To celebrate the holidays I thought it would be fun to do the 12 Posts of Christmas on my blog. In each post I am going to share either a holiday recipe, a tradition (relating to food of course) or a review for a meal out while celebrating the season with friends. Also, this will be a good way to ensure I get back into the habit of posting more frequently! I hope you enjoy!
Post 1 – Nuts and Bolts
Making Nuts and Bolts during the Christmas season has been a Stanley Family tradition for as long as I can remember. This is my mom’s recipe that she developed to suit my dad’s sensitive stomach (meaning not too much garlic). My mom collected a bunch of different recipes and then through trial and error finally created the perfect recipe!
Recently I have been using my mom’s delicious recipe every Christmas to make a big batch of Nuts and Bolts to hand out at work along with Christmas cards. I like giving something homemade and this recipe is pretty cost-effective, very delicious and super easy! This will be my third year giving Nuts and Bolts, so I guess it’s becoming a little bit of a tradition for me now too.
Stanley Nuts and Bolts
INGREDIENTS:
– regular sized box of Cheerios
– regular sized box of Shreddies
– regular sized box of Corn Bran or Crispix
– bag of stick pretzels
– can of mixed nuts
– 1 1/2 cups margarine
– 1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
– 12 drops tabasco
– 1 tsp seasoning salt
– 1 tsp garlic powder
– 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
– 1 1/2 tsp salt
Note: You can change-up the recipe however you want to suit your own tastes, just try to keep the proportions about the same. This year I used Crispix and also added in some cheese flavoured penguin shaped crackers (the Superstore version of Goldfish… so cute!) and my dad added in some Bugles to try something different. Also I made 1 and a half times the normal recipe to make a big enough batch. This yields enough Nuts and Bolts to fill up 18 medium-sized zip lock bags.
METHOD:
1. Mix margarine and seasonings together in a small saucepan on low on the stove.
2. While the margarine is melting, mix dry ingredients together in large roasting pans.
3. Pour the melted margarine mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well (but be careful to ensure you don’t break up the cereal too much).
4. Bake in the oven for 2 hours at 250º stirring well every 20-30 minutes.
5. Once the Nuts and Bolts are done take them out of the oven and give them time to cool before packing them up in airtight containers or zip locks. If you find that these Nuts and Bolts are so delicious you just can’t stand the thought of giving them away you will be pleased to know that they keep very well in the freezer. Just pull them out and enjoy any time throughout the year! Yum!
Such a delicious holiday treat! Just be careful of indulging on these before heading out to a holiday party… Nuts and Bolts Breath… mmm mmmm!
Happy Sunday!
Life is Better Red 