Question of the Week: Cereal killer
July 30th, 2007 by Curt Holman in Food & LifeQuestion of the Week usually doesn’t appear on this blog, but these days I find that my breakfast cereal needs are not being met. I don’t actually eat my breakfast cereal at breakfast, mind you, but I have a ritual to enjoy a bowl shortly before bedtime, mostly because I can’t stand waking up hungry in the dead of night.
For a long time Cinnamon-Raisin Kashi was my cereal of choice, but lately I’ve been hankering for something that’s not so deafeningly crunchy, and perhaps a little sweeter. I’ve been sampling varieties that tend to be more “flake-based,†ideally involving some combination of honey, granola and/or oats, enhanced with nuts, raisins and/or some other dried fruit. I’m not the hugest fans of heavily sugared “kiddie†cereals, but I’m open-minded in my question: What kind of breakfast cereal tastes the best?
Speaking of cereal, probably the best writing I can think of on the subject of is Cryptonomicon author Neal Stephenson’s observations on Cap’n Crunch.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
When left unchecked, there’s no question that Cap’n Crunch, Lucky Charms and Trix rule. But aging puts me in the fiber and whole-grain needs push me more toward Grape Nuts and Honey Nut Cheerios. Bizarrely, I can’t eat cereal with milk (ick), but I’m telling you, Grape Nuts with a banana or one of those cereal bars totally rocks, and Honey Nut Cheerios on their own are awesome. Just enough flavor and sweetness to keep me intrigued.
July 31st, 2007 at 8:51 am
Cracklin’ Oat Bran is the shit, dude – always a winner. Also, Barbara’s brand Puffins cereal is crunchy and delicious (though avoid the bizarrely salty peanut butter variety). I’ll second David’s recommendation of Grape Nuts with banana.
July 31st, 2007 at 11:33 am
try cranberry almond crunch, slightly sweet, nice flakes and almonds with little chunks of granola.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
smart start antioxidants. No way it does nearly all it claims to, immune system-wise, but the cereal is delicious — a little bit sweet with fat, bumpy crispy flakes. Not sure what the bumps are — maybe little antioxidant flavor bursts? :)
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Kashi’s Strawberry Fields. Slightly sweet flakes, with dried strawberry & raspberry pieces. Yum.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:22 am
You’re right, Curt. Breakfast cereal does taste good at night: I didn’t know anyone else did that.
When I was a little girl my Dad used to make a Filipiino breakfast called “Champurrado”. I’m sure it’s Latin inspired. It’s hot oatmeal flavored with chocolate. Recently recovering from surgery, all I’ve wanted to eat is childhood comfort food. We didn’t have chocolate in the house, but we had Nutella. It’s a popular European hazelnut chocolate spread which I discovered when studying in Germany during college. Eating Nutella Oatmeal brings back intense taste memories of my childhood and college, rolled into one perfect comfort dish. Try it and tell me what you think.
I cook a big batch of McCain’s stone ground oatmeal. It takes 30 minutes to cook it right, and who wants to bother with that during the week. Then I divide it into 5 tupperware. My husband happens to like it cold, but I heat it up for 2 minutes in the microwave and stir in the Nutella.
You could upscale it, sprinkle sugar and brulee it with a torch, a la the Ned Flanders and Bart “Hot Chocolate Scene” in the recent Simpsons movie.