #571
ORIGINAL RECIPE: “Backseat Treats,” “Spicy Cereal Mix,” from Ellie Krieger in Food Network Magazine, July 2011*
TIMING: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Easy, but don’t just walk away and forget about it
TOOLS: Roasting pan, silicone spatula, small bowl, mini whisk, etc.
COOK TYPE: Oven
HEALTH: This appeared originally in an article for low-calorie road trip food, but I question the health of the snack–a little. I mean, cereal is not exactly health food. However, made with whole grain cereals and the oil instead of butter, this also isn’t as bad for you as, say, chips and Doritos or, well, the same trail mix off the shelf in a gas station. And paired with some of the other suggestions in the article? Not bad at all.
EXPERIENCE: I have been addicted to home made waffle cereal mix for a long, long time. I just made a batch last week, in fact. But I do tend to overindulge, and the butter leaves me feeling, well, overindulged. So when I saw the recipe for a variation on a theme–and a low calorie variation, at that–I threw it on the weekly grocery list. Five years later. Whatever.
This came together in a snap but it didn’t make very much, which ended up being helpful because, um, there was an issue with the recipe as it was written and I ended up with basically charcoal briquette-ettes. I doubled the recipe for you, which you will want, because this goes fast and packs up real nice for lunches, hikes, or road trips.
NOTES: Honey roasted peanuts would also be nice in this mix. Whole wheat waffle cereal holds up well to this, but corn would also work.
***
- Preheat oven to 250F.
- In a roasting pan, toss together 6 cups waffle square cereal, 2 cups cornflakes, 2 cups broken plain pita chips, and 2 cups raw peanuts.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 6 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons hot sauce, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, until there are no bubbles of powder.
- Pour the sauce over the cereal and toss around until as mixed as you can get it. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden brown and becoming crispy. Let cool and store in an air-tight container.
***
Serve with lunch in a lunch box; clementines and water bottles on a hike; or apples, granola bars, and chocolate-dipped nuts and pretzels on a road trip.
LEFTOVER IDEAS: There is no leftover plan, here. Just keep eating it. Like late at night with a bottle of wine and a binge-isode of New Girl.
*Recipe changed from the original.
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