Living in a Cereal World

...shouldn't even be a question. I'm always surprised when someone asks this question. Aside from the fact that you shouldn't skip breakfast--eat something-- you also shouldn't feel guilty or irrational for that breakfast being wholly or partially pie. I do it whenever I make a pie, mostly because I don't want a full serving slice of pie several days in a row. I made an apple pie for Memorial Day guests (the same one from last Mother's Day) as a spur-of-the-moment decision and it didn't quite get eaten as much as I thought it would, so, yeah, I'll be eating some for breakfast tomorrow. To sum up: Fruit, pastry, cold, warm, whatever. It's on. Also, I think since I've got this recipe down pat, it's time to try making my own pie crust again.

This wasn't what I thought I'd be reviewing next but here we are. It also wasn't what I expected, either. It's not your typical Honey Bunches of Oats. There's two different yogurt/oat clusters, one with regular yogurt and one with Greek yogurt--I guess to keep the price down? I couldn't tell the difference in taste so maybe the size is where they differ. It really doesn't matter unless you wanted more Greek yogurt in your cereal. In that case, you could pour any Honey Bunches of Oats over actual Greek yogurt. I was pleasantly surprised by the multigrain flake, though. It has a nice size and texture, similar to multigrain Special K . All of the components work well together with regard to size but I felt it was lacking in flavor. A "touch of honey" was barely a drop to me. I will require a second eating to deliver a firm verdict on this one. In the meantime, it certainly holds up well for mixing. I had it with Honey Nut Cheerios and sliced banana...

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for a tomato-sauced pasta dish. No beef, no meatballs. So I don't know how I hit on the idea of chicken sausage but I did, and here's what I found: Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Broccoli. Pasta? Check. Poultry? Check. Vegetable? Check. And not much of a sauce except the water you cook the broccoli in. And once you stir in the Parmesan that gets all melty, too. It totally works. It's light but filling. I didn't even have rigatoni (subbed rotini) and it was fine. The only thing I would do is add more broccoli. Just get a slightly bigger head next time. Oh, and I used apple chicken sausage. If you don't like so sweet a flavor, go with the roasted garlic flavor instead. ******* You're probably wondering when I'm going to get around to reviewing cereal again. The answer: Thursday. Unless I don't sit down to write it until Friday. Either way, yay you.

As you know, I had a bunch of strawberries left over from the Mother's Day cake (see previous entry). Then I remembered a recipe I'd come across a while ago for a peanut butter/fruit spread/strawberry sandwich. Unfortunately I can't remember where so as soon as I go through my recipes I'll have to come back and update that little detail. The crux of it was, though, a way to make a healthier pbj, replacing the jelly with strawberry fruit spread and fresh strawberries. I had just enough Polaner left to barely cover my bread, so I tried to make it up with strawberries for the flavor. It was delicious. I know I use that word a lot, but seriously. I know you can put peanut butter with apples or bananas but strawberries? I never would've thought of that. I ate a lot of strawberries this week. And speaking of peanut butter, have you heard about the new Pop Tarts flavors? That's supposed to appeal specifically to adults? Why not kids? Who doesn't like peanu...

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but my mother basically has two rules for her cakes: (1) no icing, (2) preferably with fruit. And so I oblige, this time with a strawberry upside-down cake. First off, no, I couldn't afford the cardamom this time around. I'm sure that would've put it over the top. But it's still a good cake: dense, yet moist; sweet from brown sugar and strawberries. I should've put even more strawberries in it; as it is, I'm eating additional fresh strawberries with whipped cream on top. But you can never have too many strawberries, right? Oh, and I didn't have the right sized pan, either, but my 9x1 1/2" worked fine. Next cake: Father's Day. That ought to be interesting.

I know I've been out pretty much all week but it's been a crazy stressful couple of days and with no new cereals for a bit longer my only backup entry was a (breakfast) rant that I couldn't bring myself to get worked up about. I didn't need the additional stress, you know? I just wasn't feeling it. But I'm here now and I don't think I've mentioned this recipe yet. Pineapple Sweet and Sour Chicken. I believe it was originally a Dole recipe that's not on their website but as you can see from the link, other people have put it online. I probably only make this once a year. It's a good change-of-pace meal and I can always find a use for the leftover mushrooms. The sauce is actually sweet and sour mixed with soy sauce and pineapple juice, so make sure you start with a sweet and sour sauce you already like. I use La Choy because the little bottle size is exactly 1 cup. You can change up the rice, too, or even try a different vegetable. I think any k...

I wasn't exactly sure how to categorize this because I don't eat it in the traditional cereal sense; I like to mix it with granola (in this case, maple brown sugar) for my yogurt. But I think it's a good combination and the flavors complement each other well. The Pumpkin Spice cereal, from what I can tell, is a mixture of crispy wheat flakes (think Special K-ish), a little bit of an oat cluster, and raisins. Now I don't remember the raisins from the last time I had this but that was a year ago so I suppose they were in there all along. As for the flavor, it's a very mild spice. I actually thought it had more flavor but that's okay, the maple and brown sugar definitely pick up the slack.

I was trying to think of something to blog about today...then I opened a new box of granola. Oh, right. One of the qualities I look for in a cereal/granola is the initial scent. When I open the bag, am I going to sniff right away what corresponds to the name on the box. For instance, today: big whiff of maple. There is no doubt as to what I'll be getting with this granola. I also like the large clusters. Maybe the maple has something to do with that, too.