Living in a Cereal World

It just so happened that I was able to have one of my favorite combinations this morning: Special K Chocolatey Delight and fresh strawberries. Strawberries and (close enough to) chocolate for breakfast? Yes, please! Ok, so I sprinkled in a little bit of Fruit Blends --I'm still trying to finish it--but the overall effect was still there. On to the actual cereal. My favorite quality of the various Special Ks is the flakes: large, crispy rice that stays crispy just long enough. This particular one even tastes like it has a hint of cocoa (by virtue of being packed in with those chocolatey pieces). In case you didn't know, they're not actual chunks of chocolate. That doesn't bother me; the amount I had in my bowl might've been too rich otherwise. I'll be having strawberries again tomorrow in the cereal I plan to review Saturday. This'll be interesting.

So I had this again today, as I mentioned last time, and my first bite out of the box tasted an awful lot like an intense brown sugar. I had to try another one; this time I was able to separate the flavors. The combination of the honey nut flavor and this particular oat cereal just happened to taste like brown sugar, which was kind of weird. That wouldn't happen with Honey Nut Cheerios, you know? But after a few spoons, it began to taste more like honey. Especially mixed with the Corn Pops. It was like a entire bowl of honey flavored cereal. Good times.

Corn Pops was one of those cereals I assumed I'd outgrow but a few years ago I picked some up on a whim and...there you go. Sometimes you miss the familiar flavors. Not to mention the weird, gray non-plastic bag. I assume it has something to do with the stickiness? Hold on. I just checked the bag. It's regular plastic now, so I guess they solved that problem. Huh. I wonder when that happened. Anyway, at least it still tastes the same. And it still gets chewy in milk, which you would think would be annoying, but it's comforting, I suppose. This is the way Corn Pops should always be. Take note, other traditional kid cereals *cough* Honeycomb *cough*. Still, to assuage my junk cereal-eating guilt, I mix it with Oatmeal Squares. It's a great combination, really. This month I have the new honey nut flavor, which I will review Tuesday. I need to eat it again to really get a handle on it.

This is a reliable flavor in my family--my dad has eaten it, my grandma eats it regularly. What is it about Maple and Brown Sugar? I thought about it while eating (a little too much of) it yesterday. Maple on its own--while perfection on pancakes--might be underwhelming on cereal. Brown Sugar might actually come off too strong. But when you put the two together, the balance of flavors keeps you coming back for more. It's one I always look forward to slightly more than the fruit varieties.

My mom was out of town for Mother's Day so I decided to wait on the food-gifts until she got back. I made this apple pie last Friday with Braeburn apples, which are my favorite. Sometimes I mix them with Galas. I'm not a huge fan of the tart apples, like Granny Smiths, but my favorite deep-dish apple pie calls for a sweet/tart mixture which is actually pretty good. For dinner I made this roasted salmon. We've had it several times now and I definitely recommend it. The idea of smoked paprika was a little intimidating at first but we took the risk since it was cut with some brown sugar. It has a nice sweet and smoky flavor. I also accidentally bought baby spinach instead of regular spinach but between the three of us we ate the whole bag. **** Oh, and I finally made a note of those other new Jello flavors: cherry lemonade and fruit punch. Of course I'm going to try them all.

A classic. I've been eating this as far back as I can remember. How could you not like the simplicity of a slightly sweetened puffed ball of corn? Well, I suppose you might not. I know when I was a kid this was one of the cereals I sprinkled sugar on. When everything else you eat has a raging sweetness I suppose you expect every cereal to taste that way. But anyway. I still love Kix (without the extra sugar). Even when they get chewy at the bottom of the bowl--still enjoying it. Today I had it with sliced banana. I think the key for me is the combination of textures. I couldn't do bananas and Oatmeal Squares, for example. I think I'm rambling. It's too hot today.

(from 13Feb'12) I had just enough left in the box for a full serving. Good times. I eat all the bite-size Mini-Wheats except that cinnamon [streusel] one. Didn't like that. I don't think they make that one anymore anyway. They've introduced a new Cinnamon Roll flavor in the Little Bites, though, so I've decided to to give it a shot. Watch for that review soon. ***** Back to the present day: we have a **non-breakfast new product alert.**  Okay, technically it's a new flavor alert. Yesterday I bought mango Jello. I know! It's really good. I hope it proves popular enough for Jello to come up with a sugar-free version next year. Oh, and there's two other new flavors, too, but I didn't catch those. Maybe next time.

