Living in a Cereal World

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this already. I guess all those Cheerios eventually run into each other. So this is another one of those corn-and-oats blends with a sticky-sweet banana flavored coating. I had it with a banana. Never can have too much banana. Just a few minutes I had a taste for banana bread, mainly because I really overdid the pumpkin this month. But back to the cereal...picture Cinnamon Burst Cheerios but with a banana flavor. It isn't even as nutty as Honey Nut Cheerios. I will say, though, that there aren't a whole lot of banana cereals on the market, so you might as well go with this one. This entry should really be longer but I have a lot going on today. Battening down the hatches for Sandy, you know? So don't be surprised if there isn't another entry before Saturday.

I'm a little pressed for time today but I wanted to mention a new raisin bread I've been eating this week. Maybe it's not technically new but it's new to me: Nature's Own  Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. It boasts of having no preservatives and no high fructose corn syrup and I think I can actually taste the difference in the bread itself. That slightly "off" taste is missing. What I really like about this bread are two things: (1) the size, which is between Pepperidge Farm's thin slices and every one else's "average" slices, and (2) the strong cinnamon scent. They must use good quality cinnamon because when I stick my nose in the vicinity of the toaster the aroma just hits me in the face. You don't even need to breathe deep. This one's definitely staying on the list.

Yes, this is another one of the variety pack flavors they don't make anymore, which is a shame because their dried-and-reconstituted fruit is so much better than Quaker's. In fact, I don't even like Apple and Cinnamon oatmeal because of those mealy little bits of things. It's definitely one of those texture deals. So the apple chunks are better but what about the cinnamon? Yeah, that has more flavor, too. I'm thinking this may be the winter to confirm what I already know about Quaker's instant oatmeal flavors. It's been a while. Back in school my brother and I would split the variety box: he'd get Apples and Cinnamon and Cinnamon Spice; I'd get Maple and Brown Sugar and Raisins and Spice. ...I got just slightly off topic, didn't I?

I already covered tea, so now how about some chocolate? You know, the drink every kid wants after a hard day playing in the cold and/or snow. A big mug with a fat jumbo marshmallow--two if you're lucky. (Not to get too off topic, but how about marshmallow varieties these days? If I was a kid I'd be in marshmallow heaven.) Some people call it hot cocoa but in my family it was always hot chocolate, specifically Nestle Rich Chocolate packets, although later I switched to Milk Chocolate with Marshmallows (to avoid buying marshmallows; must've been in college) and later plain Milk Chocolate. And we always made it with--gasp--water. I don't know why; obviously I have to now, but as a kid I could've had it with milk. Maybe using water was already a habit of my mother's, or maybe she didn't want to have to buy but so many gallons of milk. I should ask her and then update this entry. More recently, let's say three or four years ago, I discovered Land O Lakes...

Another lesson in trying things while they still exist... Okay, so I've already written up Raisin Bran Crunch, but do you remember the other Crunch flavors? It wasn't that long ago, and I still don't know why they stopped making them. I remember Caramel Nut Crunch was one of those nice change-of-pace cereals; didn't hate it but didn't love it, either. I think Kellogg's has a similar flavor now in their Fiber Plus line--the most recent one--Caramel Pecan Crunch. So it's practically the same thing but with more added vitamins? The other former Crunch was Cran-Vanilla Crunch. I never got around to trying this. Oh, I was miffed at myself for a while for that one. If you see a cereal you want to try, just buy it and hold on to it. I don't know why I procrastinated on that of all things. But then I was placated by Total Cranberry Crunch, which also no longer exists, so that's another experiment I have planned for later: figuring how to recreate this...

First off, I came across this recipe a few minutes ago for rainbow waffles. At this rate I'm going to have a whole binder full of "recipes for future children." Now to what I intended to share: pumpkin cranberry bread. I could've sworn I'd made this before but it wasn't marked on the recipe. I probably have a duplicate who-knows-where. Also, I cut the recipe in half because I really didn't need two loaves and it still turned out fine. Also, I must be in an orange food mood because I also made sweet potatoes and greens. I tore the recipe out of People magazine three years ago and finally got around to trying it. I'm used to eating only sweet potato fries on a regular basis and whipped sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving--not to mention my grandmother's boiled-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives greens--so I was interested in a different take on these two foods. The flavor was great, not too garlicky and not too sweet, but I learned that you absolutel...

In case you missed it: there's been a recall of Mini-Wheats. Just the Bite Size frosted and unfrosted varieties. Now's there a surprise you would not want to find in your cereal box. I guess we really are that much closer to Shards-O-Glass freeze pops. **** In other news, cookies! I meant to make these two weeks ago but my sister left again before I had the chance. So I'm just now getting around to it-- pumpkin-oatmeal raisin cookies. I first came across this recipe a few years back--I made my mom her own recipe book for her plastic-bagged collection of recipes, some of which were twenty-plus years old. This Libby's recipe was from 1997, with double the ingredients of I what just linked here and drizzled icing. It's delicious; moist and sweet and pumpkin-y, but I would've liked them a little bit oatier (is that a word? I just made it a word). I think I'm going to go drown my sorrows over my Birds losing in the ALDS in a mug of hot chocolate.

Well, I guess it's cold enough to start making soup...so I tried a new one last night: Smoky Cream of Broccoli Soup. The attraction for me, obviously, was a "cream" soup with no cream or milk involved. This was also the first time I ever put a hot liquid in the blender. I knew you were supposed to remove the plastic insert from the lid but I couldn't remember why because I haven't watched a cooking show in ages. I looked it up before I got started though: if steam builds up in the blender, it will blow off your lid. This is also why you can't overload the blender. I made sure to be extra careful, and it added to my prep/cook time, but better to be safe than extremely messy. A few thoughts on this recipe: (a) it was delicious; (b) don't let the look of the green liquid turn you off, the flavor is totally in there; (c) follow it exactly, with regards to the amounts. I could've used more broccoli and a slightly bigger potato. Also, next time I'll ...

Hey, I was out again for a few days and just now getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully next time I'll remember to mention an absence in advance. Anyway, you know how the back of the Cream of Wheat box has "stir-in ideas?" I intend to try all of them this fall/winter, starting today with Polaner All-Fruit. Super-quick backstory: I wanted an interesting flavor of fruit spread, picked up this apricot flavor, didn't realize it was All-Fruit with Fiber , turns out all Polaners are like that now, and then decided hey, I should try this in some Cream of Wheat. I stirred in about a teaspoon and it broke up nicely with little bits of apricot distributed throughout. And I'll confess to adding a teensy bit of sugar but it didn't really affect the mild apricot flavor. It was more than palatable (not even a texture conflict!) and I would recommend it to those of you who find the plainness of Cream of Wheat to be a turnoff.

I thought of this the other day when I noticed the monster cereals were out--you know, Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry. They're (Halloween) seasonal around here, but I swear when I was a kid you could get them year-round. Not that I ever got any. They were definitely on the Mom List of Automatic "No's." Everyone's mother drew the line somewhere, right? And it didn't make sense to your kid-logic, did it? I never could understand why my mom would let us have Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Krispies occasionally (although my brother ate them, mostly) but no Count Chocula or Cocoa Pebbles. Cookie Crisp sometimes, too, but they weren't entirely chocolate. In the "fruity" category: Trix, yes; Froot Loops, sure, but no Fruity Pebbles. Or the Berry cereals mentioned above. Could it be...was my mother a brand snob? I know the Pebbles were Post but the Monster cereals are General Mills...so...nope. I think it's just a case of arbitrary mothering. O...