Living in a Cereal World

For once I get to review something right after eating it, so the taste is still fresh in my mind. I remember when it first came out, Yogurt Burst Cheerios came in two flavors, Vanilla and Strawberry. I liked both of them but I guess someone decided having the vanilla flavor and Frosted Cheerios was kind of redundant. Or maybe it just wasn't a big seller. Actually, I'm surprised the Strawberry flavor is still around. Yogurt Burst Cheerios consists of sweetened oat pieces (as you would expect from Cheerios) and strawberry yogurt-coated pieces in what I think is just the right ratio. Too much and you're venturing into Lucky Charms' flavor territory. The flavor itself reminds me of Strawberry Delight Mini-Wheats (and it's totally a coincidence that I'm eating both of those this month). Finally, I sprinkled a little bit of Apple Cinnamon Chex on top for some texture/flavor variety. Oh, and I forgot to mention I had this with sliced banana. Altogether a pleasant bow

My sister knows me too well. Whenever she travels, there's no question as to what I want as a souvenir: something food-related, preferably local to the region. So on her most recent trip--to Colorado--she brought back a tiny jar of huckleberry jam. What exactly is a huckleberry? Well, they look like blueberries but with larger seeds, which I could see as I spread the jam on toast yesterday. But they weren't hard like blackberry seeds--at least, I don't think so. I didn't get any stuck in my teeth. And the taste? Definitely...like a berry. Maybe even like one of those little mixed berry packets you get at restaurants. Here, I found  one on Amazon. Seriously, it's good. (Actual cereal review coming this Saturday...)

So I'm trying to cut back on sugar a bit, and I've been saying for years that I wanted to try honey in my tea. Thanks to a freezing (not literally) morning yesterday, it was the perfect time to try it. I decided to use my old standby, Bigelow's Constant Comment. I grew up on this tea. This is my mom's favorite, so we always had it in the house, along with regular Lipton. These days I like more variety, but I will never not have Constant Comment around. It's perfect for warming up after being out in the cold, or on a morning when my throat's a little scratchy. I figured this would be the best tea for my little experiment, since I know exactly how sweet I like it. I made the cup of tea first, then squeezed in a little bit of honey and stirred. Nope, not there yet. A teensy bit more. Still too hot to tell, maybe? A little bit more honey. I tasted it again--ugh, that tasted like a spoonful of honey. I realized then that there was still some water left in the teap

I'll confess: I spent my allotted food topic research time discovering Goodreads, which was a total timesuck. Seriously, I can probably only go there once a week. So I came up with this instead: what to look forward to this fall. --by my count I have about six cereals left that I eat regularly. My sister will be coming home soon so I'm hoping between the three of us we can tackle one of those giant Good Morenings cereals. --then I'll have to move on to granolas, which I've mentioned in passing but never formally reviewed --I'm also looking to experiment with hot cereal flavorings and cold cereal recreations --more baking and recipes --and I'm really hoping by the end of the year to be able to go back and update with pictures. I'm not stupid; I know food blogs need pictures.

(from 28 Feb '12 -- yes, I still have a few of these entries left, and no, I'm not sure they make this product anymore) If you've ever had Quaker Instant strawberries and cream oatmeal, it's basically the same flavor. The main difference is the dried strawberry bits in this looked like actual dried strawberries, as opposed to the oatmeal's pink-tinted...thingies. *** Well, that was short. I need to start working on more ideas for next week.

...and I think this is the last Oatmeal Squares flavor I need to cover. Smell test first: I opened the bag and breathed in the aroma. Yep, smells like a bottle of maple syrup (the real stuff). Surprisingly, though, maple syrup is not one of the ingredients. I guess that explains why it's called "golden maple flavor." I'm also curious as to the "golden" part of the name. That's not a word I usually associate with maple. And for the taste: like the others, it's very subtle and mild. It doesn't overwhelm when I mix it with other cereals. The only teensy complaint I have is that the box color should be differentiated a bit more from the new Honey Nut box design. It's hard enough to find this flavor as it is without accidentally picking up the wrong box.

