I’m a huge fan of easy snack mixes. They’re perfect for an evening with the family while playing games or watching a movie. They’re also great for trips and as a cheaper snack at the movie theater (can I say that?). This is an excellent, simple snack mix that you can make in the microwave in a matter of minutes. This recipe is from Southern Living, October 2006.

I recommend using a glass, microwave safe bowl for nuking this–unless you have an excellent plastic microwave safe bowl; otherwise, there’s a good chance your plastic bowls will melt away.

Microwave Snack Mix

Prep: 15 min.
Cool: 30 min.
Yields 13 cups

Ingredients

Method

1. Whisk together Ranch dressing mix and 1/2 cup vegetable oil in a large microwave-safe glass bowl.
2. Stir in oatmeal cereal squares and next 3 ingredients (You can also add the pretzel sticks at this point, but it will spread your seasoning a little thin.)
3. Microwave mixture at HIGH 2 minutes, and stir well.
4. Microwave at HIGH 2 more minutes, and stir well.
5. Spread mixture in a single layer on wax paper, and let cool 30 minutes. Add cherries and candy pieces.

Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.

One of the great things about this recipe is that the cereal squares are fairly interchangeable. Possible cereals to use are Chex, Life, Crispix, and Quaker Essentials.