You can use this basic recipe for just about anything you'd want to put Muddy Buddies in. Or you can just eat them as is...but where's the fun in that? First, in a medium bowl, you'll want to microwave the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter for 1 minute. Give that mixture a stir and then microwave for another 30 seconds until it's smooth before adding the vanilla.

In a larger bowl, combine the Rice Chex cereal with the chocolate mixture. Make sure all of the cereal pieces are covered in chocolate-y, peanut butter-y goodness, because that's how life should be. Put the coated cereal in a large Ziploc bag and add the powdered sugar. Seal the bag - this is an important step that you really shouldn't skip - and then gently shake the bag to evenly coat the cereal. Spread the cereal mixture out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to cool before using in the Mardi Gras recipe.

And now, the fun part. Put 8 of the pretzel squares on a microwave safe plate and warm them in the microwave for 20 seconds. Place the purple chocolate melts in the middle of the pretzels and microwave again for 20-30 seconds until the chocolate melt is soft. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before using. You can probably see where this is going: you're going to want to repeat this process with the green chocolate melts. Then, in a large mixing bowl, add the Chocolate Chex cereal, the basic Muddy Buddies, the chocolate-melt pretzels, and the mini breadsticks. Toss this all together - be careful not to toss it so hard that most of the mixture goes flying across your kitchen. That happened to...a friend of mine. Sprinkle the M&Ms and sunflower seeds on top of the whole thing, and enjoy!