Tuesday, Dec 21, 2010 2:02 AM UTC

Ranch snack mix

Crispy, crunchy, chunky and ranch-flavored. Can you actually resist anything ranch-flavored?

By Lucy Mercer

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Topics: Kitchen Challenge, Food, Life News

I ran into a friend this week, another mommy getting ready for Christmas, and I asked her how her week was going. “Oh, it’s going great. I guess I’m all ready for Christmas!” she replied.

Knowing that Friday was the last day of school before the holidays, I asked about teacher gifts, not to make her panic, but because I’m always looking for ideas. She panicked. Her pretty blue eyes opened wide and she said, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I forgot! I’ve got to get teacher gifts!” We talked through a few options, from candles and hand lotion to gift cards and baked goods. I’ve done them all, to recognize the hard work of my daughters’ teachers.

This year, I baked. The teachers’ bags were loaded with an assortment from my table of baked goodies: sweet stuff like pound cakes, espresso chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-dipped marshmallows and mint Oreos, peppermint white chocolate bark, and shortbread. All that sugar requires a balancing element. I like to add something salty to the assortment, so I make a double batch of my special snack mix and add a bag to each package.

This is one version of the snack mix. It’s different each time I make it because snack crackers seem to come and go. The backbone of the mix is oyster crackers, embellished with a pretzel type like Hanover’s Buttery Waffles — these are the best. A cheesy cracker works well, and a sesame one, if you can find it. Peanuts, mixed nuts, cashews are all excellent choices to round out the mix.

Snack Mix

Ingredients

1 (10-ounce) package oyster crackers
1 (9-ounce) package Snyder’s of Hanover Butter Snaps Pretzels
1 (12-ounce) package cheese crackers or sticks
1 (12-ounce) can mixed nuts
1 (1-ounce) envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Original Ranch Salad Dressing mix
½ cup vegetable oil

Directions

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a large, shallow pan, mix together all snack ingredients. Stir together the salad dressing and oil and pour over the snacks. Evenly distribute the seasoning throughout the mixture. Bake in oven, stirring frequently, for about a half-hour. This is absolutely irrestisible warm from the oven. You can store it at room temp in sealed containers, but it won’t last long. Actually, the untouched mix could probably last for a week or more, but my point is, it won’t be around your house for very long if the munch monsters know where to find it.

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The week in 10 pics

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Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
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Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin
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Ranch snack mix

Crispy, crunchy, chunky and ranch-flavored. Can you actually resist anything ranch-flavored?