When I grow up I'm going to...

eat whatever candy I want whenever I want! Yes, this was a constant saying that I said to my mother and she also said to her mother (funny enough). Now, that I have "grown up" a little anyways I do have candy whenever I want, as many of my readers can attest, I LOVE candy. I mean, when people on facebook do quizzes or top fives or something like that which tell you to list the five things closest to you (no cheating!) at least two, if not three of those items around me are probably candy. I nearly squealed in delight when I found a bag of red hots at the dollar store last week when A and I were in the search for bingo daubbers before we left to go to the casino (and to play bingo!) so clearly candy is important to me. I love sugar candies, hard candies, soft candies, and chocolate and dark chocolate and oh, did I say chocolate? So, I had

been having a craving like no other for one of my favorite snacks and I just thought I would share, because now that I'm able to have candy whenever I want to, I need new aspirations like, when I grow up I'm going to get a manicure and a pedicure every other week, but I digress.

This recipe is also inspired by Julia Child. Yes, I mean the foodie/gourmand of all time, Mrs. Julia Child the great. I've been reading her memoir, My Life in France in preparation for Julie and Julia that is coming out on Friday (I'm so excited!) and I was thinking about how she herself also admits to not initially knowing how to cook. So, in that way, I am honoring her in the ways that she passed on information about the foods she did eventually learn how to cook, yet she never took herself all that seriously at the same time. Why do we eat the foods we do? I think because they taste good right? And for anyone who doesn't know about the best candy/nut combo in the whole world, it my dear friends, is my duty to teach you.

My best friend in high school taught me a lot of valuable lessons as I was coming into woman-hood. Her mother should get the credit for this wonderful creation because when I would go down to her house in the valley we would boldly charge into her pantry full of goodies and get out the can of salted cashews and the giant bag of plain M&Ms.

Yes, I know that Mars Co. has gone through extensive pains and troubles to change the notion that the plain M&Ms are in fact not actually "plain" but rather "milk chocolate" (I told you I know my candy ESPECIALLY M&Ms) but I am going to refer to them as "plain" because that is what they were called when I first discovered this tasty treat. Come to think of it, I did a speech in my college speech class that my best friend from college can attest to Kr to my Andace on these very issues - M&Ms. Aw, memories. Also, I refuse to call them "milk chocolate" out of sheer principal once they campaigned to resign my FAVORITE color of M&Ms and had that nonsense vote for which color to replace it with...

But this blog post is not supposed to be about my political views on M&M colors. It's about a tasty treat. Pour out your bag of plain M&Ms.

Pour in your bag of salted cashews, I got these out of the bulk bin at Cub Foods, don't they look delicious?! And I think it was a better deal than getting them in a can because these are almost all whole pieces! I bet your mouth is watering huh?

I really suggest making sure you get the salted ones because the sweet and savory mixing of the salted cashews and the plain M&Ms is divine. Stir your nuts and plain M&Ms and then eat a handful. I suggest two M&Ms to one whole cashew to achieve the proper ratio of chocolate to nut, but I'm not a control freak, you can do as you wish. The final step is to tell everyone you know that you just made this delicious snack mix so as to ensure that you don't eat the entire thing in one sitting. Luckily there is a lot left for later. Also, this is perfect for getting your blood sugar back up to a good functioning level: protein + chocolate = heaven.