Living in a Cereal World

It seems chocolate is going to be the hot trend for the start of 2014: they're sticking it in Multigrain Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, and as my eagle eye actually spotted today, Chocolate Toast Crunch. Yaaaay, says everybody except me. I don't know, I suppose I could try one.  There's a new Fiber One, too, but I was in a rush today and the grocery store was crowded. I need to get back to my routine in the new year.

Well, it seems I took a holiday break, doesn't it? I just haven't had the time or inclination, to be honest. Just check my email and go. So now I'm back, with dinner. I have a go-to salmon burger recipe, but it only feeds four, so I found this  seafood burger  recipe (with the option to use salmon) when I found out there would be five for dinner last week. I love trying out new recipes this time of year. Actually, any time of year. So anyway, these are loaded  with flavor from many seasonings and cut-up vegetables. And my poultry seasoning expired two years ago; luckily I had everything on hand to make my own. What are the odds? My brother--who ordinarily hates canned salmon--went back for seconds. Hopefully next time this won't be a spur-of-the-moment recipe so I have time to ripen an avocado.

Just from looking at the box you'd think this is Kashi's version of Cheerios. Eh...sort of. The texture is more of a puffed oat--it reminds me of Fiber Plus Cinnamon Oat Crunch but, obviously, a different flavor. You know how Kashi's flavorings are pretty subtle? Well, this one's so subtle you can barely find it. I'm barely getting any honey there at all. I hope the cinnamon variety is a little stronger. **** In other news, my brother ate the entire box of  Blueberry Morning . Seriously. I assumed he'd like it...but not that much.

Swap out your traditional noodles, add a leafy green veg, and you've got  Chicken, Kale, and Quinoa Soup . For some reason, it's the only way my mom will eat quinoa. I guess it has more of an appealing texture in soup. And I think I'm falling for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. This is the second soup I've made with this ingredient and it holds up really well without getting overcooked. I thought this soup was delicious--I'd never used chicken stock before--but unfortunately the kale did not agree with some people (I don't think it was just the kale. I think the kale was the trigger mechanism). So...watch out for kale if you're going to try this soup. I'm still going to eat the leftovers tomorrow.

For years I've been reluctant to try a cookie recipe found on the back of a cake mix box. Cookies...out of a cake mix? Highly illogical. But then I found myself volunteered to make cookies (although it was  for a good cause) and I needed to make something quick. I noticed this recipe for  Butterscotch Spice Cookies  when I made my  birthday cake  last month and I thought it fit the bill last week. Of course I kept some of the finished product for myself. The results were...interesting. For some reason the cookies stuck to one of my cookie sheets but not the other one. Naturally I wasn't sending out broken cookies! I also added raisins to half the batter, which was easier to separate than I anticipated. They weren't necessary but they didn't take anything away from the overall flavor, either. Maybe a pecan or walnut would add more to these cookies. To sum up: not bad, but I still think I'd only make these kinds of cookies in another pressed-for-time kind of situati

What's slightly lesser than a dilemma? A quandary? Anyway, the issue was: can I make a banana bread with only two bananas? Most banana breads call for 4-5. Well, I found an answer:  Apple Butter Banana Bread . In fact, my bananas were too big for what was required. And the flavor isn't overwhelmingly apple butter-y, either. It's more like banana bread with an extra spice kick. It might have helped that I used Dickinson's Country Apple Butter; your apple butter may vary. It's an interesting twist on a flavor that sometimes gets tired.

Some weeks I have a dearth of post ideas, other weeks I get backlogged. This week is the latter, so I thought I'd skip ahead to this morning's oatmeal (see above). I had assumed this would simply be the regular apples and cinnamon flavor with cranberries added but I was pleasantly surprised. It's more like they took the Fruit & Cream flavor base and added apples and cranberries. I made it with boiling water, which I always do with Quaker instant oatmeal, and it turned out perfectly (well, almost perfectly; you'll have to add boiling water well past the line if you don't want oatmush). Did I mention I bought just the cup to try? I'm pretty sure I did in a previous entry. Anyway, I would consider buying a whole box of this.

Now  we're caught up. It just isn't Thanksgiving without cranberries, and it just isn't a special occasion without me trying out a few new recipes. First, I dared this year to stray from the typical whipped sweet potatoes with marshmallows. These  Maple-Cranberry Sweet Potatoes  were a hit. I was so relieved, because you never know how tart a cranberry recipe might turn out. Even my brother ate the potatoes and glaze (but not the cranberries--not his thing). While I was making the glaze the scent reminded me of French toast. That reminds me: I made these a day ahead of time and while it turned out fine, the glaze did separate a bit in the refrigerator. Stirring before spooning it on the sweet potatoes did the trick. As for dessert, I made this  Apple-Cranberry Crumb Pie . Here cranberries weren't even an issue. You have to like cinnamon. I mean really  like cinnamon. Maybe adding one more apple would've spread the flavors out more, but still, cinnamon is prevale

I know, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but I'm trying to be more flexible. Yesterday I opened the Blueberry Morning because I felt like it. No planning, no schedule. The flakes looked a lot like corn flakes, although the box says they're multigrain flakes (along with the multigrain clusters). Oh, and the clusters were ginormous. Maybe it's just top-of-the-box product and everything gets crumbled toward the bottom. The dried blueberries still have a round shape and taste surprisingly sweet. Overall, that's a good word for it. A surprise . I swear I could still taste Blueberry Morning last night before bed. I guess you could say I had a Blueberry Day. I think I'll be buying this one again.