One Mom Fighting Boredom, One Breakfast at a Time

Long-Overdue Conclusions!

2008-04-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

A friend recently asked me if I had given up on my cereal quest and I quickly defended that I had in fact drawn my conclusions and completed my task. After listening to me explain my various opinions, she politely suggested that I actually take the time to post my conclusions! What a concept!?!

So, here's a stab at wrapping this up.

My first conclusion was that I learned nothing. I left this quest realizing that I had already determined which cereals were best and my family was already eating them.

The Winner in the Flaky and Seemingly Nutritious Category
All four of us prefer Honey Bunches of Oats - Almond as our "flaky favorite." This is a sort of category if you will which includes everything from Special K to Frosted Flakes to Total. We determined we like a little flavor with our flakes and a preferably a little crunch - no fruit or fruit-flavors necessary.

The Winner in the Kid's Cereal Department
Lucky Charms won by a landslide. The healthy part, which I regularly refer to as the "Lucky" is tasty rather than bland and the charms are the perfect flavor and consistency. Occasionally you even get a box with lots and lots of charms and the mystery of not knowing how many charms you'll get is part of the fun! Lucky Charms also doubles for a great late night snack when there's no ice cream in the house or you don't want the guilt of eating after 10pm.

An Honorable Mention in the Kid's Cereal Category : BooBerry
This was one area where I learned that my childhood memories of BooBerry were right, it's VERY, VERY yummy. But, like many things, too much of a good thing ruins it, so this is still a special occasion cereal.

Winner in the Chocolate for Breakfast Category: Cocoa Pebbles
This has always been a favorite of mine, but I hadn't really done the consumer research or taste comparison until this quest. Yep, Cocoa Pebbles rules. It's better than all of the other chocolate breakfast foods because it remains yummy even as it becomes soggy and it gives Nestle Quick a run for its money in making the perfect chocolate milk.

Winner of the Granola is Bad for You Category
Banana Nut Granola Cereal with Bananas and Almonds. This horribly fattening gem is found at Walmart and is really delicious until you read the side of the box. You could eat a whole box of some other kind of cereal and not match the fat content in this box, but it's so tasty!

No Winner in the Peanut Butter for Breakfast Category
Despite my best effort I could not with a clear conscience recommend any of the peanut butter flavored cereals. Even though Reese's and Captain Crunch Peanut Butter both come highly recommended by close friends and loved ones, I'm still seeing peanut butter as mostly a lunch food.

So, these are my conclusions. I hope that you all enjoyed this little experiment with me and that somewhere in the midst of the monotony of the daily grind you, too, can find a little something fun to sweeten your life!

Undercover Krispies

2007-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm probably not the only one who thinks CRASH DIET between the months of December and January?! Winter clothes, winter weight, extra yummies around the holidays. So, as I'm wandering through the cereal aisle trying to pick my next victim, I think you know, in the name of science I should try the Special K diet.

Anybody ever tried it?? Tell me, how is it not the exact same thing as Rice Krispies revisited in a flake??? Seriously! I poured myself a bowl and took a bite and honestly thought to myself "close your eyes and BAM" -- it's Rice Krispies minus the sugar I used to throw on them! So, I walk over to the box and wadda ya know "lightly toasted rice cereal." So, how is this not the same thing as Rice Krispies and their "toasted rice cereal." I can see it now -- "diet" bake sales featuring Special K Treats!

So, now that I've tried Special K -- I'm probably heading back to the Elves -- they are way more fun and I'm guessing I could lose six pounds on the Rice Krispies diet just as easily!

Though I'd have to lay off the sugar...

Silly Rabbit Trix are for Kids!

2006-11-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm dating myself with the title there. If you remember it you are probably over 30. Hang in there, though, the old cereal was pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't have any memory of my mother indulging in such a thing in my childhood, so I'm not sure how much these little bits have changed, but they were both tasty and interesting when I tried them this Fall.

Unlike most kids cereal, these were not uniform in shape or color. The ceral was full of little multi-colored flowers and circles and other shapes, each very distinctly formed. The flower, for instance, had a separate color for the center and the petals. I have only seen something similar on marshmallows, but this was much more distinct. So, aesthetically speaking, it was very colorful and pretty, even.

As for taste -- very sweet with a definite strawberry flavor, but I didn't pop out in a rash, so I'm thinking it was more sweetener than fruit. Whatever it was the milk turned pink and tasted like Strawberry Flavored Milk -- do they still sell such a think? Kind of like chocolate milk but light pink?

