Breakfast Cereal

[Fat Guy]

Have we had a serious breakfast-cereal thread yet? I know we had the retro-cereal discussion about a year ago

http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?ac...t=ST&f=1&t=3161

but have we talked through all the major cereal issues?

Do you like cereal?

Do you add anything to it?

Do you eat it for breakfast, or at other times?

Do you eat it with milk?

Do you use it in recipes?

What are your favorites?

I don't eat much cereal because it strikes me as the culinary equivalent of hanging around all day in your underwear and doing nothing (though I have been known to exhibit this behavior on occasion) but today I sampled some Special K "Red Berries." As an inexperienced cereal eater I was astounded at how sweet the stuff was. Silly me, I thought Special K was one of the non-sugary, wholesome cereals. The cereal itself is a combination of the sugar taste and some sort of vague grainy taste -- almost malt-like -- plus there are what seem to be freeze-dried strawberry slices in there. The strawberries are pretty good when reconstituted in milk. It led me to wonder whether any pastry chefs are playing with freeze dried fruit and its possibilities. But as for the cereal, it was lame and left a nasty aftertaste.

[Matt Zito]

I ate cereal when I was a kid - it was always boring stuff like Rice Krispies, Total, etc. This was because my parents firmly believed that sugary cereals were second cousin to the devil and would result in cavities, communism, and general hedonism. It was a great step forward for breakfast in my house when my parents agreed that my brother and myself could each get one box of sugary cereal a year - on our birthdays. That was when I was 10, iirc and alas, by the time I was 12, I had really begun to dislike sweet cereals. Rather than let this opportunity go to waste, I began donating my sweet cereal option yearly to my younger brother until I left for college, a massive generosity on my part that has gone unthanked for the last 10 years.

Oddly, while Cap'n Crunch was a strictly regulated controlled substance for breakfast, "Cap'n Crunch Fried Chicken" was a fairly regularly dinner meal. There was no particular magic to the dish - crush up Cap'n crunch, dip the chicken breast in egg and milk, then in the crushed Cap'n Crunch. Then pan-fry the chicken. The Cap'n Crunch cereal was so porous and sweet it would absorb a huge amount of grease. Even at a very young age, I remember being keenly aware that there was no possible way this was good for me.

Today, I don't eat cereal. I don't drink cow's milk anymore and I never have soy milk in the house when I need it, so cereal is out. I find granola and yogurt to be a rough analogue that is overall much more satisfying, and in one of those mysterious product migrations that happen in NY, every deli in Manhattan suddenly has pre-prepared yogurt, fruit, and granola mixtures at breakfast.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

grape nuts. all the time--when i'm hungry, when i'm not but think i need some fiber .....and with ronnybrook. always with ronnybrook.

if i've got fresh berries, great.

but freeze-dried fruit, rehydrated by ronnybrook???? did they give that cereal away free on the street or did you pay for it?

blech.

no other cereal. except good, coarsely ground grits with lots of butter.

[ShawtyCat]

I have grits with lots of butter, bacon and eggs.... I also eat Cream of Wheat. One day I ran out of Cream of Wheat and used Grits as a substitute. A little different but good.

Other than those two...I can eat Raisin Nut Bran directly from the box anytime of the day.

[oraklet]

this weekend the in-laws held a great big get together. at breakfasts it struck me that they don't eat cereals. oh, how i missed it.

most cereals are way too sweet, though. i like kellogs corn flakes with milk, or the danish equivalent of quaker oats with raisins and milk. alas, this danisk variant has become much poorer over the last three years (hard, tough), so i started importing the swedish ones. and now they're down the drain, too. i think they don't use scandinavian oats anymore.

the kids, of course, can't have too sweet cereals, and it's a constant fight to keep it relatively healthy. and one of my friends has muesli with ice cream and cocoa milk for sunday breakfast. well, at least sometimes.

