Bridge Snack Mix

Back to school for the kids means back to a routine for me - and my routine involves bridge. We try to play once a week and twice a week if we’re lucky. One of those times is always a morning so it’s usually filled with coffee and pastries or a Diet Coke.

But one of those days a week we meet in the afternoon. We drink ranch water or martinis or champagne and we giggle and play until we forget what we are supposed to do. Those bridge days call for a snack mix.

Did you know what actual Bridge Mix is? I was horrified when I found out. Bridge Mix is nuts, licorice, dried fruit, etc., all covered in chocolate. When you pick one out, you have no idea what’s in the center. Can you imagine anything more terrifying? What if you wanted dried fruit and got licorice? What if you got a nut thinking it was licorice? I am not there personality to manage the unknown of chocolate fillings well. This is my nightmare.

With our beverages of choice, a chocolate snack mix isn’t the right combo anyway. So I created a snack mix that’s salty, crunchy, and easy to eat while holding your cards. Some just call it snack mix, but that’s boring. It’s a Bridge Snack Mix. And as such, it should be served with a dirty martini and a deck of cards.

Bridge Snack Mix

3 cups oyster crackers

2 cups pretzels

2 cups cheese-its

1 cup red skin peanuts

½ cup melted butter

1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Pour all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and in a separate bowl, combine butter, Worcestershire, and all seasonings.

STEP 2

Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir gently - but completely so everything is coated. Pour on a baking sheet in as close to one layer as possible.

STEP 3

Bake in the oven for about one hour. Using a spatula, flip everything around every fifteen minutes or so. When done, remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

NOTES: Swap in whatever you want for the dry ingredients - obviously cereal is a popular swap. What you have in the house is perfect. Except you cannot skip oyster crackers.