Snack time!

I am sorry to say this is not a healthy recipe or a gluten-free recipe. This is however an easy recipe and sometimes easy wins for me. I also thought it was tasty and made a TON of snack mix. This will serve a large crowd.

I made it because I wanted something tasty that wasn't corn chips or potato chips. This just seemed a more festive alternative. The taste reminds me of chips and onion dip combined in a form that is less messy. Here's the recipe and I will follow it with some gluten-free suggestions.

Ranch Snack Mix

1 box of Crispix Cereal (approx. 12 ounces)
1 box of Cheese-it Crackers (regular-sized box, approx. 13.7 ounces)
1 bag of small-sized pretzels (approx. 10 ounces)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 packages of Hidden Valley Seasoning Mix
2 gallon baggies or a very large bowl

Divide between 2 gallon bags, equal parts of the cereal, cheese crackers and pretzels. Leave enough space to carefully roll the bags to mix in the oil and the seasoning mix. If you would like, carefully stir the mix with a large spoon.

Drizzle  the olive oil between the two bags and roll so that the oil will blend into the mix.

Add one package of Hidden Valley Seasoning mix to each bag. Rolls until seasoning mix coats everything, and you're done. This should last in a sealed container for up to two weeks.

Note: I don't believe the size of the boxes really matter or how much of each ingredient you add. I like the Crispix best so I would probably add more of that than anything but you can make this your way or make a half recipe if you don't need such a large quantity. I used a very large plastic bowl that held the two gallons of mix and I carefully turned the bowl until all was mixed. Be careful not to break the ingredients because you don't want to be left with crumbs in the bottom.

By the way, my husband commented that this stuff was just too good and we were going to have to do something with it because it was making him f

For a gluten-free alternative: Crispix is not gluten free because it contains barley, so substitute Rice Chex for the Crispix. For the cheese crackers use either Wellaby's Cheese ups or Shar Cheese Bites. Glutinos has a gluten-free pretzel that is good and the Hidden Valley Ranch Mix is gluten-free so here are my gluten-free alternative suggestions. I think adding the seasoning would enhance these gluten-free products and make it even better for a party. I think it would be good enough to serve to all guests.

If you try the gluten-free mix, please let me know how it turns out.