Living in a Cereal World

You remember Picture Day, right? When I was in school I think it was usually around the third week of September. So I'm a little late for my blog picture day. But anyway, here's the updated posts: Cheesecake Swirl Carrot Bundt Cake (check out that swirl!) Strawberry Layer Cake  (with slightly runny icing) Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls  (also taken post-eating. What can I say, we were hungry) ********* Back to reviews next month!

The weather may be slow to catch on but Fall has officially started, so I thought I'd take a blog post to commemorate summer with this list of smoothies. I thought about a separate entry for each one over the last few months but it didn't make sense to me. So here we go: I started with the recipes on the backs of the frozen VIP berries that I already use when berries aren't in season: Strawberry Bananarama Smoothie , Razzle-Dazzle Smoothie , and possibly the Peach Passion Smoothie  but I can't remember. I know I've made it before, though. From PopSugar: Vegan Peaches and Cream Smoothie  (I'm not actually vegan--obviously--but if something sounds good, I'll try it), Mango Lassi  (my first lassi!) From Two Peas and Their Pod (also on my blog list): Pineapple Coconut Smoothie  (and I really did use fresh pineapple) From EatingWell: Mango Pina Colada Smoothie --I didn't feel like buying a can of coconut milk so I subbed almond-coconut milk; be aware th...

Or stay-at-home cookies. Take your cookies wherever you want. You know I like to travel with homemade oatmeal cookies to keep my digestive system in working order (even if it's just psychological :P) but this time I wanted something different. Something like these Honey-Bran Cookies . I know what you're thinking: Bran? Ewwww. That's old people stuff. And honestly? I wouldn't eat a bowl of those weird little sticks, either. But in a cookie? Sure, I'll try it. The cookie base is your typical dough--you'd expect there to be chocolate chips involved. But then there's the honey and the bran cereal which change up the experience. The sweetness of the honey isn't overpowering and I like the crunch of the bran. These cookies are a little on the chewy side, too, just so you know. And I haven't had any odd episodes from that extra little kick of bran, either. But Y(bathroom)MMV.

I usually make a cake for my dad's birthday every year, and every year he usually wants carrot cake. But I thought I'd challenge myself this year and try something else from scratch. Enter Sally's Marble Cake . Now I've made a Marble Pound Cake before (Cooking Light recipe ) but that wasn't the texture I was going for this time. Also it was--surprisingly--a bit less work. This was my first time working with cake flour--I've been putting off buying it for years. I don't know why; the box doesn't even take up that much space. And it makes such a soft cake. I had no idea. I followed the sheet cake variation and overbaked mine by about five minutes (and dried out the edges) but the center was still soft. And the chocolate wasn't too rich for me. This is why I've never made a chocolate cake (and work with chocolate chips sparingly); I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it. But I used a whole baking bar of semi-sweet chocolate and my stomach ...

And now we conclude Pumpkin Week with this new Special K. I don't know which part is supposed to be the crunch--the rice/wheat flakes have a nice crunch, but so do the spice clusters. Ok, I'm re-reading the description. I guess it's the flakes. But it also makes it seem as if all the spices are only in the clusters. It didn't taste that way. The wording is confusing. Surprisingly, what ties it all together is the brown sugar syrup. None of the spices are overwhelming; there's no weird aftertaste. I could eat this dry. This might be my most favorite pumpkin cereal yet. ******** --I know Pumpkin Spice Life didn't make it into Pumpkin Week. I probably won't even get to it 'til October. --If you missed it last year, Pumpkin Puffins  are out. Now's your chance!

Next up for Pumpkin Week: this Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola  from Minimalist Baker. I hadn't been to this blog in ages but I think I found it again while searching for something else breakfast-related. Then I found a post with a bunch of granola recipes, including this one. And then , after Sunday's pancakes, I realized this recipe called for exactly what I had leftover from my can of pumpkin. The only thing I subbed was the nuts. I can't really do more than a teensy bit of pecans, so I used all the almonds I had in the cupboard and a half-cup of unsweetened coconut for good measure. It adds a surprising little flavor twist when you least expect it. Not to take away from the pumpkin and maple flavors, though. Those definitely come through. If you're in the mood for a pumpkin granola, this is a good bet.

So I opened it. I had to do it. And the first thing I was struck by was the shade of orange. It's not like artificial Cheetos orange but it's a very strong orange. Then I had to make sure I could smell the "pumpkin spices." Oh, and they're regular Cheerios, not those weird extra thick ones. I think they finally stopped making those. What about the taste? It starts out as a good pumpkin pie-ish flavor but then the nutmeg and cloves hit hard in the aftertaste. But that didn't matter as I wasn't going to eat these straight out of the box again. Adding milk mellows them out. They also didn't clash with my banana slices. I would have preferred to have a smaller box but I can share the Family Size. They'll get eaten.

It's Pumpkin Week here at Cereal World. It wasn't intentional but now that I have all the pumpkin cereals and have been working with canned pumpkin it's apparently a thing. Yesterday: I had a request for buttermilk pancakes, so I obliged with these Pumpkin Pancakes . I've already made several of the variations of these buttermilk pancakes so of course I was going to get to the pumpkin eventually. I didn't include the pecans but they were delicious nonetheless. Today: So now I had leftover canned pumpkin. I knew I wanted to make granola (which I'll get to later) but I had to find something else for the other 1/3 cup. Enter Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats . I'll admit I was skeptical as I made this last night. I was afraid the amount of cinnamon would overwhelm the oats so I cut that in half. I tried to take into account that canned pumpkin is flavorless and I also put a lot of cinnamon on hot oatmeal, but I couldn't persuade myself. You might want to add a...

I never thought I'd try any flavor from Kashi's GoLean line because I'm allergic to those little soy bits. A few months ago I read about this new flavor and immediately dismissed it. GoLean? Not happening. I don't know why I was suddenly moved last week to check out the actual ingredients, but I was. And I did. And there was no soy in sight. No soy flakes. No soy grits. No soy protein isolate. Well, now I'm intrigued by all these non-traditional cereal ingredients. I tasted each bit individually--or tried; the pea crisps were really too small to taste without getting a bite of something else. But I tried the red bean "flakes" first. Dried, smashed beans for breakfast? Weird. But it was really just a small, thick flake. Then I tried the popped sorghum, which looks and tastes just like a tiny piece of popcorn. Maybe even a vanilla Crunch N' Munch. Not like a bowl of popcorn with milk poured over it. No need to worry there. And the pepitas: well, the...

I wasn't planning on reviewing a cereal that had been around for a while, but then I got curious: how was this different from the Whole Grain Vanilla Bunches?  Apparently not by much because they stopped making the other one. The original Vanilla Bunches actually has plenty of vanilla flavor in the flakes and oat bunches. That was a nice touch. And while I can't say for sure, I'm guessing the only difference between this and the Whole Grain version is the inclusion of corn meal? Oh, and the rice is not a whole grain. That still doesn't explain why they stopped making the other one. The Almond and Honey flavors still have Whole Grain equivalents. Eh. Whatever. ******** Gearing up for pumpkin season. I have all the cereals except the Cheerios. It should be out by now. I'm hoping to compare flavors before I finish the Mini-Wheats, heh.