Tasty, not terribly filling, worth the weekly adventure.

Sorry for my lack of posting this Fall. I have another writing gig, one that actually pays, and between that, the house cleaning and the kids -- not much time left. But, with the holidays approaching I'm thinking of trying Special K as my next cereal and might even take the Special K Challenge! Wait and see!

All puffed up and nothing to taste

2006-10-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, back in the 80s, somewhere in the later years of my childhood there was some kind of puffed square cereal with very little taste. One of those things that ends up in pantry and you just have to add sugar to it to get it down. Well, evidently those things have been reinvented as something called Puffins. They taste and feel (in my mouth) exactly like these things I can't recall the name of. They are small, brown, generally tasteless squares with air in the middle. Like little miniature pillows with nothin' on the inside. They weren't bad. They weren't good. They were slightly sweeter than cardboard, but not too much tastier.

So, does this ring a bell for anyone? What were those things called and do they still sell them??

If not, try Puffins!

Kashi -ew!

2006-09-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

OK - so, remember a few months ago when a friend passed me a few Ziploc bags of cereal. Well, this morning I got curious enough to actually try one. Kashi GoLEAN Crunch. I know that some of my readers think it's the best thing since sliced bread -- I guess if you think sliced bread is a big deal, you might actually like this!

I, however, thought it tasted almost as yummy as a day-old rice cake and twice as good as stale Sugar Smacks! Ugh. I actually ate it wondering if it would have some lasting and redeeming gastrointestinal quality -- but even that amounted to nothing. I can say I wasn't hungry an hour after eating it, but that's not saying much either.

So, if you like rice cakes and the chewing qualities of cardboard -- go for it. As for me -- I'm happier with Vitamin-enriched kids cereals and portion control!

Still the best!

2006-09-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

In an effort to induce a bit of sunshiny happiness into the battle that it is each morning to get "Whiney" off to school, I decided to go back to an old favorite.

Cocoa Pebbles -- Mommy's Cereal!

Ah, a bit of chocolately goodness each morning -- don't talk to me about the empty calories, the lack of fiber, the implanted requisite 8 Vitamins & Minerals -- my mouth was happy! As "Whiney" has taken a turn for the Brattier -- but we can't call her that -- it's been a rough month. Meanwhile, my tasty chocolate cereal has not let me down. The little "pebbles" stay crunchy away from the milk on the top layer while the lower ones soak up the milk and add more flavor to each bite. I was a little concerned that after all of these cereals I would go back to a trusted favorite and not love it as much. Not the case here.

So, in the spirit of back-to-school time -- Cocoa Pebbles rule!

"I'm Not Dead Yet"

2006-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Just exhausted from trying to get one wriggly six-year old ready for first grade! Forget trying to eat different cereals, I've been lucky if I'm even getting breakfast these last couple of weeks!! The last full week of July we had doctor's or dentist appointments EVERY DAY! Then we were on vacation for a week ~ we ate breakfast, though I don't really remember it much! And then we hit the ground running in preparation for school starting on the 14th. The last two mornings, everyone has eaten but me!

So, I will say this, our last day on vacation I do recall I ate Honey Bunches of Oats in the brownish box. They were very good. All the crunchiness, nothing wasting my time like random bits of fruit, just good flavor - from what I recall as we ran out the door to catch the plane!

So, next up is something I grabbed off the center aisle at the Super Walmart -- evidently the Cheerios people felt they needed to compete in the Fruit Loop market and they've developed a Fruity Cheerios. Fortunately, if they turn out nasty I'm sure my one-year-old will love them.

Stay tuned...

Time to "Select" the Right Cereal

2006-07-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

So, for the last couple of weeks I've been making my way through three of the Post Select cereals. These cereals are "inspired" by other breakfast favorites -- Blueberry Muffins, Cranberry Muffins and Banana Nut Bread. If you look closely at the back of the box the first two have a pale reflection of a muffin opposite the cereal bowl like a reflection in a pond.

The first one I tried was Blueberry Morning. Now, I vaguely remember trying this cereal about 10 years ago and loving it! This time, with my taste buds honed from months of cereal tasting I was not quite as impressed. Don't get me wrong, it is still a delicious cereal, the trouble is that all of the blueberries tend to drop to the bottom of the bowl. This is not Post's fault, it likely has something to do with gravity and physics and the way God made blueberries, but personally, it made it kind of difficult to eat breakfast when half my time was spent fishing for blueberries.

