Living in a Cereal World

With the new year approaching it's time to start cleaning. While going through my notebook I found a review from last month I forgot to type up: Cream of Wheat Instant to-go is microwavable Cream of Wheat in a cup. I've never microwaved Cream of Wheat before. How would this go? Also the nuts. Do nuts belong in Cream of Wheat? Well, they weren't terrible. Not necessary, but not terrible. And I already put strawberries in my Cream of Wheat so I assumed I would like the Mixed Berry with Almonds flavor. And  I added some extra strawberries anyway because I wasn't sure how filling it would be. It turned out that the portion size is actually perfect and the nuts are so tiny you barely notice them. You can't remove them, either, so if nuts aren't your thing this isn't the product for you. I followed the heating instructions exactly--any longer and the cup would have boiled over. Also, there's no lid except the one you peel off, so if you need to-go  somewhe...

I've been baking a lot this month. Or cooking, or wrapping or...well, it's done for this holiday season. I always think I can cram in one more thing--but that's a recipe to be shared later. Today we get to the dessert I made on Christmas Eve:  Cran-Apple Upside Down Cake . My sister actually requested this last winter but I couldn't exactly ship it to her so it had to wait until a more opportune time. I was also surprised that my brother ate this cake. He's not the world's biggest cranberry fan so I expected him to eat pumpkin pie instead. Maybe his adult palate has changed, I don't know. The cake was gone by Sunday, so I guess that's a thumbs-up from everybody. Two things I want to point out that I liked about this cake: the brown sugar topping wasn't too rich, I guess because there wasn't any butter involved in that step; and there's cranberries in  the cake as well as the upside-down fruit part. So if you really like cranberries, this is...

Hope everyone had a merry or happy whatever you celebrate this time of year. I opened this cereal Christmas Eve morning so I figured I'd better blog it before I forget. Why Cinnamon Crunch? It was at the end of an aisle, so I grabbed one. That's basically it. It wasn't on my "must try immediately" list. It's basically the Cascadian Farm version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (a cereal I haven't had in years ). Two main differences: it's ridged like Golden Grahams (Cinnamon Toast Crunch isn't ridged, right?) and only tastes of cinnamon. If I recall correctly, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is more of a cinnamon-sugar mixture. This cereal is more like sprinkled with cinnamon and then baked on to stick. But I'm a cinnamon lover, so the more cinnamon the better. I hope not to type the word "cinnamon" for the rest of the day.

I've been so busy I can't even remember when I made these. It had to have been either last Wednesday or Thursday; I was really freaking out about being pressed for time. But things have a way of working themselves out and now I can enjoy these surprisingly good  Raspberry Cardamom Shortbread Thumbprints . I think I found this recipe last month when searching for stuffing options. Speaking of options, I should also mention that I actually used some apricot preserves that I already had in these thumbprints because now's not the best time to be buying/storing another jar of preserves in the fridge. I think I've made thumbprint cookies before but I don't have a good history with shortbread. Mine is always too dry and crumbly and I can't get it to hold together and then I get frustrated and it's like, never again.  Then I see this recipe and think, well I can try one more time. I'm not sure but I think the secret to well-behaved shortbread is room tempera...

Yes, I am just now getting around to reviewing a cereal I bought two months ago. It was the last box. I felt bad for about a second. But how many times have you said to yourself, "Eh, I'll get it next time," only to find it's not there the next time? Anyway, I'd already heard good things about Pumpkin Puffins in various pumpkin food best-of lists and I'd already tried original  Puffins so I knew what to expect texture-wise. That sealed my decision. And it is, indeed, the most pumpkin-y cereal I've ever tasted. Like someone freeze-dried a pumpkin pie and chopped it up into little squares. And the only spice listed in the ingredients is cinnamon! I don't know how they did it. So if you missed out this year, be sure to pick this up next fall.

