Before heading out to the cottage or up to Whistler, I make sure I’ve packed a bag of road snacks and something to drink. Prechildren the bag consisted of:

• Bag of red Twizzlers
• Big bag of potato chips
• Pop
• Chocolate macaroons

It’s little wonder Bill and I often didn’t feel well by the time we got to where we were going, but eating junk food was just part of our adventure. Now that we have two small children we try not to eat like that, at least not in front of them.

These days I try to pack some strawberries, grapes and apples washed and cut up in plastic containers, granola bars and popcorn. If I have time, I like to make my own road snacks: Spicy Almonds and Nuts & Bolts. These are also great appetizers to serve during happy hour at the cottage.

Sweet & Spicy Nuts (Cottage Life’s Summer Weekend Cookbook)

• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 cups blanched whole almonds (or pecans)
• 2 tsp table sugar
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne or hot sauce

Directions:

Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add almonds, sprinkle with sugar and toss over medium-heat until nuts are a light, even brown. Turn out into a bowl and toss with cumin, cayenne and salt. Spread nuts on a paper towel to cool. Store in an airtight tin. Makes 2 cups (500 ml).

Nuts & Bolts

• 1/2 box cheerios
• 2 pkg pretzels ( 1 bag round and 1 bag sticks)
• 1 box shreddies
• 3 cups peanuts

Combine the top ingredients together. In a separate bowl combine:

• 1 cup of melted salted butter
• 3/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp onion salt
• 2 tsp worcestershire sauce

Using a large roasting pan, combine the dry ingredients with the butter mixture and stir well. Cook uncovered 1.5 hours at 225 degrees F stirring occasionally.

Here’s to a crunchin munchin road trip.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Entertaining, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.