Living in a Cereal World

AKA the OG Honey Bunches of Oats. Would you believe after all these reviews, I've never gotten around to this one? Could you also believe I've never tried this flavor? True, I tried the  granola  many years ago, but not the cereal. Considering all the flavors of Honey Bunches of Oats that have come and gone, Honey Roasted is the constant. The known quantity. Why didn't I try this one first? Ok, so after all that hype I suppose you want to know what I thought of it. First off, the flakes in the freshly opened box were surprisingly sturdy. You know I've often pointed out the scraggly scraps of flakes in various Honey Bunches of Oats. To be fair, they're not called Honey Bunches of Flakes. But these had a nice crispness to them. Where they really stepped up--beyond my expectations, actually--was the size of the bunches. If you're sampling the original Honey Bunches of Oats, you want to know what's so great about the bunches. What's kept them in produ...

Apple-ade isn't a thing, so what was I to do? I'm a problem solver and I enjoy a challenge, so of course I'd figure something out. Right away I thought of this  Crockpot Applesauce  recipe that I printed, literally, that morning. I'd never made applesauce before and this seemed pretty hands-off, so I was willing to give it a try. If you're willing to chop up apples and blend the finished product in batches, it's really not complicated. I even left the peel on, which I never do for pies and such. But everything cooks down and is totally edible. The best part? It tastes like apple pie. Exactly  like apple pie but without any crust or butter.👍 We ate it for dinner the first night and I used the rest in yogurt. This is definitely a make-again. So that was the Galas. But then I still had the golden delicious. I had a taste for waffles so I went with this  Apple Cinnamon Waffles  recipe from Minimalist Baker. I think I already had a copy of this recipe but never ...

As peach season was winding down I thought this should finally be the summer I try my hand at peach pie. Not any of the  peach-berry   combos  I've made over the years. Not my mom's favorite  Peach-Mango . Just peaches. Peaches and pie crust. Not even a crumble to disguise any faults. So I made this  Peach Pie  from Eating Well. And okay, I didn't make the pie crust from scratch. Next time. Still, who could turn down a pie that looks like this? I could have used one more peach, but no matter. We ate it. And two weeks later, because I wasn't quite ready to let go of the peaches, I made these  Peach Pie Oatmeal Cookies . And then forgot to take a picture. You know how it is after a trip, trying to get back into your daily rhythms--then I add baking to my tasks for the day. So these cookies: again, I could've used more peach chunks, or at least cut them smaller, but when you get a bite of everything it really does taste like peach pie.👍

Here's another Cascadian Farm cereal I overlooked until the box redesign. We'll keep this quick because raisin brans are pretty straightforward. I swear there's two different flakes in here. Supposedly it's just your classic wheat bran flakes but some of these flakes look like they have pressed oats in them...and some don't. These "oat-ier" flakes have more of a gray tinge than brown (cue the "cardboard" jokes). But other than that there's not really anything remarkable here. The raisins seem smaller than the usual. Could be a certain variety. There's no extra sweetness; like I said, it's a basic raisin bran. But if organic raisin bran is important to you, here's an option.

I like how they call it "limited batch" as opposed to "limited edition," as if bears were actually in the kitchen cranking this out. I had just about given up on finding this anywhere when I happened to walk past a display at a Giant in VA. Set it up in front of the self-checkout? Of course I'll see it. 😉 But it was worth the wait/search. Seriously, it's so  good. I don't usually rave about store-bought granola but I have to this time because I marvel at the ability of food scientists to put just the right flavors together. It's blueberry. It's lemon. And oh, is it cheesecake 😋. And my taste buds picked it up in exactly that order. You know that candy in Willy Wonka that tasted just like a complete dinner? (That's the one that turned Violet violet, right? It's been a while since I've seen that.) Anyway, it was like that experience. I don't know how they duplicated the cheesecake flavor but that just takes it over the top. I wo...

It seems like a lot of blogs have been getting their Zucchini Weeks in lately. I didn't mean  to; I just had a taste for zucchini. It started with these  Zucchini Cookies with Chocolate Chips  from Well Plated that I've made before and wanted to make again. You can only make oatmeal raisin cookies but so many times, right? You should know, though, that the texture isn't for everybody. Even with most of the liquid squeezed out of the zucchini shreds they're still going to be soft and almost... fluffy. I love them. I store them in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave. Chocolate gooey goodness. Then I made this  Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake  from Pinch of Yum. I was trying to finish up some buttermilk and I wondered, hmm, is there a zucchini coffee cake that calls for buttermilk?  There's almost always a recipe out there for whatever criteria I come up with. Thanks Google 😉. I did cut back on the brown sugar but it wasn't noticeable. Finally...

Well, after a planned trip followed immediately by an emergency trip I'm finally trying to get back into my routine. I also finally found this new flavor of Special K. I had to buy the value size at Walmart but it was worth it, I think. It had just a hint of a raspberry scent, and the same goes for the flavor. Maybe after  Blueberry Cheerios  I was expecting something more intense? But if you're a regular consumer of Special K--especially Red Berries--then you'll know how this fits perfectly in the Special K family. A little bit of sweetness in the wheat/rice flakes and a good ratio of freeze-dried berries to flakes. I still feel like it's lacking in the fruit flavor department. No matter; that can be rectified with my own additional of fresh berries.