Gluten-Free Caramel Pretzels, Chex, and Popcorn Mixture

Caramel Pretzels, Popcorn, and Chex Holiday Mixture

I am calling this a holiday mixture, because if I eat this all the time, well, I might be in trouble. It's very addictive and it is GLUTEN-FREE! I am sorry I don't have exact measurements on the amount of pretzels, rice Chex, popcorn, and raw peanuts I used. I will say that the first batch I made was too sweet for me; so, I added more stuff (Chex and pretzels, mainly) to temper and thin out the sweetness, and I really like the second batch.

Ingredients:                                             (again, I used only gluten-free ingredients)

• 1 c of butter (1 stick of butter)
• 2 c of brown sugar (I will probably use a bit less in the future)
• 1 tsp + a few more pinches of sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 c corn syrup (Not sure there's a 'healthy' version of corn syrup, but I got a light, organic version at Sprout's)
• rice Chex (I used nearly 1 box)
• butter popcorn (I used 1 single serving - 42.5 g - bag of Orville Redenbacher's jbutter microwave popcorn)
• gluten-free pretzels (our family likes the Glutino brand)
• gluten-free pretzel sticks (again, I used the Glutino brand)
• raw peanuts (I purchased my bulk at Sprout's)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
• Place the dry stuff (pretzels, rice Chex, popcorn, peanuts) on to baking pans and mix the contents up. I placed the dry stuff into two pans to make a larger batch and to keep the mixture from being too sweet).

• Place all the stuff that comprises the caramel glaze (butter, salt, brown sugar, baking soda, vanilla extract, corn syrup) into a pan and place on lower medium heat. Once the caramel glaze has melted and blended together, it is ready to pour over the dry goods.

•  Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Here is the finished product.

Why did I ever go Gluten-Free?

Perhaps because I didn't get enough jabbing and pestering for standing out or being different for most of my childhood and sometimes in adulthood (for looking different; I come from an Asian background) and I wanted some more conflict? Because I wanted to try the latest fad? I wanted to be charged with being inflexible or socially awkward with food? Oh I've got it, I want to make my life more unnecessarily complicated?!

No, no, NO!

I am a single mom with four small children on an extremely tight budget and a super busy schedule. I do not need or desire any unnecessary or superfluous complications to my life. But, where the well being of the children is concerned, I am on alert.

At 15 months, I suspected one of the twins had a gluten sensitivity or allergy. I will leave it at the issue was more than just a super bad, long-lasting diaper rash. I had both twins tested for Celiac. But, their pediatrician said ahead of time, as I had read in my research previously, that negative test results would not necessarily indicate that any given individual does not have a gluten allergy or gluten sensitivities. The tests came back negative.

The next step was to go through the painstaking process of taking out the suspected allergy (for three weeks), reintroducing it and seeing how the individual reacts, and repeating the process as necessary. Since the twins were nursing, that meant I had to stop having gluten, too. I think the twins, especially one of the two, have gluten sensitivities. And, since they are still nursing, nearly a year later, I am still gluten-free, too.

This gluten-free journey has been no cup of tea. I have been told I am inflexible. I have been looked at like I am crazy. Dining with people or going out to eat with people has, at times, been inconvenient. Call me crazy for wanting my children to live well and to be well; this is the least I can do for them as their mommy.