The Snack Mix that Fulfills Your Every Need

For those nights when you get home hungry, stressed, and impatient, Hangry is here to help. Each Monday, Kendra Vaculin will share quick, exciting meals to rescue anyone who might be anxiously eyeing a box of minute rice.

Today: Kendra's Whitman-esque ode to snack mix -- plus a recipe that includes homemade wasabi peas, cheese crackers, Fritos, and, yes, dried ramen. 

Three cheers for snack mix! Queen of my heart. Champion of the flavor combo world. Limitless in its possibilities. Like mixing four types of cereal in your bowl in the morning, except saltier and more normal. The #1 best way to get spicy, crunchy, nutty, corny, and a little surprising all in one handful. The #2 best way to get a party going (#1 is a tie between 90s throwback tunes and a piñata). Gold medalist at the Fun Olympics. Grand Prize at the Midnight Snack Awards eight years running. 

This particular amalgamation of snack items is the result of a deep look into my own heart, followed by a fastidious addressing of all of my cravings one by one: cashews, because they are the most snackable of nuts; cheese crackers and corn chips, because they satisfy my salty/crunchy hankering in distinct but totally compatible ways; wasabi peas for a little bite (I took a stab at a homemade version, which yields a different-from-the-store-variety-but-still-crazy-addictive product); and ramen because who expects that?!?!?!!! No one. I’m a loose cannon. And Sriracha because it is the most perfect condiment in all the land.

Wasabi Pea Snack Mix

Serves 6

For the wasabi peas:

1 cup dried whole peas
1 tablespoon tahini
1 1/2 tablespoons wasabi paste (find this at your local Asian market, or use wasabi powder to make paste -- usually there are directions on the container)
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

For snack mix:

1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup cheese crackers (like Cheez-Its, but not Cheese Nips because those are worse -- trust me)
1 package dry ramen, broken into pieces (throw away the weird flavor packet)
2 cups crispy rice square cereal (like Rice Chex)
1/2 cup corn chips (like Fritos)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) Sriracha
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Mark Weinberg