Chex Mix, waitin’ for the bacon. This photo was taken by Evan-Amos as a part of Vanamo Media, which creates public domain works for educational purposes.
Ingredients:
7 cups Rice Chex (7 ounces)
7 cups Wheat Chex (11 ounces)
7 cups Corn Chex (7 ounces)
1 box Cheerios (15 ounces)
1 package thin pretzels (9 ounces)
1 can Spanish peanuts (12.5 ounces)
1/3 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup margarine
2 tablespoons Tabasco
1 heaping teaspoon chili powder (with salt)
Method: combine the cereals, pretzels and peanuts in a large roasting pan. Melt bacon grease and margarine (I guess you could use butter but I’d go hard-core and buy real margarine); add Tabasco; pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle on the chili powder and stir again. Bake in a preheated 200 degrees oven for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
I was with you on this recipe until I discovered it called for margarine, why not butter? I didn’t know you could still purchase margarine. Otherwise, I could munch on this through an entire NFL game.
When I make a legacy recipe for the first time, I try to stay as close as possible to the original directions and ingredients. But considering the overall volume, substituting butter for margarine is probably not going to make much difference, so go for it.
As for availability, Land O’Lakes Margarine (“now with 0% trans fat”) is still sold at my local supermarket. There are also a number of “vegetable oil spreads” but I’d steer clear.