Grandma Carm’s Ranch Crackers.

Jen Shoop

5 years ago

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Here we have a guilty pleasure plucked straight out of a 1970s living room, where mothers played bridge and sipped iced tea in floral midi skirts —

My grandmother Carm’s “Ranch Crackers.”

Ranch crackers are a deliciously out-of-vogue social gathering snack, one that avails itself of packaged, powdered dressing mix and unfussy presentation. My mother used to mix up a bowl for summer picnics and reunions, and she’d keep them in a large tupperware in the pantry that my sisters and I would pry open and filch from throughout the day, leaving oily fingerprints all over the house.

They are mouth-wateringly salty and tangy. Rife with kitsch, I dare you to just eat one.

I like to keep them in small ramekins by the bar when blessed with guests (who knows when that will be, though I fully intend to mix up a bowl when visiting my cousin later this summer) or next to my happy hour glass of wine when in isolation.

Also a fantastic accompaniment to a feel-good throwback movie — and I’ve listed some of my favorite recently re-watched flicks below.

Cheers to all the things that bring us comfort and small measures of unfiltered joy.

Grandma Carm’s Ranch Crackers

Mix 1 cup vegetable or canola oil with 1 teaspoon dried dill, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and 1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix. Stir and mix with two 12-oz boxes of oyster crackers.

Throwback Feel Good Movies Worth Re-Watching*

Uncle Buck

10 Things I Hate About You

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Say Anything

The Great Outdoors

The Breakfast Club

Clueless

What About Bob

Easy A

Mean Girls

*Mr. Magpie and I are having a major love affair watching (mainly) teen flicks from our youth. I mused on why that might be here, concluding that “It has been overwhelming to think about adult problems these days. The concerns in these movies feel pleasantly narrow and manageable by contrast…I have found comfort revisiting the upward swing of adolescence, the indefatigable energy and optimism of being a sixteen-year-old with her driver’s license in hand. These recovered sensations billow powerfully against the mire and morbidity of 2020. They remind me what it feels like to be in transit, heart racing and a little reckless, with nothing but upside.”

I also absolutely loved the more recent To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before — one of the best teen rom-coms I’ve seen in a long time!

P.S. More on my Grandma Carm here.