Living in a Cereal World

And now for the only thing I do with plain Cheerios: double-oat breakfast cookies. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I do not eat bowls of the stuff; the smell is...unappetizing, to put it politely. But baked into a cookie they become chewy and almost nutty-tasting--it adds an element to the chewing experience. As for the flavor, there's barely a hint of peanut butter in the finished product; I think it adds more sweetness than anything. Oh, and a ridiculous amount of energy--I feel like I need to get up and move after eating one (or two). My one complaint--and it isn't really a complaint--the recipe never makes as many as it says. I always come up around a dozen short.

Yes, I'm a day late. I had to take a sick day--did not feel like thinking about food at all, let alone writing about it. But a bunch of little notes started piling up, so: 1. Waah! My cereal hookup is going out of business next month. Sure, there's other branches but this one was so convenient. You'd better believe that if they have some kind of massive sale to get rid of the merchandise I will be stocking up! 2. I noticed a new ad for Fiber One 80 calorie Honey Squares the other day. The box says "now more honey and better taste." Can it top my previous "meh" review? We'll see about that. 3. Oh, another fruit butter to add to the list: McCutcheon's Pumpkin Butter. This was a gift from my grandma. I usually get Dickinson's pumpkin butter  every fall so it was good to have something to compare it to. This McCutcheon's version is definitely less sweet and seems to lean a little more on the cinnamon and nutmeg. I still like it thoug...

I had to check to make sure I hadn't already written a review of this one. I think what I like most about it is that it's non-flake based. I don't know about you, but when I think of fiber cereals my first thought is dry, bran flakes. Not that they can't be dressed up, but to have a shredded wheat in the fiber lineup was refreshing. I remember I leapt at the chance to try this when it first came out. I think General Mills went out of its way to make sure this shredded wheat was different from Frosted Mini-Wheats (unless they were legally obligated to--either way, smart move). The biscuits are flatter and the texture is not quite as rough. I'm pretty sure I have to eat a little more to fill myself up. Also, the size and texture allow for better (cereal) mixing if need be. If you're not crazy about Mini-Wheats you might like these better.

Picking up where we left off... Banana Fig Bread makes 1 (9-in.) loaf 1 c. chopped walnuts 1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour 2/3 c. whole-wheat pastry flour 1/2 c. sugar 1/2 c. firmly packed lt. brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 3 large ripe bananas, mashed 1 1/2 c. dried figs, stemmed and diced (I ended up using the entire Sun-Maid bag) 6 T. unsalted butter, melted 1/3 c. plain yogurt 2 large eggs 2 tsp. vanilla Preheat oven to 350. Bake walnuts 5 to 10 minutes or until golden, stirring after 4 min.; set aside. Whisk flours and next 4 ingred. in a large bowl; set aside. Combine bananas and next 5 ingred. in a medium bowl; stir in walnuts. Fold banana mixture into flour mixture. Spoon batter into a buttered and floured 9x5-in. loaf pan. Bake 55 min. or until a wooden pick comes out clean, shielding with foil as nec. Cool bread in pan on a wire rack 30 min. Remove from pan; cool completely. (Adapted for People magazine from Ted Allen's In My Kitchen )

You see what I did there? Well, you will. So I was wondering how the drought in the Midwest would affect cereal prices, since so many of them contain corn (of course that's not the only thing to think about, but it is for the purposes of this blog). The answer: not much. As I learned from this article , the majority of cereal pricing is determined by costs relating to production, transport, marketing, and so forth. The raw materials only make up a small amount. So no need to run out and buy up your local supply of Corn Flakes. Good to know. I also wanted to share a banana bread recipe that was in People a few weeks back, but there's no link to it. So in order to make the title of this entry work (I'm stubborn), I'll have to get back to it on Thursday and type it out. Let me just say for now that I'd never worked with dried figs before--or any type of fig for that matter--so I didn't really know what to expect. They smelled kind of like prunes but once I cut...

I'm sure I've mentioned Cinnamon Life a couple times already but I don't think I've done an actual review. If you've ever had original Life then you'll understand when I say: it tastes like that, but with cinnamon. Now maybe that sounds kind of obvious but that's also what distinguishes it from my personal favorite, Maple Brown Sugar Life. I couldn't stand original Life as a kid; I thought it was a really weird flavor. Cinnamon Life takes that flavor from my memory and just dumps some cinnamon on it. It doesn't get far enough away from the original flavor like Maple Brown Sugar Life does. The only reason I ever have it in the house is for my brother; like I said before, he was just here for a visit. Whatever's left of the Cinnamon Life after he's gone is up to me to finish, so I mix it with whatever else I might have that fits. Like yesterday, when I finished up my Fiber One Caramel Delight but didn't have quite enough for a bowl--just ...

(from 27Feb'12) You remember a while back when the Fiber One campaign slogan was "Cardboard, no. Delicious, yes?" Well, I didn't need convincing. I was already convinced. I'll be upfront, though: the flakes might be too dry for your taste. But they--and the clusters--have a nice sweetness, and it's a change of pace from a raisin bran-type cereal for your fiber needs. *** Actual note from today: Just tried one of Dannon Light & Fit's new seasonal flavors--honeydew. Really good. It proved my theory that I like melon-flavored products but not the texture of actual melons.