Newton Citizen

Staff Photo: Julie Wells. S'mores trail mix makes for a fast and easy snack.

If you love s'mores, then you'll probably want some of this trail mix.

Originally the recipe had raisins and peanuts, but Patricia Richardson, a lady who is also known as a second mother to me, changed up the recipe a couple of years ago.

She first introduced the trail mix to me when we were having vacation Bible school a few years back. Then, her son, Ryan, had a craving for s'mores and she had the bright idea to alter the trail mix to reflect the flavoring of s'mores without the fire, the mess and the possibility of burnt marshmallows, of course.

And I have to say, there hasn't been a vacation Bible school since where the trail mix wasn't served, no matter the theme of the week. As a matter of fact, she made a huge batch just for the vacation Bible school workers this year. It was funny to watch a bunch of grown folks' eyes light up like kids in a candy store when she broke out our own individual bags.

You probably could have caught the grown-ups making mini s'mores with the graham cereal, a marshmallow and a piece of the chocolate, I'm just sayin'.

Golden Grahams cereal, marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate pieces and M&M's make up this sweet treat.

Make this ahead of time for a birthday party, family gathering, school function or any upcoming event. Divide up the trail mix according to the function. Dress up the package as pretty as you like or simply use snack size plastic bags. Of course, depending on the size of the portions, you could alter this number, but you could easily get 20 to 25 snack size bags out of this batch of s'mores goodness.

If I can figure out how to not let the chocolate melt ... We've got a couple of nieces headed back to college soon, I bet they and their roommates would love a batch of s'mores trail mix.

Enjoy, and as always, make it a family event and make new memories in the kitchen while doing so.