Cranberry Almond Crunch did not have any of the fishing problems of Blueberry Morning and tasted quite a bit like the flavor of a cranberry muffin. So, if you like cranberry muffins, you would probably like this. I wished it were a tad tarter myself, but I'm being picky.

As for Banana Nut Crunch, it also tasted just right for Banana Nut Bread. Again if you like the one, you'll likely like the other. So, for grown-up tastes, these were quite good, no big surprises, just tasty goodness!

Now back to the cereal aisle!

It's the Real Thing!

2006-07-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, in a desperate move to avoid grocery store prices of name-brand cereals, I ventured into the dreaded store brand on a family favorite. Fortunately, I'm the only who cares. Our eldest child, sometimes referred to as Senior Munchkin, other times simply as Whiney (not to be confused of course with Screamy, her younger brother), lives on Bite-Sized Frosted Mini-Wheats and did not actually register the replacement of her usual brand with the Kroger's store-brand. If you'll read the post below you'll discover that Daddy was too busy eating another cereal to care, and so it was up to my taste buds to discover some nuances between the real thing and the storebrand.

Now, first of all, I should say, I love store brands, and many of them are just my favorite brands in cheaper wrapping. But not so in this case. Real Frosted Mini Wheats do a pretty decent job of holding up in milk and hanging onto their sugary coating. These knock-offs had WAY more coating, but it dissolved into the milk too quickly to enjoy it. Now, Whiney may not have noticed this, because she still refuses to put milk on her cereal - but that's another issue entirely.

So, for the record. Stick with the Real Thing if the exact blend of kid-side and grown-up side matters to you, but if it doesn't spend half the money and half your family will never know the difference!

Why I should hide MY Cereal

2006-07-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

So, I'm standing near our trash can the other day contemplating life or cleaning house, I can't remember which and I noticed something odd. An empty box of Cookie Crisp... perplexing, seeings how I had bought this cereal as part of my Quest and had only eaten ONE BOWL!!

Upon a moment of reflection bowl after bowl of this began to pass before my eyes -- Sunday morning, a week ago Tuesday, last Saturday -- each bowl in the hands of my husband!! And each time with him looking over the rim of the bowl as if he was about to get caught... little did I know he was planning to eat the whole box!!

So, evidently, I should actually get his opinion for this one, but since he's at work and only able to defend himself in the comments section, I'm going for it!

I thought this cereal, or at least the one bowl I had of it, was OK, but a little dissappointing. I think I had imagined it to taste exactly like a bowl of Chips Ahoy might taste, and it didn't live up - it is in fact an actual breakfast cereal and not truly little chocolate chip cookies. One interesting thing though, that actually makes it worth buying again -- in addition to my husband's obvious love of the stuff -- the little bits of chocolate on each wannabe-cookie actually expand in the milk. More than expand, they actually puff up a bit. It's kind of weird, but in an interesting sort of way.

So, if you like cookies and milk, this isn't bad. But what do I know?! I only got to eat one bowl!!

~The Great Monster Trio~

2006-06-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

You know what I'm talking about ... the big three of childhood cereal fantasies -- Boo Berry, Frankenberry and Count Chocola! Here is the official (OK, not-so-offical - "just my opinion" ) verdict. The best of the three is definitely Boo Berry! Frankenberry runs a close second, but is over-all a little too sweet. Count Chocola is not bad, but it's still not my favorite cocoa flavoring - that honor still sits with Cocoa Pebbles. Let's see... how about a marshmallow rating -- overall the marshmallows in all three are flavorful and hold their consistency in milk - a must for a cereal-marshmallow in my opinion.

Don't know if they still make this, but in the mid-80s the Rice Crispy people tried making a Rice Crispy with Marshmallows. They were tiny little cylindrical pastel bits that almost immediately became one with the milk -- what is the point?! Of course, the definitive cereal marshmallow is the Charms of Lucky Charms, but truthfully, these monster marshmallows held their own.

