'Tis the season... for football, that is!

I don’t know what your house is like on Sundays, but at my house, during the season, football is on the tv from the time I get up, until the time I go to bed.  Preshow talk, post show talk, fantasy football talk, oh yeah, and the games themselves.  Hubby’s slightly obsessed.  Especially when he’s winning in his fantasy football league.  When I say obsessed, I don’t mean he dances around in the snow in the stands wearing nothing but shorts and paint for the camera, and therefore the rest of the world, to see.  He does, however, scare the bejesus out of me and Otto when there’s a touchdown or a fumble and he jumps out of his chair and yells at the top of his lungs.  Personally, I’d rather cook than watch football, so why not make hubby something to munch on while watching the game.  This snack mix is perfect.  It’s tasty, and it vacuums up easily in case of touchdown or fumble or some other exciting event. 

Here’s what you need:

6 cups Crispix cereal
1 cup shredded oats cereal
1 cup mini crackers
1 cup plain pretzels
1 cup sesame sticks
1 cup honey mustard & onion pretzels
1 cup baked cheese crunchies
1 cup cheese and garlic croutons
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon season salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper

Whew!  That’s a lot of ingredients.  Now, these are just the things I used.  Feel free to substitute whatever you want, really.  Just try to keep the proportions the same.  I don’t like my snack mix to all taste the same, so I like to combine plain things that I’ll be seasoning with things that are flavored.  Keeps the tongue from getting bored while munching.  Ahem… not Seeley, not going there.  You’ll just need one specialized tool for this project. 

No, this is not an advertisement for Whole Foods.  You need a paper bag.  It makes for easy coating and easy cleanup.  So, in goes the crispix.

Next the pretzels.  They’re a little stubborn about cooperating in the measuring cup, so I just mounded them up. 

In they go.

Next come the sesame sticks.

Then the baby crackers.

And last but not least, the shredded oats cereal. 

Yes!  I finally got an action shot!  Seeley and I do a little dance when we get a cool picture like that that actually turns out.  Well, I do anyway.  I can't really speak for how much dancing goes on in Seeley's kitchen.  Ok, so everything’s in the bag now. 

 

Next, melt the butter over low heat.  Pour in the Worcestershire sauce and stir until they’re well combined. 

Sprinkle on the spices.  I didn’t actually measure the black pepper.  I like lots of it, so I just ground it in until my hand got tired.

Stir those in, then drizzle the mixture over the stuff in the bag. 

Fold the top closed and shake shake shake until everything is evenly, well mostly evenly, coated. 

Pour the whole mixture onto a sheet pan, or a big roasting pan would work well too. 

Um… I seem to have forgotten to mention preheating your oven.  You’d think we plan that, we do it so often.  Nope, we’re just that scatter brained.  Somewhere back a few steps, preheat your oven to 250°.  That way, you can now slide your snack mix into a preheated oven.  Bake it for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Pull it out and allow it to cool completely.  I like to just sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the top. 

That way, when you pour it into a big bowl, everything mixes together.

Serve in a big bowl… actually, on second thought, individual servings are much easier to clean up when scattered across the floor.  If it’s a small enough amount, you can even just let the dog take care of it.  Lord knows you’re not going to beat him to it anyway. 

What are your favorite game day snacks?