Chef Mix

This Will Make It Taste Good

This is a slightly fancier take on the standard Chex mix, using the pesto-like Herbdacious (https://cookwithheather.com/This-Will-Make-It-Taste-Good-Herbdacious/) we made earlier this year. It would be perfect for parties, road trips, or anywhere else you want to snack it up.

I do think this needs a little more time in the oven, especially if you use raw nuts. I used a combination, and the raw ones didn't get quite as crisp as I would like, even after leaving it in the oven for a few extra minutes.

It keeps for about two weeks in a container at room temperature, so you could make a big batch for Christmas and finish it up on New Year's Eve!

Captions

[00:00]: foreign
[00:05]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather on this episode I'm going
[00:10]: to be working out of Vivian Howard's
[00:12]: this will make it taste good cookbook
[00:14]: and we're going to be using the herb
[00:17]: dishes that we made previously I'll link
[00:19]: that up here and yes I'm a little bit on
[00:21]: the injured list today but that's okay
[00:23]: this is a low cook recipe and I should
[00:27]: not have to use this hand so
[00:32]: um
[00:33]: we're going to be making Chef mix so
[00:36]: this is her
[00:37]: take on Chex Mix so we like to have
[00:42]: little snacks like that around during
[00:44]: the holidays which are coming up
[00:47]: oh so fast and so I thought we would go
[00:50]: ahead and make this now I had
[00:52]: my herb dishes that I made earlier in
[00:54]: the year in the freezer so I've let that
[00:57]: you know cool cool I'd let that warm up
[00:59]: so it is no longer Frozen
[01:02]: and the first thing we need to do is
[01:05]: mix that up into sort of a sauce that's
[01:08]: going to go on everything
[01:11]: and so I need to add to that some
[01:16]: kosher salt
[01:18]: um
[01:19]: most of this stuff is pre-salted but
[01:22]: generally this is a really salty mix so
[01:24]: you know it'll be fine
[01:26]: um
[01:27]: and then we're adding a little bit of
[01:29]: unsalted butter to this now so this is
[01:32]: quite a bit of
[01:36]: olive oil
[01:38]: but we're also adding butter and we're
[01:40]: going to whisk this she said to do this
[01:42]: in a bowl but I already had it in
[01:45]: the
[01:47]: measuring cup to make sure I had gotten
[01:50]: enough so there we go
[01:53]: that's gonna be pretty cold but
[01:56]: it'll be fine now I need a really really
[01:59]: big bowl
[02:00]: um
[02:01]: the one I wanted is in use for other
[02:03]: things at the moment so we've got the
[02:06]: Deep one here I'm going to be using this
[02:08]: I don't need this anymore
[02:11]: I don't need salt anymore
[02:15]: so
[02:16]: the first thing I'm going to put in here
[02:18]: is my checks she says you can check
[02:21]: cereal you can use whatever kind you
[02:23]: like I would not suggest the cinnamon
[02:25]: Chex as my son uh suggested this morning
[02:29]: I wouldn't suggest any flavored checks
[02:32]: but uh you know rice corn wheat whatever
[02:34]: you like I chose corn
[02:38]: um and then Cheez-Its so these are just
[02:42]: plain Jesus
[02:46]: we have
[02:48]: nuts of your choice so I decided to go
[02:51]: with I've got about half peanuts that
[02:54]: were already
[02:55]: salted and roasted and then I have some
[02:58]: pecans that were not so we're putting
[03:00]: both of those in there
[03:03]: these are some roughly broken saltine
[03:07]: crackers
[03:09]: just regular old Saltines and then some
[03:13]: roughly broken bagel chips these were
[03:15]: the hardest things for me to find they
[03:16]: were supposed to be at my usual grocery
[03:18]: store but they didn't have any that I
[03:21]: could find so I had to go to a different
[03:22]: grocery store and then they only had a
[03:23]: few bags but
[03:25]: um they sell flavored ones of those I
[03:27]: would suggest going with the just salted
[03:29]: ones and I was really close to just
[03:31]: making my own
[03:35]: all right and now
[03:38]: uh all we do is
[03:40]: put this in here and mix it up really
[03:43]: really well
[03:51]: there we go
[03:54]: says don't be don't be afraid
[03:59]: to break things a little bit
[04:01]: so don't be too gentle
[04:07]: [Music]
[04:09]: mix that up
[04:12]: and I'm happy with it so now we need to