Or: how to survive without the traditional morning cereal. So I was a on a four-day trip over the weekend and you know hotel breakfast bars--Lactaid is not an option. Neither is taking the pills, for me. So I had to get creative for three mornings. Sunday morning was easy since that's my hot breakfast morning anyway. I had scrambled eggs that tasted like they'd been made from some kind of powder (is that a thing? Powdered eggs?) with water added and toast. Then I went back to the bar for two mini-muffins. I was starving that morning, I think because I didn't eat much the day before while traveling. I'm not the best traveler anymore. Morning 2: oatmeal. While I prefer places that put out the big vat of oatmeal, at least the packets were an option here. I have no idea if I was supposed to microwave it after adding the hot water; it might have cooked it even more. At least now I'm primed for oatmeal season (Fall starts next weekend!). Morning 3: After the generic o

Ask and I shall receive, in a way...? Oh, and, I'm back. I totally forgot to mention I'd be out of town for a few days. Then I was too tired to update Tuesday, which brings me to having something to write about today: I had Apple Cinnamon Chex this morning. When I opened the bag the scent hit me immediately. Definitely apple cinnamon. That's a check (no pun intended) in the plus column. Then came the tasting. Wait a minute, I thought, that's not corn. I expected it to be corn or a corn/something else mix like Honey Nut Chex. But it's actually a rice cereal. Which makes sense when you think about it--otherwise, why would you need Cinnamon and Apple Cinnamon Chex? So the combination of apples, cinnamon, and rice worked successfully for my taste buds. That was a relief (I'm sure I've mentioned before that I can't stand Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. Some things just don't work with oats for me). One nitpick: most of the apple cinnamon flavor came off in t

I think this is the last Mini-Wheats I need to review (like I've said before--no chocolate). Again playing fast and loose with the idea of tasting like a muffin, this flavor of Mini-Wheats is more like "blueberry" and extra sugar. That sounds overly critical, but it really is the artificial blueberry flavor you'd expect in a cereal, or maybe a Pop-Tart. Not that I'm complaining. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't still be eating it. I think blueberry and strawberry were the first "other" flavors I tried once I realized I liked Mini-Wheats. Now someone just needs to figure out how to get apple pie into a cereal.

Sheesh...one minute there's nothing new and then all of a sudden there's a cereal backlog. So today I decided to go with the cinnamon pecan Special K. I eat several flavors of Special K, with the exceptions of original, Protein Plus, and Fruit & Yogurt (tried it once, wasn't impressed). I also like the granola; it doesn't feel like it's weighed down with crap. Oh, and I don't eat the Red Berries, either. If I want strawberries in my cereal, I prefer actual strawberries. Now I'm rambling, mostly to lengthen this entry. How'd you guess? So you know the Special K basics: rice flake cereal, kind of plain. This one has a light coating of cinnamon--which seems just about right for a Special K. You wouldn't expect the flavor to be as strong as the Cinnamon Roll Mini-Wheats or the Cinnabon cereal, and it isn't. I don't think the pecans are flavored, either. If they are, it's just from being mixed in the box with the flakes. Do I like i

Finally opened the box this morning. I don't think I've had this one in a year, either. I popped one in my mouth to see if I could recall the flavor. Not really, no. It was surprisingly crispy. And I can only describe the flavor as a deep cinnamon. It didn't taste like a cinnamon roll at all, which is probably a good thing. Try to imagine eating an entire bowl of tiny cinnamon rolls. I guess the Cinnabon label is meant to be synonymous with "intensely cinnamon." If so, then I approve. I never got around to trying Cinnabon's original cereal--you know, the one before Kellogg's. So I made a point of trying this one last year. By the way, I went to the larger Wal-Mart two towns over yesterday and they had plenty. Two rows. Their cereal aisle is huge. I went there in search of the hard-to-find golden maple flavor of Oatmeal Squares (and was successful) and also finally spotted Post's Good Morenings. I intend to try one of those sometime this year, hones