I am so excited to share this recipe. I’ve taken it so many places, and it’s unusual for me to leave without someone asking for the recipe. My mom kind of made up this recipe. When I was growing up, we loved making and eating garlic pretzels. Garlic pretzels are basically spices and oil baked onto pretzels. It’s delish! When I was in college, Phil and I came home to visit, and my mom had made the garlic pretzels. But, she added cheez-its and oyster crackers and a little heat. It was SO good. We’ve been making it like this ever since. Now, I want to mention that this is a total “treat yourself” snack for us. The ingredients in the recipe aren’t things we typically buy. But, everything in moderation. So, we occasssioanlly make this and enjoy it. It’s perfect for a tailgate, get together, movie night, or family party. This recipe makes a very big batch, so be prepared to share. It’s also pretty spicy. The recipe calls for red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. If you’re not into spicy food, no worries. You can still make the snack mix without the spice. And it’s still really good!

You will need:

• 2 bags medium sized pretzels 
• 1 box Cheez-its
• 1 bag oyster crackers
• 2 packets Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix (not the dip mix!)
• 2 cups oil
• 2 tsp. lemon pepper
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. dill weed
• 2 tblsp. crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• large roaster pan 

To start, preheat oven to 325. Break up the pretzels into pieces so there are no whole pretzels. To do this, I open the pretzel bags and then squeeze the bags with my hands. Next, dump the broken pretzels, cheez-its, and oyster crackers into the roaster pan. I then make sure there aren’t any whole pretzels hiding in the mix. If there are, I break them up with my hands. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, ranch mix, lemon pepper, garlic powder, dill weed, and crushed red pepper.

Pour this mixture over the pretzels and crackers. Stir well to coat all pretzels and crackers with the oil and spices. I usually spend a couple minutes thoroughly stirring the mix.

Pop the mix into the oven for 20 minutes stirring every 5-10 minutes. Once the mix is done in the oven, remove and sprinkle the cayenne pepper over the mix. Stir thoroughly. Allow the mix to cool and enjoy!

My little 3 year old helper loves this spicy snack!