Bold and Spicy

Esther loves chex mix. She bugs me to make it quite often. I'm thinking the Christmas season truly starts for her as soon as I make the first batch of chex mix. Now, anyone can read and copy the original recipe and if you aren't a bold and spicy kinda person, I would encourage you to do so.  However, if you want to take it up a notch or two, keep reading. 

First, melt one stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup) in a large roasting pan in your oven set at 250°. Please skip the microwave directions. Just skip it. The flavor and texture of oven roasted chex mix is far superior to insta-mix. Take an hour to make a legit batch of this deliciousness. Think of it as disciplining yourself to slow down a bit to enjoy life.

In a big bowl mix all of the dry ingredients, minus the spices. I kind of follow the original suggestions, but then get a little crazy.

3 cups each rice, corn, wheat chex
A big handful of stick pretzels (They are easy to pick and will be gone fast if you don't add extra.)
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup whole cashews (my fancy expensive ingredient)
1 cup pecans (My parents and my mom-in-law have pecan trees. I can't even imagine having to buy pecans in the store. I'm spoiled.)
1 cup Cheerios (But only if you want something that soaks up extra flavor. The little cheerios are Esther's favorite part. They will take on so much of the sauce, so leave it out if you will just throw them out after everything else is eaten.)
1 cup of something special (Goldfish, Cheezits, Bugles, bagel chips...anything you think would fit the flavor profile. Goldfish are my favorite, but I may try the spicy Cheezits sometime soon.)

Be careful when you mix not to crush the cereal.

In a separate container, measure out your spices. Again, I just do my own thing. I'm pretty sure it is different every time, but I err on the side of too much because too little is just buttered cereal and who wants to eat that?

About....

2 tsp seasoned salt
2 tsp garlic powder (you already added salt, so don't add garlic salt)
1 heaping tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder

Whoa. That's a lot of flavor.

Take out your pan and get over your guilt of making something with that much butter.

Enter the key ingredients: Worcestershire Sauce and Tabasco Sauce. Oh yes. Most definitely. 

Don't freak out, but I add about 6-8 tablespoons of the W-sauce. I know it's a lot, but my chex mix is pretty amazing. 

If you don't like spicy food (I'll pray for you) skip the Tabasco or add just a little. I add 3-4 tablespoons. Yep. I know. You think that's too much. But you're wrong. That's what gives it a kick. This is not your bland, ordinary chex mix. This is bold and spicy! You will love it! People will love it! Trust me. 

Add your spices in and mix it all up. 

Now dump in your cereal mixture and gently stir to coat. It will look brown, wet, and buttery, but it will come together perfectly within an hour. Stir every 15 minutes of baking to continue to evenly distribute the seasonings. 

After an hour of baking, beautiful golden crunchy goodness appears.

Dump it out on foil or paper towels to cool. Try really hard not to pick out the cashews and pretzels while it sits there wafting its fragrance everywhere. After it cools, store in an air tight container. It won't last long! This is also a great gift because it isn't a sweet treat and will stand above all the other plates of cookies your neighbors and kids' teachers receive. If you do give this to a teacher, be sure to add a nice gift card to Starbucks because they just deserve it.

Oh my yumminess. This stuff is so, so good! I've made two batches already. My kids are piggies.

I wouldn't lead you astray. It is easy to make. It is delicious. You should try it. 

Will you? Do you have any questions? Do you have a not sweet treat you like to make during the holidays? 

Making Grandma Smile

Giving my mom creative gifts makes me happy. I told you about As Our Own in this post for Mother's Day. To give you an update, over $26,000 was donated to help this organization rescue children from enslavement and exploitation. If you haven't already, check out their website, read, and pray for As Our Own. Much to my surprise, I received a hand-written thank you note from the organization. Now that takes diligence and sincere gratitude! I wonder how many thank you cards they wrote? With $26,000 given it must have been a lot.

For my mom's birthday, I wanted to give her something sentimental. I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided it would be perfect for her. She loves to read and I knew she would enjoy these unique bookmarks.

The first step was to take photos of my kids in funny poses. This is real life, friends. Green carpet, old worn out red sofas, and laundry. Always lots of laundry. 

See that beagle in the background? Does anyone want him? I'll ship him to you immediately. Just kidding. My kids would freak. If you research dog breeds on the internet, you should believe what it says. Beagles are, in fact, loud, stubborn, and sheddy. 

I took a few poses from varying distances, but these shots were the ones we chose to print.  Next, I cut them out as close to their cute little bodies as possible.  I like this because the green carpet, worn out red couches, laundry, and beagle have disappeared.  

I laminated them at Kinkos. I like Kinkos laminating because it is thicker so it holds up better which is perfect for bookmarks. Then I cut around the bodies closely, but not so close as to cause the lamination to separate from itself.  I want them to last a long time. 

They aren't even finished in this photo and they already look super cute! 

For the finishing touch, I poked a small hole in the hands and used a needle to pull thread through for the bookmark tassel. 

Aren't they so cute? They turned out even better than I expected. My mom loves them and, like any good grandma, is planning on making them with her other grandkids. 

Thoughtful, handmade gifts are the coolest. I always enjoy giving my mom stuff like this, and I'm pretty sure she loves it, too. 

Have you made anything "pinterest-ing" lately? 

Crafty McCrafterson

Those of you who know me know that I am not crafty. At all. But, I do love to give unique gifts, and even though some people may think otherwise because of this post, we keep it pretty simple in terms of gift giving at Christmas. I usually bake...a lot. This year I wanted to do something different, and I got a wonderful idea from my friend Emily via this Pin on Pinterest. (Anybody else actually making stuff they see on Pinterest? Not to brag, but I'm pretty much awesome when it comes to actually using ideas I find on the wonderful free magazine type website.)

Personalized etched mugs for my brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews turned out to be a great gift idea!

I bought these great mugs at the 99 Cent Store. Chad and I (yes, Chad enjoys helping with projects like this) used stickers for the names and taped off a rectangle to make it clean. 

The goo we used is called Glass Etching Cream. On the link it says that she spent $40 for her bottle. My suggestion to her is to shop around a little better.  I got my bottle at Michaels. It was only $12 and thanks to Emily's great suggestion,  I printed a 40% off coupon. 

 And here is the finished product:  

Source

This is actually reason number 67 why I shouldn't be a craft blogger. I never took a final picture. I could lie and say I didn't want to post a final picture of their gifts before Christmas. But, the honest answer is my un-craftiness extends all the way to not taking the final pictures. Now that's funny. But you can get the gist with this example. Maybe I can stretch my crafting capacity and make fancy etched glasses like this one. Or maybe I should just stick with sticker letters to make words. 

But do you want to know who is crafty in my house? 

These two beauties: 

They asked if they could make giant snowflakes. Being the amazing mom that I am, I replied, "Yeah, whatever, knock yourself out." 

They had a great system. Carah did something. 

And then Morgan did something. 

When they showed me the final result I was entirely impressed! I had no idea they were going to make such cool snowflakes. They ended up making five (at my request) and I hung them on the wall in our dining room. I'm so thankful they love to create! 

I will definitely keep making gifts, but will never call myself crafty. It's just too much pressure. 

What about you? What have you made, baked, or created for gifts this year?