[04:14]: put it on a baking sheet
[04:16]: I've got my largest baking sheet here
[04:19]: and I'm just going to dump it all out on
[04:20]: there so
[04:31]: I wasn't planning on getting it on the
[04:33]: counter but you know
[04:34]: and I'm gonna spread it out as the best
[04:38]: I can
[04:45]: and my oven is heated to
[04:49]: uh 325 degrees
[04:54]: so it's a you know sort of moderate a
[04:56]: little bit low oven
[04:57]: and we're going to put it in there for
[04:59]: let's see
[05:01]: eight minutes and then we're going to
[05:05]: take it out toss it around and we're
[05:07]: going to put it in for another six
[05:09]: minutes in the end you want it to be
[05:12]: crisp and toasty so
[05:15]: I'm going to put this in the oven
[05:17]: and I probably won't show you what it
[05:20]: looks like when it comes out the first
[05:22]: time
[05:23]: um because you know you just cook it for
[05:25]: eight minutes and then I'm gonna toss it
[05:28]: around and but I will show you what it
[05:29]: looks like when I decide it's done and
[05:31]: toasty and crisp so we'll show you what
[05:35]: it looks like in just a minute okay so
[05:37]: after six minutes I took it out and I
[05:39]: decided it was not quite done yet but I
[05:41]: put it in for another five and I think
[05:44]: I'm gonna call this done it looks a
[05:46]: little Browner than before
[05:48]: they're not going to be crispy right out
[05:51]: of the oven that's I mean
[05:54]: in my experience things like this need
[05:56]: to cool off a bit before they actually
[05:58]: get crispy so we're going to let it cool
[06:00]: for a little bit and before we package
[06:03]: it all up and uh
[06:06]: see how it tastes
[06:08]: [Music]
[06:15]: on this episode of cooking the books
[06:17]: with Heather you watched me make Chef
[06:19]: mix from this will make it taste good by
[06:22]: Vivian Howard this used herb dishes
[06:25]: which we have made previously it's a
[06:27]: little bit like pesto a lot of fresh
[06:30]: basil in it
[06:32]: um and so it used a lot of that for the
[06:34]: seasoning for the actual seasoning on
[06:37]: this
[06:38]: um and it's like Chex Mix of course
[06:41]: although it only uses one kind of Chex
[06:44]: and it's not like the main well I guess
[06:47]: it is kind of the main components the
[06:48]: thing you use the most of but there's
[06:50]: lots of other bits
[06:51]: mixed in here as well
[06:54]: um she says that it is better the next
[06:59]: day and I do have to agree with her this
[07:02]: has been I put it after it cooled off I
[07:05]: put it in you know a zip top bag and
[07:08]: it's been a few days right now it's
[07:09]: still perfectly fine she says it'll last
[07:12]: for up to about two weeks in an airtight
[07:15]: container
[07:17]: um not in the refrigerator just on the
[07:19]: counter is fine and I do think that the
[07:22]: flavor improves over you know overnight
[07:25]: give it a little time the flavor
[07:27]: improves
[07:35]: you taste very much like basil
[07:38]: um I'm not getting as much
[07:40]: a little bit but not as much of the
[07:42]: cilantro as I did when it was we were
[07:44]: just using
[07:46]: the herb dishes sort of fresh
[07:50]: um but it's a really good option to sort
[07:52]: of fancy up
[07:54]: uh the the party mix if you're having
[07:56]: holiday Gatherings and you have some of
[07:59]: this in your freezer
[08:01]: like I do
[08:03]: um you can go ahead and make this you
[08:05]: could probably also just use pesto if
[08:07]: you have that but
[08:08]: um
[08:09]: it would be very similar
[08:12]: um
[08:13]: everybody has enjoyed this everybody in
[08:15]: my family
[08:17]: we're lucky there's there's still some
[08:19]: left honestly for me to taste because
[08:21]: it's been been several days now since we
[08:23]: made it
[08:24]: um
[08:25]: and uh I almost didn't have this bowl as
[08:29]: my children passed tried to take more
[08:32]: and more out
[08:33]: but
[08:35]: we very much enjoyed it and uh
[08:39]: uh I hope you guys do I hope you try it
[08:41]: if you do let me know in the comments
[08:43]: down below what you think
[08:45]: and if you enjoyed watching me make this
[08:46]: give this video a thumbs up hit the
[08:49]: Subscribe button and come back and watch
[08:51]: me make something else next week
[08:53]: [Music]