Two new cereals in the cupboard even now, stay tuned to find out which ones!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

2006-06-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post on Kellogg's ~ Disney ~ Pixar Cereal. Yep, you read that right - Kellogg's - a breakfast cereal has given up all dignity and decided to give up the occassional cross-marketing of breakfast cereal and kids programing and just GO FOR IT! -- They now have an official cereal as a joint venture. Here's the catch ~ the cereal stays approximately the same, the box just changes. Personally I tried the Finding Nemo - sweetened oat cereal with marshmallows -- presently you'll find the same basic thing only marketed with the new movie Cars. Do you find this as amusing as I do??

So, here's the scoop. It wasn't bad. It was basically Lucky Charms, only instead of multi-grain "Lucky" here we have Oat-based "Lucky." It was actually pretty good.

So, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Sacred Chocolate

2006-06-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Ask any woman, chocolate is sacred. Whether they prefer white, milk or dark, chocolate is not to be messed with. Chocolate should be expensive and rich. It should not come wrapped in foil and shaped like the Easter Bunny. It may be joined with peanut butter or raspberry-flavored filling. It should not be mocked.

In my pursuit of all breakfast choices, I have begun to examine the chocolate options on the shelves. It's not a pretty picture. Now, I must say, I have a personal attachment to Cocoa Pebbles, so for now, that is the benchmark.

First up, Kellogg's Mini-Swirl Fudge Ripple. This appears to present itself as a bowl full of tiny fudge-flavored imitation pastries. In reality we're talking nasty, dull "chocolate" flavored bits that closely resemble something you'd sweep out of the litter box. Truth be told, it was actually difficult to finish the box.

Next up, Count Chocula. Here's a cereal that showed real promise. It has stood the test of time and fills the chocolate niche in the "Monster Cereal" department. I'm sure many-a 20-something and 30-something out there can recall this cereal as the coveted alternative to whatever healthier "Mom's Choice" actually showed up in the cabinet. So, after enjoying the Boo Berry cereal emensely, I went in with high expectations. Unfortunately, it still did not compare with the tasty goodness of Cocoa Pebbles. I found the cereal to be a bit bland and the marshmallows superfluous to the chocolate flavor of the cereal.

I score this one only a four, and thus far continue to recommend Cocoa Pebbles to anyone wanting a delicious chocolatie way to start their day!

Lucky Lucky Lucky

2006-05-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

So sorry to my faithful readers -- I was out of town for a week. Fortunately, I was able to continue my cereal quest even while visiting a friend. Today the results are in... regular Lucky Charms is far better than the new Berry Lucky Charms. My findings:

Berry Lucky Charms is, quite simply, trying to be something it is not. By changing the flavor of what I like to call the "Lucky" -- essentially tasteless shaped-Cheerios - they have reduced the affect of the charms. Nobody wants a whole mouthful of indistinguishable sweetness. Without the contrast between the Lucky and the Charms, the cereal is simply not as good. To wax eloquent for a moment it reminded me of the Bible verses that emphasize Christians being the salt and light in a dark world. Salt doesn't stand out so much in the salt shaker and light looks quite dim in the middle of a bright and sunny day. So it is with Berry Lucky Charms - I love those charms and had no idea how important it was that they be distinctly different from the Lucky.

So, while on vacation and visiting friends, I partook of their plain old ordinary Lucky Charms and was reminded of the delightfulness of this breakfast treat! No matter how you eat them -- the Lucky and the Charms go better without all that berry-flavored madness. And, just for the record, my preferred method of eating Lucky Charms is to eat all of the Lucky first and then to eat the charms in whole mouthfuls. As a child I actually had a pecking order sorting method and ate the charms in a particular order, but since learning of a little disorder called OCD - I've broken myself of that habit!

Meanwhile... next up -- some kind of chocolate swirl disaster from Kelloggs.

I'm beginning to understand why I had picked my favorite cereal and stuck with it!

Personal Favorites and Happy Spouses

2006-04-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

You know you walk into very dangerous territory when accepting a recommendation for something by a close friend or family member. Your dad says try this restaurant, you don't like it, what do you say? Your friend says try this hair stylist, you come out feeling like a poodle, what do you do? Your friend says "I like Reese's Puffs", your husband says "I like Peanut Butter Captain Crunch," - you think you're safe forming your own opinions. You're wrong.

So, assuming you read my post on Reese's Puffs, you all know that I'd eat it if I had to, but I might not buy it for myself. I gave it a fair try, wanting my friend to know I cared about their opinion. Fast forward to a week ago and the morning of the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

Now, admittedly I went in with fairly low expectations. I'm of the personal belief that Peanut Butter is a lonely food, always looking for someone to hang out with - sometimes jelly, sometimes chocolate, occassionally bananas or fluff. So Peanut Butter Captain Crunch sounded already like a big mouth full of store-brand peanut butter flavored Kix. High expectations, I know.

