We are getting very close to Super Bowl time. My mind is wandering to snack food. But then again, food is always in the background. This one has been simmering a little because I have attempted Chex Mix multiple times since the holidays.

My wife said that she had a hankering for Chex Mix before New Years. On one of my trips to the grocery store, I picked up three different varieties of Chex cereal. If you haven’t made this before, the recipe calls for the corn, rice and wheat varieties.

The official recipe is melt three quarters of a stick of butter. Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt, 1/2 a teaspoon of both onion and garlic powder to 3 cups of each variety of Chex, and a cup each of nuts, pretzels and rye chips. You pour the butter over and the mixture and microwave for five minutes.

I should have known that any recipe that involves microwaving is already suspect. This mixture has been around for a long time and I don’t ever remember microwaving it. More so than that, I have made it twice and it is well under seasoned. I even left out the rye chips because I couldn’t find them so there should have been more seasoning per volume.

Over the years many of us have bought the bag of Chex mix. In my opinion it is OK, it doesn’t hold a candle to the home made version. I think it has to do with the butter and the Worcestershire sauce. Plus, I don’t remember nuts in the bag. The commercial version has all dry ingredients plus a soup of preservatives which is a poor substitute to the real tang.

Chex mix is one of my aunt’s staple snack dishes. Every time I have it, I think how I should make it more often. In reality, I should probably ask her for tips instead of complaining online about why mine is not living up to my expectations. Nevertheless, I repeated the recipe twice to verify that the published recipe is not right or at least not what I think it should be.

Honestly, I don’t really know what is wrong. Should I use margarine instead of butter? My gut says to double the seasoning and maybe even triple or quadruple the Worcestershire. I pop popcorn using an air popper all the time and a little butter and salt is plenty for the whole batch. But, that is a simple seasoning, not the tangy and fragrant snack.

What a first world problem; this could have been an episode of Seinfeld. The reason I bring this topic up is that now is the time to perfect your Super Bowl party recipes. I know that I am a risk taker and I often make dishes for the first time at big occasions. But, if you are not a confident as I am or maybe not as skilled, you might want to practice before the big show.

End Your Programming Routine: What I can say is that I wouldn’t serve this recipe at a party. It lacks a lot of pizazz. I will be trying this again with some variation and if I find the secret I will report back. There is an alternate preparation that uses the oven at 250 degrees that I think helps bake in the flavor rather than the microwave. I am looking forward to the testing process.