Living in a Cereal World

So I didn't read the back of the box until I went to open this and found that there are seeds in these clusters. I don't have a problem with any seeds but if you have an issue with sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds then this is a heads up for you. As for me, I was intrigued. I've had plenty of flake cereals with clusters over the years but they're usually made with oats. Maybe also with nuts. But seeds and almonds? Of course I had to sample a cluster first. The combination of nuts, seeds and honey brought back memories of my late, lamented Nut & Honey Crunch . Other than your typical sugary kid fare that was my favorite cereal growing up. It's funny how your taste buds can conjure up memories. Those Bear Naked bears must have some kind of magic honey. So now I'm torn over whether this or the Coconut Clusters  is my favorite flavor. I guess the Chocolate & Almond Clusters will have to be the tiebreaker next month.

...because sometimes I have all these little items that don't warrant a full blog post: In breakfast breads, Dave's Killer Bread  has a new raisin bread that I'll be trying soon. I'm hoping it'll be a gateway bread to some of their other breads. Also, Thomas' had to go and make a S'mores  English muffin. Well, if you insist...😛 You know I haven't mentioned any dinners since last summer? So here's two: Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp Packets , which I served over orzo (and a note: because I didn't divide the shrimp mixture evenly, some packets took longer to cook than others); and Pork and Noodle Bowl . Super simple and super-filling. I know you're wondering, where's the cereal reviews? Probably not 'til next weekend. I have two in the pipeline, and some Memorial Day baking. We had a sneak preview of summer weather last week, so I think my body's getting acclimated. Seasonal pies, anyone?

My mom is a late pancake convert, probably because we had so much Aunt Jemima as kids. I could see losing your taste for pancakes after that. But then, about six or seven years ago, I decided I wanted to try making buttermilk pancakes. My mom loved them so much that now she's on board with any of my pancake experiments (see Bacon Apple Pancakes , Apple Cinnamon Pancakes , Pumpkin Pancakes ). Which is good because today's pancakes did not involve buttermilk. A couple of weeks ago my mom happened to notice my almond butter and casually mentioned that she'd like to try it. Since I insist on eating almond butter warmed, I now had this idea in the back of my mind for Mother's Day. Enter the Almond Butter Pancakes . The batter was runnier than I expected but puffed a bit as I waited for the pan to heat. The pancakes themselves were also on the thin side but keep in mind that almond butter is filling. If you're looking to stretch these without doubling the recipe, defini

...Somehow they end up in healthy muffins . (I know they don't look like much, but all the apricot goodness is inside.) So I have this jar of wheat germ I'm determined not to waste, and I also happened to have this recipe for Apricot-Wheat Germ muffins .  And some buttermilk I needed to finish. Sometimes these meals just plan themselves. Now you may ask, another healthy apricot muffin? Ugh, what's the point? Well, buttermilk is the point. Dried apricots plumped in orange juice is the point. And if not those points then a cakey-but-moist, tender and fluffy muffin will win you over. Fluffy muffin. Try saying that three times fast. Seriously, though, it's the kind of muffin you'll want to keep eating. Flavor-wise and texture, too. But pace yourself. They're also filling.

I can go for that. Continuing my quest to use up an entire can of pumpkin, I made this Cinnamon Pumpkin Granola  the other day. I had a craving for pumpkin seeds so I substituted half of the nuts with those. Now you know how much I love cinnamon, and truth in recipe names, so it's a good thing the cinnamon is listed first. If you're also a cinnamon fan, this has plenty of flavor for you. If you're not big on cinnamon, you still might like this. The addition of honey makes the cinnamon taste lighter, as opposed to a deeper cinnamon flavor that may not be for everyone. Also, surprisingly, the honey didn't make the granola sticky and clumpy. If you prefer your granola less cluster-y and more pourable, this is the kind of granola for you, too. The only thing missing? No fruit. I'm not saying it's necessary; it just dawned on me as I was eating some a few minutes ago that there was no chewy fruit texture going on in my mouth. Finally, of course I had to make s

First, I wanted to say that I picked my name five years ago from an inside joke on a website I used to frequent back then. I couldn't have known that "fyre" would still be in use by people today. But you, both regular and occasional readers, well know that when you come here you'll get more than a cheese sandwich. 😉👍 Now, on to the pumpkin. Why pumpkin now? The question should be, why not pumpkin now? I really wanted to make these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Scones  but since they didn't use that much canned pumpkin I had to find more recipes. Now I'm getting ahead of myself. If you check out that recipe you may be surprised that I would ever make a recipe that called for two different sources of chocolate. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking, either. I bought semisweet chips instead of milk chocolate so I cut back on both. Even with roughly half of the cocoa powder they still came out a nice chocolatey color and had plenty of chocolate flavor