Living in a Cereal World

Ok, so I'm just now getting to this after stashing it away for nearly three months because the week before I found out about it I had just opened a box of Pumpkin Spice Cheerios. Apparently I didn't realize how large that box was until it took me two and a half-ish months to finish it. Anyway, finally , Maple Cheerios. I wanted to categorize this as a "limited edition" cereal but the website  clearly states that this is a "new, permanent addition" to the Cheerios lineup. But a permanent seasonal addition, maybe? Eh, we'll see. So, flavor. It's a recognizable "maple-y" flavor at first taste, but upon further reflection it reminds me of a Honey Nut Cheerios without the "nut" undertones. You know what I mean. Honey Nut Cheerios taste like two things: 1. honey, and 2. something else that's not any specific nut. So if that "nut" flavor bothers you, I would recommend trying these Maple Cheerios instead. (Maybe ...

Since we went away for Thanksgiving this year, we had a backup turkey sitting in the freezer, meaning it was time for Second Turkey Dinner. 😁 And most importantly, the pies I didn't get last month. Pie #1:  Easy Lattice Apple Pie . Because it had "easy" in the name and I had enough stuff to do leading up to Christmas. It's very spice-heavy and not overly sweet: perfect for topping with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pie #2:  Best Ever Healthy Pumpkin Pie . Ok, maybe not best best but very good. And I'm always looking for pumpkin pies that don't call for sweetened condensed milk because I cannot handle that stuff. You might have pumpkin pie fanatics in your family who are sticklers for that gelatinous/custardy consistency who wouldn't like this but they'd have to really be sticklers. And all new sides for me:  Slow Cooker Stuffing (it makes a lot --I had to jam it in my 5-qt Crock Pot);  Cranberry Orange Sauce (of course it's delicious...

Umm...how did it get to be so late in December already? I completed and handed out my gift cookies two weeks ago! Blame it on the season. It seems like I spend all my free time baking or wrapping. 😵 But I still wanted to share what I included in this year's cookie tin. Soft Batch Pumpkin Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Cookies . I made (and froze) these back in November so I was still on Pumpkin Time. It might be a bit heavy on the ginger for some tastes once you roll them in the sugar-ginger mixture, but that wasn't an issue for me. 👍 Next, I attempted a snickerdoodle for the first time ever. The only ones I'd had before were thick and pillowy but these from  Two Peas are a more typical cookie. Sweet and cinnamon-y and do they spread . I gave away the smallest and neatest cookies and kept the weird giant ones. Finally, I browsed my collection to find these  Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops (also from Two Peas). People love chocolate, right? And these are basically just a br...

(Also oats.) So how did I manage to pack three apple recipes into a ten-day period? Total coincidence. I started with these  Apple Carrot Muffins two Sundays ago as a way to up my oat intake in advance of Thanksgiving. Also, I wanted a somewhat healthy muffin. Yeah, I still did the glaze😜 but not on all the muffins since I froze some. If you like a hearty muffin with good stuff in it, try this one. 👍 Next came my birthday cake, which I actually picked out months ago. This was one of my rare traveling on Thanksgiving years, so of course I was going to tote along my birthday cake (you thought I'd bring a birthday pie? 😉). I chose this  Apple Crumb Cake because it was almost pie-ish, like an apple crumble pie with a super-thick bottom crust. The only thing I changed was to make half of the crumbs because it was just so much butter (actually, two things. I also subbed oats for the pecans). Sure, you only get one birthday cake a year, but I didn't know what sides and...

It seems we're having a Snowvember day...so what better time to blog about cereal? 😛 I didn't bother to categorize this one as "new-ish" since I reviewed the  honey cinnamon flavor way back in July. I don't why it took me so long to get to this one. I think those purple puffs were a turn off. But it shouldn't have been, because there's no weird purple dyes involved, just purple corn and berries. It's Kashi , I should've known better. Kids will probably be all over those puffs, though. Smart. 👍 My favorite part was the apple-strawberry filled "pillows," which were also a feature of the Honey Cinnamon variety. I'd eat a box just of those. I guess that would make it Berry Krave?

So Target released a bunch of new Archer Farms granola flavors a few weeks back and I thought I ought to try one even though I have plenty of granola (store-bought and homemade) already. What struck me about this Lemon Raspberry was the flavor. There's nothing wrong with it; it was just... familiar somehow but I couldn't place it. After a day or two I finally realized the lemon tasted exactly like Cascadian Farm's  Lemon Blueberry except there's no mention of lemon oil in this one. So why do they taste the same? Maybe it's just in my brain. Also, both the lemon and raspberry components nicely complemented the peach YQ yogurt I had. 😁

In the latest installment of "What Do I Eat Besides Cereal?"... This  Sheet Pan Garlic Butter Salmon from Damn Delicious. Never was a website more aptly named. Seriously, who can resist dinner all on one pan? And the garlic butter sauce. You could put that on just about anything. These  Bacon-Chicken Sandwiches from Taste of Home. Now I'm not a big bacon-eater, but this sandwich gave me a little glimpse into why people love BLTs so much. Also, this sandwich hinges on the mayo-chutney mixture. I'll confess that until this day a few weeks ago I'd never had mango chutney in my life . Ever. And I've never had Indian food, either. I want to but I don't know if my digestive system can handle it. But mango chutney? Is so good. Finally, although everything listed here was super-delicious, this  Cinnamon French Toast  from Chobani takes the cake. Or takes the French toast. Every now and then I'm willing to try a French toast recipe with challah o...