I started last weekend; I love to just bake and pile on the cookie tin. Not mixed cookies, though! I forget the rule--either soft cookies soften your hard cookies or vice versa. Anyway, first up are these  Iced Gingerbread Biscotti  from the November issue of Cooking Light. This was my first attempt at biscotti (not counting the mini savory ones  that were part of a soup recipe) and even though I followed the directions I still worried at every step that they wouldn't turn out right. For one thing, I don't have a stand mixer, so I had to use my hand mixer. More work for my arm but I still got the ribbons off the beaters after six minutes like the recipe says. I also wasn't sure that I mounded my dough correctly but I still managed to get eleven slices off each mound. Slicing was also tricky; I broke a couple of the ends--maybe I used the wrong knife? But the end result was worth it. There's nothing like a cup of tea (or coffee if you're not me) and a dunked bisc...

But the first was actually the weekend after Thanksgiving. I had Greek yogurt leftover from the  cheesecake bars  and I wasn't about to waste it. Fage is good stuff. So I found this  Cinnamon Swirl Yogurt Quick Bread . Problem solved! Oh, I guess you'll want to know about the flavor. Do you like three layers of cinnamon? Do you like heating the leftovers in the microwave so the top gets all gooey and sticky? Do you like breakfast breads? Or eat them whenever, I don't judge. One thing: err on the side of caution when baking. I should have taken mine out after forty minutes but I put it back in the oven for five more. So it was a bit dry. But that didn't stop anybody from eating it. ******* One other note: even though I've gotten behind on my entries again you should probably not expect too many more posts until after Christmas. I don't know how I get so busy every year.

Well, this is a first. Post took their Grape Nuts Fit, added granola and re-branded it GN Fit (in lowercase, though, so I really should stick to one name). I'm actually down near the bottom of the bag--I told you I've been busy--and am only now getting mouthfuls of Grape Nuts. Otherwise, there's nothing super-special about it. It has a slight vanilla flavor and crunchy oats in the granola part. The dried cranberries are a nice size. I really do think it was a good idea to make this a granola. Now I need to go back and see what I thought of it the first time. Okay, here it is:  Grape Nuts Fit . So basically they just changed the ratio of granola to cereal. Still a good idea, though.

So what is this exactly? I assumed it was Giant's version of Great Grains Cranberry Almond Crunch (read my original review here ) since they were right next to each other but a glance at the ingredients list shows they're not quite the same. Great Grains has a multigrain blend in the oat clusters and  the flakes while this Cranberry Almond Cereal has wheat bran flakes (kind of plain but not throat-scraping dry) and corn flakes (slightly sweeter). Really it's more of a Honey Bunches of Oats with cranberries. And I just sprinkled a little on my Multi Grain Cheerios with sliced banana this morning for sampling purposes so I didn't even get any oat clusters. I might have to come back and add a line to this review. If all the clusters are in the bottom of the box that might take a while.

So my crazy busy Thanksgiving week kicked off that Sunday with a promise kept to my sister: more granola. Specifically, another SBA granola:  Apple Spice Quinoa Granola . I was skeptical about the uncooked quinoa but since my sister raved about the  Pumpkin Spice  I knew I could give it all to her if need be. Well, it needn't. Everyone  sampled this granola during the week. It was a bit clove-heavy for me at first but mellowed out after a few days. Also, the apple flavor is not as strong as I thought it would be but it still permeates the granola. And the quinoa just adds a little crunch. You never can have too much crunch, especially when the recipe tells you up front that it's going to soften over time. I'm still eating it though. I just had some with cinnamon apple yogurt. Yes, double apples! Christmas week will bring my first non-Sally's Baking Addiction granola. Unless she comes out with a gingerbread granola in the next two weeks.

Well, December suddenly snuck up, didn't it? I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. It felt like I was baking or cooking something from Sunday-Sunday. Seriously, I didn't catch up on my sleep until Sunday morning. On Wednesday of that busy week I made my desserts:  Pumpkin Streusel Bars  and  Maple-Ginger Apple Pie . I decided on Sally's pumpkin bars because I haven't had anything resembling cheesecake in ages--you never know with my issues--and these were a combination of cream cheese and Greek yogurt. Also, since you cut them into bars it's easier to not overeat. And indeed those two factors kept me from having an upset stomach. And of course everyone loved them. My sister said she could've used more streusel but that's probably on me. It was the end of the day and there were so many steps; I just wanted to sprinkle it and go. Actually both of these desserts could've benefited from my focusing on one per day--I just didn't have that extra day. ...