[glenn]

PudZ (the parrot) loves Cheerios with blueberries and soy milk. Sometimes she lets me have some. And she hobbles around all day in her underwear watching sesame street.

[CathyL]

grape nuts.  all the time--when i'm hungry, when i'm not but think i need some fiber .....and with ronnybrook.  always with ronnybrook.

Grape Nuts! I love the crunch, the slight sweetness and the toasty/grainy aftertaste. I've tried them hot, per a suggestion on the box, but they lost their essential Grape Nuttiness.

Occasionally I buy a box of Puffed Kashi. It's unsweetened, texturally interesting and quite tasty with milk and fruit.

[Charles Smith]

I eat a lot of cereal, but it has to be mixed- home-made granola, mixed with an assortment of stuff is the best and served on, or into, Total yogurt, or maybe Emmi swiss yogurt- I think it's delicious and I can't really handle a big greasy breakfast most days.

The yogurt is the key-

Cheers,

Charles

[TheMan,TheMyth]

I hate Cereal boxes that show a bowl of cereal with a bunch of fruit mixed in, but when you open the package there is no fruit to be found. Is this false advertising? I never see a disclaimer saying "fruit not included".

I really like Fruit Loops. When I am trying to be health conscious I have Puff Rice with a heaping spoonful of sugar.

The Man, The Myth

TapItorScrapIt.com

[ChocoKitty]

Weird trend -- Grape Nuts is my favorite cereal too! Either with raisins and a little honey, or with sliced bananas. Any time, day or night. I craved the stuff during my unsuccesful attempt at training for a marathon.

Oh, and homemade granola. Preferably in a parfait with vanilla yogurt and fresh berries.

[Varmint]

I grew up with every kind of highly-sweetened cereal imaginable, and with my L'il Varmints running around, I don't want them to feel they're deprived by forcing only healthy stuff on them. Thus, we currently have in our pantry the following: Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries (I prefer my Cap'n Crunch w/out the berries); Honey Nut Cheerios; Frosted Mini Wheats; Lucky Charms; Cracklin' Oat Bran; Crunch Corn Bran; Smacks (I still call them Sugar Smacks).

The thing is, the L'il Varmints rarely eat cold cereal. They eat grits, waffles, pancakes, bagels (bad ones, at that, as Fat Guy will corroborate), toast, cinnamon toast, eggs, biscuits, fruit, and other grains. I'd say they eat cold cereal once every 10 days or so. I think we use the children as an excuse to buy the way too sweet stuff.

[bushey]

Grape Nuts used to be one of my favorites, and then I discovered Cranberry Almond Crunch. Other top contenders are Kashi, the Good Friends nuts and twigs kind, and Cascade Farms organic multi grain squares or wheat crunch. I love cereal with blueberries or bananas. Only problem is a recently discovered sensitivity to milk, and the lactaid stuff has a sweet taste I don't love.

We let the kids choose junky sweetened cereal (like Lucky Charms or Cookie Crisp) every once in a while, but they usually come back to the basics like Rice Krispies and Multi Grain or Honey Nut cheerios.

[Schielke]

Man, those people on the kashi box freak me out!

[Stephanie]

I like cereal a lot, because frankly I'm too brain-dead on weekday mornings to plan anything more elaborate than a bowl of cereal or toast. I also grew up in a household where sweetened cereals were banned, though later on Mom relented just enough to let my younger sister have Honey Nut Cheerios. Consequently, none of us like the really sweet glop. In fact, when I was in college, the dining halls had cereal out all day, and I tried Froot Loops for dessert (w/o milk) and found it too sweet even then! I add raisins for extra sweetness (though I don't like Raisin Bran--raisins are too dry and the flakes get soggy very quickly).

Nowadays I usually buy cereal at the Coop. Kashi, Barbara's, and other brands have good-tasting cereals that have lots of fiber, plus they're way cheaper at the Coop than most anything at the supermarket. I also like Cheerios, Chex, Kix, and Just Right & that ilk. I usually eat cereal only at breakfast but will sometimes grab handfuls as snacks.

