What I love about kitchen witchcraft is that there is meaning in everything. Every ingredient has a power and every tool a magical associations. According to my book, apples correspond with wise choices and insight, vanilla with love and awareness, and using a microwave will aid in legal expedition. Because of this, if you so choose, every single thing you make can have a hundred powers.

I’ve been in a rut. I haven’t been feeling particularly creative, I’ve been anxious, and I keep forgetting to do things that make me happy. I figured there had to be something in A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook for energy, or something with a tinge of spring renewal. Of course, it does have such a recipe. It’s for Chex mix.

I don’t think they can legally say Chex mix, so it’s for “Super-Charged Snack Mix.” Noting that pretzels have been used in festivals to honor the sun, and corn is symbolic of plenty and vitality. The book suggests that the snack mix would be a great addition to most spring festivals, and is associated with “energy, protection, drastic change, stamina, devotion, prophecy.” It sounded like exactly what I needed

 

Mystic Chex Mix

Yields just over three cups

 

1 cup unsalted, unbuttered popcorn

1 cup Chex cereal (I used corn, for even more plenty and vitality)

½ cup peanuts

½ cup pretzel sticks

½ cup small cheese crackers (I used Goldfish, because they’re great and also fish are associated with long life and miracles?)

3 tbsp butter

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together the popcorn, Chex, peanuts, pretzels and cheese crackers. For a long time, I just thought Chex mix was the cereal mixed with other things and I didn’t get why it qualified as a recipe. It still barely does but putting it in the oven counts for something.

Melt together the butter and seasonings and drizzle into the Chex mix. Toss to combine, then spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet (magically associated with pleasure!) and bake for about 15 minutes.

It was…Chex mix! It was as good of a mix as you’ll find anywhere. As I made it, it started raining, which is possibly my biggest demotivator. But I ate some and drank some seltzer and I felt okay. Not drastically energized, not any more inspired, but for a second slightly less worried about it all. Though maybe I was just hungry.