Ranch Snack Mix
& how to pack it up for the CUTEST Valentines EVER
I’ll fully admit it…I’m very “extra” with the school holidays and sending homemade cupcakes, cookies, etc. The reel I posted this morning already got some comments like, “How? When? How? When do you find the time?”. Well, “Part A” is: this is how I make a living. I cook professionally. So a lot of my work is from home in my kitchen. Also, most importantly, I have full time childcare. “Part B” to the answer: I was raised by a single father, who showed me unconditional love every day of my life, BUT I never had a homemade birthday cake or cupcakes to bring to school or anything to contribute to the class Valentines Day party. That was not even on his radar. And as a kid, I was really jealous of my friends who had moms (just a mom at all) that sent in donut holes for a class party or cupcakes on their birthday. So you might say that this is my way of re-parenting myself. I find immense satisfaction and healing in doing for my boys what I wanted so desperately for myself as a child. That goes way beyond party favors.
Ranch Snack Mix
The recipe for this ADDICTINGLY DELICIOUS snack mix is at the bottom of this email, and is visible to paid subscribers. It takes about 5 minutes to mix together and 40 minutes in the oven. It’s going to be better for you than anything pre-made you’ll buy in a store and I think even more flavorful. You could totally customize the mix based on your family’s likes. Like adding pretzels or swapping out the cherrios for chex. For the seasoning, I chose to go with Trader Joe’s Ranch Seasoning because I’m not wild about the ingredients in the classic Hidden Valley- but either brand would work fine.
The Bags: Here is a link to the bags I used. I bought the 4.7” x 7.9” and they are perfect for a pre-school Valentine.
The Label: Here is a link to the paper I bought to print the labels on. I formatted the label to be 3 inches x 3 inches and designed it using Adobe Illustrator. I’m going to embed two images (front and back) of the label further down this email. My thought is that you could save those images to your computer and print them to be 3” x 3” on the sticky paper. This paper is matte and writeable. If you need help with this DM or email me.
If anyone actually makes this and packs it up for Valentines Day, you HAVE to send me a photo! And as I’m typing I’m realizing that Sunday is The Super Bowl. A big bowl of this would be PERFECT for Sunday.
What I’m Loving This Week:
GIR rubber spatulas: I have, I think, 5 or 6 of these spatulas in my utensil crock in my kitchen in varying sizes. I use them constantly. They are hands down THE BEST rubber spatula you can buy. I have been using them aggressively for over 5 years and they are still going strong. For mixing something like this snack mix, you can’t go wrong with a rubber spatula. It’s gently in the way it tosses things, but also scrapes the bottom of the bowl to mix in the buttery seasoning. The woman who started this company is a bad ass mom and entrepreneur. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her.
Labels:
Makes: a lot :) enough to fill 30 small bags