Living in a Cereal World

I just wanted to take a minute to mention two things. First, Thomas' Cranberry English muffins. You know I only started eating English muffins a few months ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they make seasonal flavors. I love the big chunks of cranberries in these. They look to be cooked down whole. As much as I love dried cranberries, you can't beat baking with fresh. The second thing is Thomas' Pumpkin Bread. I usually get Pepperidge Farm's every year but I hadn't gotten around to picking up a Pumpkin Spice yet so it was a good week to try this instead. The first thing I tasted was a strong hit of nutmeg. Just opening up the bag smells like the season. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin (quick) bread, what have you. I might actually like this flavor better than Pepperidge Farm, which, if I recall correctly, has more cinnamon to it.

I thought I was off my apple kick but I had one more recipe to try:  Apple Cinnamon and Wheat Germ Coffee Cake . Oh, yeah, and I'm still trying to use up this wheat germ. I also had a Fuji apple that needed to be used in something, so I added half a Granny Smith to get the correct amount of apples. As for the coffee cake, there's nothing extra special about it; it's your basic cinnamon-y flavor with a simple streusel topping. If you thoroughly fold in the apples you'll probably get apple in every bite (it's a lot of apples). The cake has a nice texture, not too dense and just moist enough. I'm sure I'll be making this one again.

When I was a kid, my mom made a baked flounder dish that was swimming (no pun intended--really) in watery tomato sauce and and bits of cheese and we loved it . So when I found this recipe for  Tilapia Pasta  I thought, hey, let's upgrade this concept and bring it into the 21st century. Of course there were objections. I ignored them. Plus I was able to use fennel for the first time. You hear on cooking shows all the time how fennel has a licorice flavor, which I am not a fan of, so I held off on trying it. But I hoped in this dish maybe the tomato sauce would mask that flavor. And I couldn't really taste the fennel in one bite--I had to try a piece on its own to really get an idea of the flavor. It wasn't terrible. I could eat it again. Definitely cooked, though. The raw fennel was waaay too strong for me. This is a pasta dish I will absolutely make again sometime. I wouldn't make any changes to the recipe except I don't think it makes six servings realistically

Actually, the answer to that is yes , but my point is that the other day I roasted garlic for the first time. You know, cut the top off, drizzle the rest with olive oil, wrap it in foil and roast for an hour. I've been wanting to try this for some time but was afraid. I know it sounds silly but I had no idea if I'd like the flavor. And this coming from a person who loves garlic! But then I found this recipe for  Roasted Garlic Turkey Burgers  and decided to stop being silly. I thought from the ingredients list that these might taste like a classic beef burger but, no, they still have a flavor all their own. The roasted garlic somehow permeates all of the meat--there is no bite without it. But also, there's no bite , meaning it's a mild (but flavorful!) garlic flavor. I also had mine with lettuce and tomato like in the picture and, I'll admit, a little mayo to make sure it wasn't a dry burger. Next time I'll probably try a different bun, though; ciabatta bu

As a kid I always prefer the leg area of the chicken. Not sure why--maybe it was more moist? Or maybe it was because I didn't want to have to use a knife and fork on a chicken breast. These days I eat a lot more white meat (thanks, boneless chicken breasts!) but it seems dark meat has its benefits, too. So I sprung a new recipe on the family last night:  Roasted Chicken with Apples . Now, my dad prefers breasts but will eat thighs as long as the meal is substantial and the chicken isn't falling-off-the-bone stew-y. It seems the secret to getting everyone to eat thighs is the sage. You put sage on just about anything, it tastes like Thanksgiving. I'll be adding this recipe to the "Safe to Make Again" pile. And eating leftovers for dinner tonight.

So why buy another pumpkin spice oatmeal when I already  have one ? Honestly, I thought my brother finished it last time he was here. Also, I'm on a pumpkin kick this month. And  you know, sometimes you see a display and it's like, I have to try this.  Was it worth it? Sure, why not? It's an instant oatmeal, so I could make it with boiling water. It has more of the orangey color I was expecting. Also, it's heavier on the nutmeg. I couldn't quite get it as thick as I would've liked; more patience yesterday plus a little less water probably would've done the trick. I'm sure I'll get all the pumpkin out of my system by the end of the month.

Well you know when people come to visit I like to bake a little gift for them. My kind of hospitality. (Plus I get to eat some.) Unfortunately it seems this particular visit has fallen through. Good thing I like oatmeal cookies! I cut this recipe for  Oatmeal Blues Drop Cookies  out of my local paper sometime last year during the holiday season. I've had raisins and I've tried dried apricots but this was the first time I'd ever put dried blueberries in an oatmeal cookie. The first thing I tasted, actually, was the lemon zest--but in a good way, not a pucker-up-tart way (which is also not a bad way but not good for cookies). Lemon zest and blueberries just pair so well together. After that comes the hint of nutmeg and the sugar topping, which is just sweet enough. My only issue was trying to put drop cookies in the sugar/salt mixture. It's not as easy as rolled balls of dough. However, it's still a necessary step for the full effect of the cookie. (Oh, and of c

You may ask, "Why are you reviewing this  again ?" Well, this is the two-and-a-half minute version. And there are a few differences. The flavor was a little milder, and the texture was thicker. Not just thicker than instant Cream of Wheat, but thicker than the original two-and-a-half variety. Don't let the small amount that one serving makes fool you. It was plenty filling.

Yep, I finally opened it. (Oh, by the way, I'm back early.) I had yogurt and this granola the morning I left, so I debated waiting to review it until I had it a second time, but I just couldn't hold out. Not that I'm overly excited or anything, I just wanted to do this now. I'd been wanting to try this since it came out earlier this year but I wasn't sure if it had actual peanuts in it--which is not an option for me. Eventually I checked out the ingredients list; it was a go. So it's basically the same peanut butter flavor as the bars, just not as crunchy. It's kind of hard to describe this granola on the spectrum of baked/roasted oat mixture. It's not super light and crispy, but it's not bordering on burnt, either. It's actually pretty good, even with fruit and yogurt added into the equation. ***** There's other new granolas out, too. Kellogg's has a bagged one but I'm not sure yet if it's an old product repackaged. Did they