So, to offset the need to eat them, I bought my back-up cereal - Berry Lucky Charms. I tried a bowl. Meanwhile, my husband is pouring the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch into his bowl with a look of pure joy on his face. "Ah, this is my favorite cereal in the world," he says. So, I finish my Berry Lucky Charms -Boo-Berry-wannabe-cereal and decide to go for a bowl of this Peanutty goodness. I ate it. I did not comment. What could I say, the recommendation was a flop, but how could I tell my husband "I don't love you're favorite cereal in the whole universe."

I waited.

Late that night, the kids were in bed, the TV was on, I'm looking for a snack and I think to myself -- I have to tell him the truth. So, I admitted it, "Honey, I have to tell you something and you're not going to like it,.... pause (gulp)... I'm sorry but, I really didn't like the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch." To which he replies, without missing a beat, "Oh, but you liked the Reese's Puffs!"

Now, admittedly he's joking with me and teasing me and we're both laughing, but I kid you not he had been waiting three weeks to get me with that one! Turns out he had noticed that I TRIED the other cereal before I TRIED his cereal and he was just waiting for the right time to jump on this one!

Sometimes you can't win! Meanwhile, he has enjoyed the rest of the box of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and I've moved on to the Berry Lucky Charms ~ a review for another day...

Until then, enjoy your breakfast and let me know what you recommend!

You're Chocolate's in my Peanut Butter!

2006-04-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

The subject today is Reese's Puffs. I've been thinking of posting for a couple of days, but wanted to continue to try the Puffs a few mornings before I made my formal assessment. You see, the Reese's Puffs came highly recommended, and actually involved some specific tasting challenges - with milk, without milk, combined peanut-butter and chocolate bites, separate peanut-butter and chocolate bites, which order to eat them in and the ever-present question of how the milk tastes after. So, this was clearly not a one-breakfast assessment, but rather a lingering question of good taste.

So, while my first impression was that I was not bowled over - they've grown on me a bit. At first I was thrown off by their lack of milk-flavoring ability, but this was later explained to me as directly related to their better-than-average lower sugar content. OK, I can respect this. Maybe they're not as bad for me as the amazing blueness of the Boo Berry cereal. And, milk is quite tasty on it's own. So, no points off for their inabilty to flavor the milk. Apparently, my friend claims that they should not be eaten in milk at all, so what difference does it make! Well, truth be told, they are quite a bit tastier without milk and would make a great snack, but since this is a breakfast-food review - I'm sticking with the with-milk assesment.

So, as for the chocolate vs. peanut butter and order of eating issue. This does make an impact outside of the milk and I would have to say I would go chocolate and then peanut butter, but in the milk, even though each is tasty on their own, they're best tasted together, I think. (Now, if you think this question of what order to eat them is not an issue, wait til you hear how I eat Lucky Charms!)

So, as of today, I give them about a seven. They're tasty, but not my personal favorite. So, wait and see how they compare to Peanut Butter Captain Crunch - a truly top-notch, sugar-filled milk-flavoring cereal!

Honey Nut Cheerios

2006-04-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say... they're still Cheerios, but they're a LITTLE better tasting. Milk is a HUGE plus, I don't see how kids eat Cheerios dry. Sweet, crunchy, satisfying, kept me feeling fed all morning. Did the trick. Wouldn't deliberately buy them for myself, but if that's the only thing in the house, I'll eat it. Fortunately, I've convinced my family it's fine and I've only had to eat one bowl! Uh-oh, Hubby reads this! Good thing we're at the bottom of the box! What's up next? Have to wait and see!

A Perfect 10

2006-04-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, this is attempt #2. I tried to post something a few days ago ~ but the system had other plans. So, here's hoping I can recall some of my thoughts ... ah, yes ... Banana Nut Granola is AWESOME! None of those pesky raisins and much better crunch. It includes delicious crispy banana chips and tasty sweet granola. The secret ingredient is COCONUT! They're obviously afraid to package it advertising the coconut, but it's in there and it's very good! The only sad thing about this cereal is finishing a bowl. I give it a 10! Now, if we could just have fat-free coconut!

