Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Nom nom nom cereal nom nom

I love cereal. My husband loves cereal. My kids love cereal. Cereal is a family affair. It can be breakfast, or lunch, or snack, or even dessert. If I am home alone, it often is dinner. Sometimes it is a late night snack. It can be eaten dry or soaked in milk. I prefer it with milk but the males tend to eat it dry.

My favorite is Honey Nut Cheerios. Mayhem likes Reese’s Puffs and Havoc & DH are partial to Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  We’re a General Mills sort of family. DH & I both grew up on Coca Puffs, Kix, Cookie Crisp and Lucky Charms. He takes issue with Cookie Crisp these days day so we don’t buy it but the rest of them appear in rotation in our cupboards. It never lasts long.  General Mills sent me a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch to review last Thursday. It was gone by Saturday evening. Cinnamon toast is one of DH’s favorite snack. Cinnamon Toast Crunch saves him waiting for the bread to toast and he doesn’t have to get a knife dirty spreading butter.

Breakfast often looks like a cereal commercial, everyone with a bowl of cereal with milk and a glass of juice and I find myself mentally hearing “Calcium & vitamin D fortified, nutritious breakfast. 8 grams of whole wheat, less than 12 grams of sugar” in a 70’s commercial voice over tone. All I need is the rabbit to appear at the doorway.

The true beauty of cereal, as my parents & in-laws could tell you is = the kids can serve themselves! I, like my parents, eagerly looked forward to the day when the kids could be trusted to pour a little milk in their bowls. because then I could leave bowls & boxes on the counter Friday night, put some milk in a juice bottle in the fridge and SLEEP IN Saturday morning!  My kids get up at 6am, only because the rule is you can’t get out of bed before then. Cereal for breakfast means we get to stay in bed until almost 7 (because about 45 minutes or so of unobserved togetherness is all the boys can manage before a fight breaks out)

But cereal is often evil in foodie & parenting circles.  I should be up at the crack of dawn boiling oats to serve with my home preserved fruit or grinding whole grains to make waffles. Possibly I should be making veggie omelets or maybe egg white veggie omelets with tofu.

Yeah, that’s going to happen.

I might toast a waffle & spread some peanut butter on it, but that is about as much effort as I can manage before my coffee. Cereal is awesome. It’s always ready to go & you can’t beat that when you are not a morning person & have to drag your tired butt out of bed at 6am.

Tuesday's Tribute
Yet Another Jay and Deb Production.

9 comments:

Lena said...

When I was growing up, milk came in cartons. My parents created a special cupboard that I could reach. It included bowls, spoons and cereal. Then, they just had to be certain the milk was already open and that there wasn't a brand new one in the fridge...or else I *couldn't* serve myself...how can a 5 year old open one of those things!

I love your cereal post probably because I love cereal so much. I eat honey bunches of oats for many meals a week :)

Anonymous said...

I love cereal!

I'm a Golden Grahams girl myself. Cereal is awesome. For breakfast or a snack or I've even used it as a bribe to get the kids to eat their dinners if it's a particualary good cereal.

I'm not an anti-cereal mama.

The Four Week Vegan said...

We always have Honey Nut Cheerios in the pantry. Other we have on rotation are Raison Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Honey Bunches of Oats. My youngest is the pickiest eater and there are nights when he has cereal instead of what I have prepared.

Another quick breakfast that your boys maybe able to handle is pre-made pancakes. I make a big batch and then package them in serving sizes in baggies. The kids can pull them out and eat: one likes to toast them, one likes to microwave, and the other eats cold. My dd even takes them to school for lunch.

Carrin said...

Cereal is Awesome! i can still remember the day I woke my mom up to fix me some breakfast and she told me I c ould make my own cereal! I knew then that I was really growing up!

Anonymous said...

I like frosted shredded wheat the best. When we got married last fall, DH was cooking a full breakfast every single day for his two teenage boys. I don't know if its good or bad that they now eat cereal most days.

I was tired of either having to do up greasy dishes in fresh clothes or having to come home from work to dishes.

Cascia Talbert said...

I just found your blog on entrecard. I enjoyed reading this post.

Gem said...

I had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the first time last week and I loved it! I can't believe I never tried it before!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE CEREAL! Seriously love it.

I eat it for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

But the name brands are getting way too expensive so I've been buying Wegman's brand, which aren't too bad. However, nothing beats real Cheerios and real Lucky Charms.

Anonymous said...

I also am a HUGE fan of cereal. There are many nights that I eat a bowl at night before heading to bed.

Brayden has taken an extreme liking to Honey Bunches of Oats lately. As far as I'm concerned, it's healthy for him.

I will never be a mom against cereal!