Living in a Cereal World

It's my blogiversary! The real one, I mean. Usually I celebrate on the 28th but I actually started this blog four years ago today. Why? Because I love cereal and didn't want to be ashamed of it anymore. Of course, I've also stretched the parameters to include baking and cooking other meals but this will always be first and foremost a cereal blog. And with that I get to today's entry which is not about cereal. Heh. But I made these Healthy Peanut Butter Chunk Oatmeal Bars  over the weekend because I wanted something that wasn't a cookie. Let me just say first of all: I forgot the vanilla extract. I got distracted by a skin break on my finger and had to cover it up right away--nobody wants blood in their dessert--and when I went back to the recipe I skipped right over the vanilla step. I didn't realize this until the bars were in the oven and I was cleaning up. That said, they're still full of peanut butter-y goodness. And chocolate chips. I probably shou

I debated whether or not to review this but I figured, I opened it, I should review it . Actually, a few months ago I saw Flax Plus Raisin Bran at Wegmans, I think, so that's what I was looking for last month. But I couldn't find them closer to home so I bought these bran flakes instead and added my own raisins. They're round, pressed flakes like you'll find in the Sunrise line, only made of wheat and oat bran--and flax seeds, of course--for a heartier texture. And a very strong flax-y flavor, just so you know. As a result, they're very filling and you don't need much. Would I have had the same result with their Raisin Bran? Probably.

So Cascadian Farm has this new Farm Stand Harvest line of granola. I've been staring at in stores for a month now, waiting for an opening in my granola consumption. Finally today was the day to try it. First let me state the obvious: this is one I could make myself by changing the ingredients in a recipe I already have. But now to actually review it: it's not bad. The vanilla flavor is basically the same as their French Vanilla Granola. The surprising element was the combination of dried coconut and pumpkin seed. I had a bite with just those two and the taste was...enjoyable. I would not have thought to put those together.

Still learning this new computer but here we go... So for a while now my mom has been asking "When are you going to make biscotti again?" which actually means "I want more biscotti." I found this recipe for Cranberry Almond Biscotti  at the Ocean Spray website and I figured it had all the elements I could want in a cookie so I might as well try it. I chose to use almond extract and pomegranate-flavored dried cranberries which smelled really great together while I was mixing the dough. The almond flavor doesn't overwhelm in the finished cookie, though. I also melted chocolate chips to drizzle on top--it's in the picture but not in the recipe itself. And when I dipped the biscotti in my tea it re-melted the chocolate which was a fun surprise. I guess this means I'll have to try another biscotti recipe in April.

I think you can guess what this entry's about. I made another granola since I had help eating it last week. Specifically:  Honey Almond Granola . I forget how I found this; I think it was someone article's granola slideshow. But if granola has honey and almonds of course I'm going to try it. First and most important, watch your granola . The recipe says honey can burn and that's no joke. I just barely caught mine in time. I only baked it for the minimal amount of suggested time and I still had some slight burnt edges. Also I let it sit too long (I got busy with something else) which made it trickier to break up. Some parts had to be pulled apart by hand. But that didn't really have an effect on the flavor. The ingredients may sound basic and bland but you won't be able to stop eating it. Seriously.

Yes, I am finally  getting to the new cereals. They should start falling like dominoes this month. First up, I was in need of a flake cereal so I chose Honey Oat Clusters (rather than the chocolate ones--I don't need another chocolate cereal at the moment). The clusters were pretty big, so I had to try one; I couldn't even wait for the milk. They taste exactly like crumbled up Nature Valley granola bars. This is just from memory--I ate more than my fair share of those in college. I know they changed the bars recently to make them less hard so I can't say if the clusters in this cereal are literally  crumbled granola bars. Anyway, there's also a nice crisp textured wheat flake and thin corn flakes not unlike what you'd find in Honey Bunches of Oats. This cereal is actually pretty good; I'd be interested to see how they'd expand the line in the future.

Not mine, of course, but I try to do something nice for my mom. First, for dessert I made this Applelicious Sheet Cake  from Better Homes & Gardens. It sounds  like a lot of apples but it tastes like a normal amount of apples. My mother especially liked the addition of apple butter which makes anything taste like gingerbread to her. I skipped the icing step since she doesn't like a lot of sweetness but I did sprinkle some cinnamon on top. It is sooo tempting to eat more than you should--it is a bunch of apples, after all--but try to save some for future noshings. Speaking of gingerbread, since I knew my mom had been talking about it for months I made these gingerbread pancakes for breakfast the next day. The base recipe is the same as the apple cinnamon pancakes I made last fall but with the addition of pumpkin pie spice, ginger and molasses. I liked this variation even more than the first. Eventually I'll get around to trying all of them. (Please forgive my wonky co