I wasn't feeling so great Sunday morning, so I thought I'd skip the scrambled eggs in favor of some homemade raisin bran. To accomplish this, all you need is a box of bran flakes and some raisins. Yes, really, it's that simple. The first couple of times I used a store brand, but this was my first time trying Post's Bran Flakes. I know what you're thinking: another Post cereal so soon? Well, this box had already been in the house for three weeks--my aunt ate it the last time she visited--and believe or not, it still wasn't stale. Plus column for you, Bran Flakes. In fact, the only negative was that all of my milk was absorbed about halfway through. Mostly that was my fault, though; I was eating really slowly (even slower than usual) because I didn't have much of an appetite, and I was also reading, which slows you down. So I was left with half a bowl of bran mush. It wasn't too much of a problem because when I'm not feeling well my favorite things t

You know, I was really looking forward to some Just Bunches. I use it like a granola with my yogurt, and I hadn't had any in a while. I thought they'd stopped making it until I spotted it at Wal-Mart last month. Last week I got around to opening it. Nothing strange there. But the other day I found a dead bug in one of the bunches. No big deal, I thought, it happens. It was one of those tiny brown crawling things--they almost look like food if you aren't looking closely. Well, today I found another one. This time, though, I swore it was moving. So I picked the bunch out of my yogurt and dropped it on the table. The little bug dislodged itself and started wriggling. Oh, heck no, I thought (well, actually I had several thoughts with much stronger language but I'm assuming this is a family blog), threw the offending bunch and bug away, and closed up that box. Like the title says, not cool. For all I know there could be a whole bug colony in the bottom of the bag (I don&

Aside from all your typical kid-focused cereals--the Trixes, the Apple Jacks(es), the sugar-frosted sugar bombs--the one cereal I truly loved was Nut & Honey Crunch. It had sweet flakes coated with honey and little bits of nuts (obviously) and was so unlike everything else I ate. I even remember that blue box. But then, one day, like so many other cereals, it was gone. Had the flavor simply run its course? Had Kellogg's latched on to some new trend? I honestly don't know. Luckily, when I was in college, I discovered this: Honey Crunch Corn Flakes. Hey, I said to myself, isn't this the same thing? I should totally eat this. And eat it I did. Until my senior year, when it started disappearing from the shelves. Not again, I thought. The last box I saw was an English/Spanish version at Big Lots. My roommate said, "Why don't you buy it?" But I couldn't. I was already moving on. The only good thing about a cereal ending its run is that something interest

(from 12Feb'12) Sundays are for hot breakfast, although not usually hot cereal. Today, though, I thought I'd have Cream of Wheat. Lately I've been trying out cinnamon on my oatmeal, so I sprinkled some on my Cream of Wheat. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I know, I'm a day late but I was messing around with the blog yesterday and ended up realizing I'd already done everything I wanted to do at the moment. So, anyway. Were you one of those kids suckered by themed cereals? Of course you were; we all wanted one at some point. I remember two specifically,  Batman and  Tiny Toons (full title, for info's sake: Tiny Toon Adventures, but nobody called it that). I remember being so psyched to actually have the Batman cereal--my mom would buy us the usual junk like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, but drew the line at movie/TV tie-ins--and then sooo let down by the cereal itself. I have a vague memory of a sweet, gritty corn cereal. It was...disappointing, to say the least. Ugh, just thinking of the grit. When I first tasted the Dulce de Leche Cheerios it gave me flashbacks. It's only slightly better. Maybe higher quality ingredients? And then the Tiny Toons cereal. That must've been a year or two later. I have a clear mem

I like trying new things. Ideally, I'd like to try one new thing a week, but that has yet to happen. So here's the three meals/sides I tried in April: 1. Barley Risotto with Ham and Mushrooms (from Food Network Magazine) I wanted to do something different with the leftover Easter ham this year--actually, turkey ham; we're not ham people--and I happened to come across this recipe. I have yet to attempt a real risotto; this sounded easier and less time-consuming. I thought it was pretty good. I had half a box of barley left from a soup recipe; both recipes called for the barley to be toasted, which gives it a nutty flavor that takes some getting used to. (Which reminds me, I should check to see which of my cereals contain barley. Just curious.) I don't cook with wine, but I have tried and liked restaurant dishes made with white wine, so that would probably round out the flavor nicely. Next time I'll probably add the fennel seeds, though. 2. Lemon-Dill Shrimp a

If I had known nearly all of my current cereals would have some form of flakes and/or clusters I might have switched things up a bit... Anyway, here's yet another fiber cereal in my arsenal. Since I don't get around to eating each one but every so often sometimes I forget the components. This one has a nicely substantial wheat and rice flake that doesn't totally melt in milk and an oat cluster (me, upon opening the box: "Again?" ) that are both berry-flavored. Also, there's little yogurt bits, so you get exactly what's advertised here. I have to confess, when I first tried the Fiber Plus cereals I was underwhelmed. Basically my attitude was, "Who are you and why are you trying to upstage Fiber One?" I find that with most new foods I really need to try them twice to get a feel for them. So now everything's cool. Welcome to the fiber fold. *** Well, that's another month in the books. I guess it's time for my May tinkering. We'