Cereal: Thinking Outside the Bowl

Today is National Cereal Day and it is safe to say I have celebrated the breakfast staple with enthusiastic zeal throughout the years of Don’t Blink. Whether I was listing my top three unhealthy cereals, my top three healthy(ish) cereals, paying homage to all cereals in general, or just highlighting the quirky cereals I have found/tried, my love for John Kellogg’s ingenious invention is well-documented.

Perhaps an underrated aspect of cereal is its versatility. You don’t always need a spoon, bowl, and milk to enjoy it. Tonight I thought I would pay tribute to cereal by offering five ways I enjoy it in a non-breakfast/non-milk sense. Here we go…

I love eating cereal out of these big made-for-cereal bowls

Dry Snacks – If we need to rush out the door or if they need something to munch on while watching TV, I am giving my kids dry cereal. I pour whatever sugary cereal we have in in a Ziploc bag and let them snack on it as we ride in the car or they sit in front of the television. Not only does this satisfy them but some cereal is actually better dry than it is with milk poured over it.

Ice Cream Topping – The froyo craze from several years ago really brought cereal as an ice cream topping to the forefront—and for good reason. Cap’n Crunch or Fruit Loops on frozen yogurt or traditional ice cream adds crunchiness and a complimentary element of sweetness to the treat. Plus, cereal doesn’t freeze like gummy bears or gumballs do. I kid you not, if I am at a froyo shop I am topping my creation with cereal.

A photo of me at Froyo Earth in Spokane during my froyo tour of the city in September 2013. Notice how I have Cap’n Crunch pieces topped on it?

Marshmallow Treats – Who doesn’t love a gooey rice krispie treat? Talk about a classic! But Rice Krispies is not the only cereal you can combine with melted marshmallow for something truly delicious. In fact, you can pretty much choose any cereal you want (although you might want to avoid Raisin Bran). For Sloan’s first birthday, we made Lucky Charms treats. Another favorite substitute of mine is Fruity Pebbles. Just get crazy and have some fun!

We love making rice krispie treats at our house!

Snack Mix MVP – Cereal can be a crucial component in various sweet and/or salty snack mixes. Take for instance Chex pieces…talk about versatile! We use it in our Christmas Trash. Speaking of Christmas mixes, Target’s Rudolph Mix uses white chocolate-covered Cheerios. Heck, I recently ate a snack mix that utilized Cinnamon Toast Crunch as its headlining piece. Original Cap’n Crunch is another cereal that is widely used in various snack mixes. The license to be creative is endless!

This is me holding our tub of Rudolph’s Mix. Notice the chocolate-covered Cheerios?

Cooking Companion – Cereal even crosses over to dinner entrees. In this respect, Corn Flakes is ever popular. Countless cooks have incorporated the cereal into their dishes, especially casseroles. Whether it is used as a crust or a topping, it seems to always work…well, at least most of the time.

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Whether you celebrate National Cereal Day the old-fashioned way with a spoon/bowl or whether you branch out with an alternative consumption option, I hope it is tasty and enjoyable. Don’t Blink.

Homage to Cereal

The Calendar of Gimmicks told us yesterday that it was National Cereal Day. I marked this “day” by reflecting on the current non-fiction series that Sidney and I are watching called “The Food That Built America.” One of the entrepreneurs featured in this program is John Kellogg, the father of cereal. Did you know what cereal was eventually made for? Well, you might need to Google the question for a more in-depth answer but Kellogg originally invented it as a digestive aid and as a brain food that would straighten a person’s moral compass.

But these days cereal is known as a breakfast food—perhaps the most popular morning staple there is. Although I count cereal as a pretty decent froyo topping, I also primarily recognize it as a breakfast mainstay. I have written a lot about cereal over the years, even going as far as to devote entire blog posts to my top three unhealthy cereals and my top three healthy(ish) cereals. What can I say? I enjoy a bowl of oats in the morning.

Just a few brief peroneal cereal notes…

– I eat a bowl of Rice Krispies-esque cereal pretty much every morning. I say “esque” because I usually consume a generic version. This type of cereal is easy to eat while working at the computer and doesn’t alter the taste of milk so it isn’t weird to drink after the Krispies are gone.

A couple of the Rice Krispies-esque cereals we have at the house right now.

– Probably one of the best wedding gifts we received was a set of cereal bowls. These things are meant specifically for your favorite Cap’n Crunch cereal. Pour as much cereal in the bottom as you want and top generously with milk because you won’t have to worry about anything overflowing.

I love these cereal bowls!

– My dad recently told a story about eating cereal growing up. He said his parents would only provide bland, healthy cereals. Along with his brothers and sisters, they would pour copious amounts of sugar on these cereals. One day they went to their grandmother’s house and she had those mini boxes of breakfast delights such as Trix and Fruit Loops. They couldn’t hold back their excitement and dug into these special treats. But they were disappointed. You see, they had poured so much sugar on the healthy cereals at home that the colorful, artificial, and fun cereals didn’t hold a candle in terms of sweetness.

One day my dad went over to his grandma’s and she had a pack of mini cereals. However, they turned out tasting a little disappointing.

Do you have a cereal that is especially meaningful and/or tasty to you? If you do, hopefully you celebrated with a bowl yesterday. Don’t Blink.