[Miss J]

I am not a fan of cereal. Unless it's porridge, which doesn't really count because you need to do something to it to make it edible. Or real muesli, which is the same kinda deal only without a microwave involved. I'm not a fan of boxed muesli anymore, although I used to be a few years ago. Granola's good, but only if it's homemade and therefore unlikely to rot your teeth out of your head after a couple spoonfuls.

I'm starting to think that maybe I'm just a high-maintenance cereal-eater.

[C Squared]

Honey Bunches of Oats, Blueberry Morning, Cranberry Almond Crunch, all with milk

Oatmeal (Quaker Oldfashioned) with a little butter, cinnamon and maple syrup.

A hasty Hasty Pudding with a little molasses

In all cases, easy on the sweetener.

[Blue Heron]

No cold cereal since childhood. Favorites then were Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs.

My husband likes cold cereal with buttermilk.

[vivin]

My favorite dessert at night (on weekdays) is cold cereal with milk.

Basic 4 (only cereal that is tasty even when soggy - actually only when it is really soggy), tried special K with strawberries that FG likes. Wife picks out all the strawberries before I get to them. She has been buying some Low Fat Granola one. I grew up eating cracked wheat type cereals with a good amount of milk and claified butter (yes, that is right) along with sugar thrown in.

Like cereal...vivin

[Andy Lynes]

As you might expect of the man that eats at Harvester restaurants, I love all sorts of cereal and eat them both for breakfast and late at night. All time favourite was the original Golden Nuggets, which are just not the same in their relaunched much smaller nugget version.

Running a very close second are Puffa Puffa Rice which again have been discontinued in their original version. Crunchy Nut Cornflakes are cereal heaven. More mudane are Shreddies, but can still hit the spot in certain circumstances, as can Weetabix.

Cocoa-Pops are excellent, especially served with chocolate milk. Suger Puffs on occasion can be enjoyable. Cereal cocktails can greatly enliven old stagers such as cornflakes and rice crispies. Just put them in a bowl together with maybe a few cherrios for good measure and it's a whole new ballgame.

[Huevos del Toro]

Shreddedd Wheat, the BIG one's! My father-in-law, an ex-rancher, said he used to feed that kind of "stuff" to his cattle. Wouldn't touch it. Don't care, I like it anyway!

[Stone]

Every once in a while I buy one of the oat-almond-raison cereals (I don't know it's name) and I really enjoy it. But even the so-called "healthy" mass-produced cereals are usually loaded with fat and sugar. I'd rather chew cardboard than eat Special K.

Recently, on a whim, I bought Cap'n Crunch. It was, like, scary. I'm still looking for Franken Berries.

[Junior]

My day starts with a bowl of ceral, sometimes two. It's one of those things I do in the morning as part of my routine. I always have Honey Nut Cheerieos or Honey Corn Flakes. That is my 15 minutes fo doing nothing in my underwear part of the day.

In the winter I usually eat a bowl of Instant oats with some brown sugar and a little milk. This habit has not changed in years. I also DO NOT drink coffee in any shape way or form and I do think I will ever will. I do cook with the stuff but only when nessacary.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

lately Im hooked on combinations of puffed corn, rice, and kamut....full fat soy milk...when I have them I add sliced banana.

Breakfast every day...once a week I have coddled eggs on the side. On really miserable summer days where I dont wanna cook...or if Im first day off from a rough tour at work itll be dinner too.

[Celine]

I can honestly say I haven't eaten boxed cereal in the last 20 yeears. I remember a short stint with Grape Nuts and Raisin Bran when in college but found it all too boring in the long run. I know I'm weird this way and certainly people have different tastes, but to me cereal is just so boring that I just can't imagine wasting calories on it. I'm just not a breakfast food person to begin with though.

Celine

[Fat Guy]

I got a look at a Kashi Good Friends box today. It really is freaky.