And now for today's breakfast of choice! --- Polar something-or-other Captain Crunch. Given to me by a neighbor when she learned of my cereal quest, this was an interested stop on the cereal voyage. Given the hurry and rush we were in this morning, I have to say the strangest thing about this cereal was that if you weren't looking at it, it tasted just like regular Captain Crunch. It was only when you looked at it and realized your milk was a frightening shade of blue and your cereal was changing color right before your eyes did you think - "Ahh! What's happening to my cereal!" It was OK. It was, basically, Captain Crunch only blue... very, very blue.

Next up... Honey Nut Cheerios... they're in the house already! (Miss Munchkin's opinion this morning was ..."Mmm, these are better than just plain Cheerios!")

The Cereal that Wasn't

2006-04-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

So, I said I was heading to the grocery store yesterday-- turns out I wasn't. I ended up spending the day with the kids at my parents hanging out and didn't quite make it to the store. So, today I make grand plans and a list and head out with Minor Munchkin to pick up Miss Munchkin from school. I ran out and left the list. Given that Miss Munchkins HATES going shopping and had just completed a day of school, let's just say she wasn't exactly on her best behavior. So, I could remember I needed Baby Wipes. This is the kind of thing you don't forget. You say it to yourself over and over and over because you can't imagine not having them! So, in I go with the mantra "Must get baby wipes, baby wipes, baby wipes, and whatever else was on the list." Well, now, that would be CEREAL! So, we're doing pretty good through the baby wipes, and a few more aisles when suddenly I have had it with Miss Munchkins insesent sing-songing and suddenly ZAP I have totally forgotten everything else on my list ~ particularly cereal. So, I grabbed a few more things and headed for the checkout. Only upon returning home and discovering my list right where I had left it did I exclaim "CEREAL!" THAT'S the other thing I really needed!

So, alas, either the hubby is heading out for it this evening or it's one more day of mystery breakfast.

Fruit Loops from a Dispenser

2006-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we went on vacation this weekend. First time out as a family of four -- moving cross-country doesn't count - this was a vacation - that was a marathon.

For our destination we chose Gatlinburg, TN. As Super-Mom my job was to priceline a hotel, mapquest the drive, research atttractions and ticket prices, map out the outlet malls, pre-wash everything we own, plan ahead for meals on the road, pick out the kids clothes, brush-up on roadtrip car games, and stay in a good mood! Mission accomplished. We had a fabulous weekend!

For my personal enjoyment and to continue my morning quest, I was looking forward to the hotel's "continental breakfast." Now, if you've ever been to a foreign country on a different continent -- these words take on a whole new meaning. In Germany and France, I've seen spreads that stretched on for what seemed like miles and miles of cheeses, meats, breads, yogurts, fruit toppings, and every variety of Mueslix granola. In America, I've seen places pace off a box of donuts and a Mr. Coffee as continental. The one we had was standard buffet - cold boiled eggs, store-bought cinnamon rolls under a heat lamp, four different pots of Green Mountain coffee, a three-tiered donut stand, some toast and those miniature Philly cream cheeses and Country Crock margarines.. and the cereal dispenser! Quite imaginative really. Four different gallon sized jugs inverted like a water-cooler with a little turnstyle dispenser at the bottom. You grab a cereal bowl spin the thing around to your cereal-of-choice and twist the knob like you're waiting for a giant gumball to pop out. Bam! Your cereal bowl is full!

Well, at least that's what's supposed to happen. For me it was more like, twist, wait, four more fruit loops fell down. Lift jug, shake lightly, twist, wait, six more fruit loops. It was interesting but I was committed --- that and the rest of my family was in the adjoining room so they couldn't see me!

Finally I got my fruit-flavored colored O's and headed for the milk.

My assessment --- Crunchy and sweet. I'm not sure the color of the loop changes the fruit-flavor it all, but they're fun to look at. Milk was very tasty after the cereal was gone and the cereal had left little teeny bits of color in the milk ~ so it was kind of fun, too. All in all, I'm glad I ate it at the hotel and didn't have to buy a box.

Well, I'm heading to the grocery store today, we'll see what I bring home! Stay tuned!

End of the box

2006-03-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm nearly finished with the box of Granola. Today it was quite tasty, since I decided to pluck all of the raisins out of my bowl before adding the milk! Much better! We are going on a short vacation/road trip this weekend and our hotel advertizes a breakfast with three cereal options. With that I'm hoping to get Fruit Loops or Apple Jacks off the master list. I'll let your know on Monday how that goes!

