Quaker Oat Square Mix

I actually don't know what the official name is for this one. Again it's a recipe from my mom and I don't know where she got it. With the amount of butter that's in it I doubt she came up with it herself. :) This is a snack that's probably good only once a year. haha. Ok you could probably make it more often. It's easy to make and it's even in my dad's repertoire of recipes! (this mix, breakfast sandwiches and enchiladas...love you dad!) Ryan had me make it for his car when he went with UA Navigators to Chinle, AZ (Navajo reservation) to build a house during spring break. They had it gone by the time they were halfway there. It must be good then :)

3/4c. butter - ouch, that's the killer. It doesn't sound too bad but when I realized it was a stick and a half of butter, I felt my arteries clogging already. I started getting chest pain, short of breath, heart racing, jaw pain and my arm hurt(s/s of heart attack). just joking :)

1/4c. grated Romano cheese - I've used Parmesan every time and it works well.

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp onion salt - again I used onion powder here because I don't have onion salt. I think it would be a good idea to invest in some.

1-16oz box Quaker Oat Squares cereal (8cups)

1 1/2c. Cheetos sticks

1 1/2c. pretzel sticks

Heat the oven to 325. Melt butter in oven in a 9x13 pan. Remove pan from oven; stir in cheese and seasonings. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until well coated. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Makes 11 cups.

I didn't really measure the cereal, Cheetos or pretzels. I dumped the whole box of cereal in, all of the Cheetos (that's Ryan's favorite part) and most of the pretzels. I made sure it "looked right." I know the directions say to melt the butter in the pan and then add the spices and then mix the cereal, Cheetos and pretzels in that mixture. It seemed like a 9x13 is not big enough and everything kept falling out of the pan. And I could never feel like I could coat everything well enough. This time I made some changes. I melted the butter and added the garlic, onion and cheese in with it. Then I put the cereal, Cheetos, and pretzels in a big bowl and poured the butter mixture over all of it. Then I mixed it with a spatula. That seemed to work much better. I was able to coat everything better. Then I stuck it in the 9x13. Also when I mixed it halfway through the baking period I took the pan out of the oven to mix it. That way if stuff fell out it didn't burn at the bottom of the oven. It just landed on the stove and I just put it in. :) Does that make sense?

It really tastes good. It's probably because of the butter. :) It's an interesting mixture of sweet (from the oat squares?) and salty. It's all crunchy and browned from the butter. mmmhm. I want to go eat some now but it's 9:40am and I had some yesterday. I'm practicing self control. Plus Kate and I just did this wicked hard workout (Burn it Up) and I don't want to eat all the calories I just burned. Kate, I love you for working out with me. It's the only way I'm continuing it. :) (I love you for other reasons too hehe)