Carrying It Forward

I still remember the first time I saw my Dad make Chex Party Mix. I was 8 or 9 years old. I wasn't a big cereal fan, so I wasn't too interested when the corn, rice and wheat Chex boxes came into the house. What I didn't know was that those boxes, plus some mixed nuts, pretzels and butter-gussied-up-in-spicing, created a wonderful blend of absolute holiday snack deliciousness! I remember standing behind and to the side of my Dad while he pulled the mix out of the oven. He used a roasting pan for the baking, and I remember the sound of the wooden spoon and cereal scraping the sides of the metal. I can still see him in his khaki pants and red and black, flannel shirt as he dumped the entire batch onto the paper bag-lined counter. I can hear the muffled scratching sound on the thick paper as he spread the mix out to allow the bags to absorb some of the extra butter. I remember the aroma of, what I later learned was, Worcester sauce and garlic powder and onion powder and, of course, butter. I remember tasting it and knowing my Dad was a genius.

That's my Dad. This is really about 8 years after from my first Chex Mix memory. And, of course I know he's carving a turkey for Thanksgiving here. But, he made that first batch on either Thanksgiving or Christmas, and we had it around both holidays from then on out, so this picture works. 😊💜

This is a tradition I carried forward. This year, the four of us took down the first round of it in just a few days.

This picture is actually the second round. I know this because My Boy ate all of the leftover pretzels on their own after I made the first round. So this one is Round Two, sans pretzels.

Anyway, I figured that as much as we love this tasty, crunchy, oh-so-satisfying goodness, I could not deprive members of The House from it any longer! So, on a recent Saturday afternoon, I pulled out the polymer clay, and I got to work. I rolled teeny-tiny strings from which to cut pretzels. Then, I rolled out the appropriate cereal colors into flat pieces from which I sliced the Chex pieces with an Xacto knife. One by one, with the use of the knife's point, I put the pieces on a solid clay foundation to make it look like a heap of snacks. I rolled some crunched foil gently over the surface, and this is the outcome:

My original plan was just to make the one, circular bowl and maybe create a pan of it for the oven. While I really liked the overall outcome of the bowl, I messed up by making the foundation shape too rounded. So, the snack mix doesn't fall to the edges of the bowl. Rather, it sits in it more like a cheese ball. All of my family said it just didn't matter, but I gave it another go with the square bowl to a much more satisfying outcome! And, of course, I had to make the batch for the oven seeing as the clay was all out again!

I made the bowl fillers so that the snack mix can be seen from all angles:

Don't turn over the oven batch, though. It will not be recognizable as snack mix. 😂 Each batch received a coat of matte polycrylic. I considered using a glossier one to symbolize the amount of butter I know my Dad used (which just added to the absolute indulgence factor!), but then I realized that, no matter how much butter was used, it was never actually shiny! So, matte it was!

The House family is pleased with it just as it is! Some of the girls are crafting and snacking ...

... while Grandpa Bud (of course) and Penny keep a watchful eye on the batch that's baking:

Meanwhile, Hal and Polly have absconded with their own stash and are enjoying it under the close watch of hopeful Eleanor:

Over the years, I've done some tradition-mashing as we amend old ones and create new ones. This is one, though, that I love to continue. It's easy, and I always think of my Dad. This Chex Party Mix project definitely ranks as one of my very favorite. 💙💛