Meanwhile, I am open to suggestions for upcoming cereal candidates. Next up, I think, will be Reese's Puffs. These come highly recommended and fit the category I was thinking of trying next -- monochromatic air-filled cereal bits -- Captain Crunch, Peanut Butter Crunch, Kix, etc. So, next week we'll see how well the Reese's people did with turning "Your peanut butter is in my chocolate!" "No! Your chocolate is in my peanut butter!" into a cereal!

After that I might have to go with the delicious and always enjoyable Blueberry Morning. I'm sort of holding out on that one until I want a sure thing for a week. Though I have been informed that when Blueberry Morning is the breakfast cereal of choice, I had better get two boxes!

Offbrand Low-Far Granola with Raisins

2006-03-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

In my hunt to find the yellowy-beige Quaker granola box of my youth I stumbled upon an off-brand Low-Fat Granola with Raisins. Millville, I think is the brand -- for someone privately taste-testing every cereal out there, what does it say that I don't have the drive to actually walk back to the kitchen and grab the box to get name right! -- it says my kids will see me and I'll never make it to the "publish post" button on this entry! --- Anyway... one thought, really, on this cereal -- Why the pesky raisins?? I, literally, shoved them over to the edge of the bowl by the bottom half. It was sad. The rest isn't too bad, though..., if you like granola.

Meanwhile.... the Boo Berry cereal. Mmm. Mmm. Good. If you like Lucky Charms, but, like me, you suffer through all that nasty "Lucky" just to get to the charms. Try Boo Berry cereal! Satisfying and delicious! Tastes best after it soaks up a little milk. Usually, I don't like soggy cereal, but this holds it's crunch and the milk actually makes it tastier. Boo Berry is presently the front-runner in my cereal tasting adventure!

Cran-Vanilla Crunch

2006-03-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

According to Kellogg's Cran-Vanilla Crunch is "Sun-ripened cranberries. Oat clusters dipped in creamy vanilla yogurt. Crunchy flakes. How’s that for original? So much crunch and flavor, your mouth won’t know what hit it. "

My opinion: Your mouth can't find what hit it! Yeah, it tastes like Cranberries and Vanilla, but they really need to contact Post and find out more about that Two-Scoops of Raisins concept! Although the flavor was good, we're talking mostly crunch with a few lost cranberries and yogurt coated clumps in each bowl. Enough to send you searching through the milk to find the tasty parts. I don't have time. On a scale of 1-10 this gets about 3 -- tasty, but too much trouble.

To the Breakfast Table and Beyond...

2006-03-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

So, I was standing in the grocery store about a month ago. No, seriously, I was in Super-Walmart, but what's the difference anyway ~ better bathrooms. So, I'm thinking Hubby likes Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds, Munchkin likes Frosted Mini-Wheats, I myself like Lucky Charms. Here we are again. Grab 'em and go.

Then, for some onknown reason, I stopped. And, like those new McDonald's coffee commercials I actually REALIZED I was standing in the cereal aisle. Good grief there are a lot of cereals. Who eats these?? Does everyone have three cereals they like and they just keep buying them week after week after week, hoping the manufacturers won't pull them for something tastier? Or are we all just so sure that Frosted Mini-Wheats have been around long enough we're pretty sure they're not going anywhere. Who knows?! But for some reason, on this given day, I stoped and looked and like some guy in some movie I decided to put back the Lucky Charms and change my life! I don't know why, but I started looking and looking and looking, and I think I spent about 10 minutes in the cereal. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could remember the taste of Granola in a yellow quaker box that my mom used to get back in 1983 I think. It wasn't there. But it was then that I decided. I do not want to walk up and down this aisle not knowing what any of this tastes like!! So, I found some fruity and "healthy" and I picked it up and thus started my quest. It changed me.

I chose "Cranberry-Vanilla Crunch" and thus started my journey through the cereal aisle. So far I have added "Low-fat Granola", "Vanilla Creme Frosted Mini-Wheats" - got the whole family in on that one!, "Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch" and, my personal favorite, "Boo Berry Cereal." There is no rhyme or reason to my adventure, it is simply the added fancy of wondering what will I choose this week. Spontaneity. Mystique.

It is simply one mom fighting the boredom, one breakfast at a time!