Snacking Your Way To Midnight

The clock is tick-tick-ticking toward the New Year and thoughts of sugarplums are replaced with diet resolutions.

If you're looking to start your quest for health before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, here's a snack mix alternative to try for your New Year's Eve party.

Jill got the recipe at work and then made a batch herself. It's a lower-calorie version of a snack mix, but it's still sweet and crunchy. (Note that the serving size is 1/2 cup. Serving size always gets us into trouble, doesn't it?)

Enjoy your New Year's Eve celebration! We'll see if I make it to midnight. I wouldn't bet on it.

Banana Cinnamon Snack Mix
Makes about 14 (1/2 cup servings)

2 cups Banana Nut Cheerios Cereal
1 cup Cinnamon Chex Cereal
1 cup fat-free small pretzel twists
1/2 cup sunflower seeds or nuts
1 egg white
1 tbsp. orange juice concentrate
1/3 cup Splenda or sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 cups popped popcorn
1 cup crispy apple chips, broken into pieces
1 cup craisins

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix cereal, pretzels and seeds or nuts. Set aside. In medium bowl, beat egg white, orange juice concentrate, sweetener and cinnamon with wire whisk until well blended. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Stir in popcorn. Spread in pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until light brown and crisp. Remove from oven. Stir in apple chips and craisins. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

(Jill used banana chips rather than apple chips because that's what she found.)

***

But ... if you want to get one more dose of butter and sugar before committing to the new diet regime, try this Toffee Snack Mix for your New Year's snack table.