Cereal Monogamy

[Jack]

When I was a kid, my sister and I would eat Gerber baby cereal for breakfast - I was in grade school and she's 12 years older than me. But it was good!

I admit it. I have done that, too.

Gerber has a lot of baby food that is delicious! I don't know why more people don't eat it.

[Walden]

My mother used to buy that stuff and eat it.

[Flyingcursor]

Like Charlene said, we aren't allowed to say "sugar" anymore.
Sugar Smacks became Honey Smacks. Why don't they be honest and say Corn Syrup Smacks? Sugar Puffs are Corn Puffs.

I eat cereal for a night time snack. Never for breakfast. Favorite is Grape Nuts, Cap'n Crunch (rip your mouth crunch), Cheerios, Wheaties but most of all, homemade cornmeal mush with a healthy dollop of baking cocoa. It's better then most farina based cereal IMO.

When my kids were little I decided they wouldn't like "cornmeal mush" so I called it "hot corn cereal". They loved it and still call it that.

[Lambchop]

Porridge !!!!!!!

Ah HA! Finally! Someone who knows what "porridge" is.

What is it, please?

[Lambchop]

In the morning I like Uncle Sam cereal (a good buy at Walmart), which is unsweetened wheat flakes and whole flax seeds. I add 2 heaping tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal + sliced bananas and soy milk.

Ooooh! What good taste you have, Doug!

I like Uncle Sam cereal with soy milk for dinner.

In the mornings, though, I have oatmeal. Sometimes, I make it just from oat bran in the microwave, but if I'm feeling decadent, I'll make it on the stove from organic thick flaked oats (a whole oat grain slightly smashed) and oat bran. For special occasions, I'll even make it from steel-cut oats. The most I'll put in it is a little cinnamon.

If you do it just right, it will get gluey and then solidify. You can cut it into chunks, and that's what I take to work for breakfast. If you make enough for several days and then keep it in the fridge, it makes a refreshing cold snack.

Kashi Crunch cereal is good and it's not overly sweet. The bits clump up into bite-size bits, so you can snack on it straight from the box, but it's also good with soy milk.

[bradhurley]

In the mornings, though, I have oatmeal..

That's what porridge is!

[Guest]

Porridge is not 'any' oatmeal, it is made from certain varieties of oats. For example, the stuff Quaker sells AS oatmeal ISNT porridge but that sold by some smaller companies is.

[Lambchop]

Porridge is not 'any' oatmeal, it is made from certain varieties of oats. For example, the stuff Quaker sells AS oatmeal ISNT porridge but that sold by some smaller companies is.

Therein lies my confusion. I suspected it had something to do with oats, although for years I believed it to be some kind of meat broth served in orphanages, but the method of preparation eludes me.

I would never eat Quaker. As a child, I believed that oatmeal was the most revolting substance on earth--all because of Quaker oats. It's slimy and stale-tasting. Instant oatmeal is even worse--sickeningly sweet with overpowering artificial flavors and a wet-flour sort of texture. Bleah!

Can you be more specific, Toasty? What varieties of oats, specifically? If you look at the Bob's Red Mill products, which would it be?

http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/inde ... gory_ID=27

And how do you cook them? Boiling? Broiling? Baking? Overnight in a crockpot?

[StevieJ]

Here's a recipe for you Peggy. It's the best.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=2000

[susnfx]

How much does that make? And how do you reheat it so it's still good and not gooey?

Susan

(trying to eat healthier--we won't mention the burger and fries I had for lunch)

[seisflutes]

My dad puts "Grape Nuts" in the bowl with the milk and lets it soak for about an hour, then adds "Oats And More" on top of it, mixes, and eats it. Every day. Eew! My sister, my mom and I are all grossed out by it. :p

[Doug_Tipple]

In the morning I like Uncle Sam cereal (a good buy at Walmart), which is unsweetened wheat flakes and whole flax seeds. I add 2 heaping tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal + sliced bananas and soy milk.

Ooooh! What good taste you have, Doug!

I like Uncle Sam cereal with soy milk for dinner.

In the mornings, though, I have oatmeal. Sometimes, I make it just from oat bran in the microwave, but if I'm feeling decadent, I'll make it on the stove from organic thick flaked oats (a whole oat grain slightly smashed) and oat bran. For special occasions, I'll even make it from steel-cut oats. The most I'll put in it is a little cinnamon.

If you do it just right, it will get gluey and then solidify. You can cut it into chunks, and that's what I take to work for breakfast. If you make enough for several days and then keep it in the fridge, it makes a refreshing cold snack.

Kashi Crunch cereal is good and it's not overly sweet. The bits clump up into bite-size bits, so you can snack on it straight from the box, but it's also good with soy milk.

Even though it may not qualify as porridge, I prefer a cooked cereal from multigrains rather than just oats. I usually buy the nine-grain variety from Arrowhead Mills, but I sometimes use Bob's because my grocery store carries the brand. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I like to use a double-boiler stainless pan to cook the cereal. That way I don't have to watch it to keep it from burning. I use three parts water to one part cereal, and I usually cook it for 30 minutes. When it is done, I pour it into a large covered bowl and put it in the refrigerator. One and one-half cups of dry cereal with make enough cooked cereal to last a week or so. When I am ready to eat the cereal, I warm it in the microwave. Coming out of the refrigerator, it is solid enough that you certainly could cut it into squares if you wanted to.

[StevieJ]

How much does that make? And how do you reheat it so it's still good and not gooey?

Gooey is no problem, Susan - the grains stay more or less whole, though soft. It makes quite a bit, enough for at least two hungry people...

[Lorenzo]

In the morning I like Uncle Sam cereal (a good buy at Walmart), which is unsweetened wheat flakes and whole flax seeds. I add 2 heaping tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal + sliced bananas and soy milk.

That flax thing reminds me of a recipe an old fellow gave us while we were taking care of him. He was 90 years old and didn't really need any care, but he stayed with us for a year and we cooked him his meals.

He was big on flax seed. So he told us how to make power waffles, and we've used the recipe ever since. He could explain the necessity for each nut, grain, or seed and what it was useful for. This guy was 90 and hardly a gray hair anywhere...and he still had lots of it.

1 cup of any regular waffle mix and add 1-2 heaping Tbsp. of any or all of the following, after running them dry through a coffee grinder type blender.

flax seeds
pumkin seeds
sesame seeds
sunflower seeds
brewers yeast
fine corn meal
minute oatmeal
pecans
almonds
walnuts
bee pollen

mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add water to any amount of this mix and spoon thickly into waffle iron. Save leftover mix for another day. Top with huckleberries, blueberries, or any fruit.