Living in a Cereal World

(I wrote this on Monday. I thought it posted. I guess it didn't. It really was One of Those Days.) It's been one of those Murphy's Law kind of days--finally, I get to the one part I for sure have control over. I didn't think missing one day (usually) of blogging last week would matter that much but, anyway, enough blogging about blogging. To the cereal! For starters--and for finishers, really--a more appropriate name would be "Pumpkin Pie Spice." Because that's what it is. Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice...the flavors you'd find in a pie. They're all there and you'll have flashbacks to last year's pie (unless you've already had pumpkin pie this year. Good for you). The "frosted" part is colored orange along with the default white which I guess is supposed to evoke "pumpkin." It's not super-special but it's not bad, either.

Or nuts to me, really. I don't typically put nuts in my baked goods--mostly because I can't, ahem, handle them but also because I don't like the crunch in soft foods. But I can tolerate almonds and I frequently use Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour so naturally I was going to make this  Cranberry Orange Almond Bread  (found on the back of the bag) at some point. That point was two weekends ago. This bread is a lot more on the cake side than your typical muffin-ish quick bread. The sugar gives it crispy coating which also leads to crumbles. I guess it's almost like pound cake. I'm just now realizing that. Also, there's a lot  of dried cranberries. You have to really like dried cranberries to eat this many at one time. And I'm sure you're wondering: yes, I liked the nuts. Toasted almonds might actually be better than regular almonds. So if you're looking for a breakfast bread where every bite is just about equal bread, fruit and nuts, giv

I'm gonna guess that this is a seasonal flavor (*wink*), so you'd better get to Target while you can. This was a case of being in the right aisle at the time because I wasn't looking for this and also didn't know it existed. But, you know, it's pumpkin, so... Pumpkin Spice , I mean. Emphasis on the spice. I could definitely discern several spices in there, and not really much pumpkin flavor even though dried pumpkin is in the ingredient list. Also, pumpkin seeds. Now there's an ingredient I've been meaning to try but kept chickening out on. They're actually not bad; they have a crunchy, nut-like texture. Nothing weird going on. Acceptable to my palate. I may have to buy some when I make my own pumpkin granola sometime next month.

...because I don't think it would possible to make them all. Anyway, after the carrot cake I had some extra applesauce so I thought I'd put it in a cookie. These Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, to be exact. When you make cookies with applesauce the texture comes out similar to a pumpkin cookie: puffy, chewy, and cake-y. Not what you'd expect with a cookie made with butter or especially an oatmeal cookie. Fair warning. I like to mix it up, though, and it doesn't take much effort to get accustomed to the texture. With the addition of nutmeg the batter--and resulting cookie--reminded me of zucchini bread. Which also reminds me that I haven't made one of those this year. But these cookies will do for now.

I made a quiche. It didn't dawn on me until after I'd finished dinner: hey, I made a quiche. I mean, it's basically just an egg pie, right? Still, first one. I hadn't had quiche in three years-ish since I found out the hard way that I can't eat my mom's recipe anymore (the stomach experiments of the lactose intolerant--whee) so I'd been searching for a suitable substitute ever since. As with most new recipes, it took a good amount of time for everything to fall into place so I could make this Ham and Swiss Quiche. It's more eggy than milky, so that helped. I also picked this variation (there were several) because I'd never had ham or red pepper in a quiche before. I don't think my onions were as caramelized as they should have been but they still had plenty of flavor. Of course my dad would rather have had more meat but that's not the point. I was most proud of my crust--it looked almost like the store-bought frozen kind. And I made t

Guess what I just did? I froze green beans. Our neighbors gave us a big bag from their garden, and aside from the ones we're going to eat tonight, I couldn't bear to toss them out. So we'll see how non-store-bought green beans taste. But the point of this entry is pancakes. Who doesn't love pancakes? Even my mother--who claimed she didn't--has discovered a love for buttermilk pancakes. I've had this recipe for Whole-Grain Buttermilk Pancakes for a while now; it was just a matter of slotting them into the right weekend. Also the flavor. I'm on an apple kick right now (I believe it goes apple--pumpkin--cranberry--gingerbread) so I made the Apple Cinnamon variation. These pancakes are so light and fluffy you don't even realize they're made with whole wheat. There's so much going on with the grated apple and the cinnamon--I didn't have a flavorless bite. They were also pretty easy to make. I didn't ever need to re-spray the skillet.

Why Puffins? Why now? I can't really say. I've seen them in the cereal aisle before but there was always something else I was after. So last week they were staring me in the face, it was the Original flavor, and I think starting with the Original flavor is usually the best course of action. Usually. The taste reminded me of something but it took a whole day for my brain to pull that one out of the files. If you're of a certain age you remember the theme cereals of the late '80s/early '90s, like  Batman  and  Tiny Toon Adventures . They were corn-based (sometimes with other grains) cereals simply punched into a vaguely recognizable shape; when you bit into them the inside felt like a gritty powder and had a weird aftertaste. I bring this up to say Puffins is the good  version of that. Crispy puffs of corn and oats, Original Puffins has a mild sweetness not unlike Kix, but it's Puffins , so that makes it more fun. Just try saying the word "puffins."

None of these warranted their own entries but I'd thought I'd share my last gasp of summer salad/sandwiches (although sandwiches could be eaten...whenever): 1.  Simple Tuna Salad , aka what to make when you need to get rid of those bottled roasted red peppers before they get lost in the fridge. It's a nice change from the typical relish-y tuna salad. 2. I can't find a link anywhere but it was recently advertised in the Sunday coupons in my newspaper. It involved mayo and mustard, which was a new combo for me with regards to chicken salad. I'll just have to update this later. 3.  Lemon-Chicken Pasta Salad , a last-minute 'what am I going to with this leftover roast chicken and snow peas from another meal--BINGO' light dinner. As you can see, I really, really don't like to waste food. Cereal reviews coming next week, honest!

So I've told you how my dad  loves carrot cake . It seems he's still open to special occasion cakes and there's no occasion more special-cakeworthy than a birthday! I picked this  Carrot Cake  out of respect for my dad trying to eat better. And so you made him a cake? you're thinking. Yeah, well, he didn't have to know what was in it. Except the carrots. Lots of carrots. That's probably the carrot-iest carrot cake I've ever made. Hope you like carrots! ****** In cereal tidbits, surprisingly good combination: Blueberry Morning and Chocolatey Strawberry Special K. With additional real strawberries.