Kevin Last weekend was Cereal Day and Flapjack Day, and since it’s unlikely I’ll post on a weekend unless there’s some extreme happenings going on, I feel like there’s no better time like the present to talk about both of them in one post, and make today’s post about breakfast foods.
Let’s kill two birds with one stone, shall we? First up, who here likes cereal in general? I do!
Now who here likes what’s considered the “kids'” cereals? Show of hands, no judgment here. In case anyone’s wondering, the answer’s yes from me on that one also. As a kid, I liked Trix and Fruity Pebbles. I also remember having Alpha Bits sometimes, especially the kind with the marshmallows in it.
Breakfast at a chain restaurant was a regular occurrence when I was a kid, and so was breakfast at a fast-food place, specifically the enormous platters they had on the menus. I won’t name which ones, b/c the flavors meld together into virtually one and the same thing after so much of it.
As far as my family was concerned, breakfast was something you buy, since it was seldom done at home. I’d heard the slogan stating that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, and unfortunately my family took it and ran with it.
Looking back, it was no surprise I ended up where I did in terms of my weight.
I found out later on that old adage about breakfast’s importance came from some marketing department for a food company, not from any medical source. Sheesh, talk about dishonest!
But back to breakfast foods, or what’s considered breakfast foods here in my neck of the woods. When I started losing the weight this time around, I ended up redefining what counted as breakfast food if I spent a part of my calorie budget when I got up. Early on in my weight loss mission, when I was starting out on what was supposedly the Dr. Now diet, it was stuff I used to have later on during the day as a snack.
As I moved forward in my weight loss, I began to shift to a different eating pattern, but still keeping to the same calorie budget. During that time, I slowly started reintroducing the foods I’d called a moratorium on, namely cereals and pancakes.
After a bowl of cereal for old time’s sake, I quickly found out that it was so unsatisfying that it wasn’t even funny. Since I got several boxes of it, Fruity Pebbles to be exact, I decided I’d use them in recipes instead.
I found that having cereal as part of a recipe was far more filling for me instead of the cereal and milk. I’ve made Fruity Pebbles, Marshmallow Fruity Pebbles, (and Cocoa Pebbles) into marshmallow treats with great results, along with Lucky Charms. I’ve even found that Cocoa Pebbles work great as a chocolate pie crust, too.
I like to use Rice Chex in my muddy buddies as my standard, and may try the Blueberry and Cinnamon varieties for different variations. I’ll see how these work, and report back on it for you sometime. However, I’ve used the Corn Chex when I kept forgetting to pick up the Rice version, with slightly odd results.
10/10, don’t recommend. Corn Chex is far better suited to the savory recipes, and also crushed up to serve as a binding agent for meatballs and whatnot.
I’ve made party mix with the Rice and Corn Chex. No Wheat Chex. I’ve never liked it, and for some reason, it reminds me of dog food (and quite frankly, tastes like it too, haha). Just my opinion.
As far as pancakes, or flapjacks go, I shifted toward the grain and gluten free/paleo varieties, and even a recipe for banana pancakes that called for only three ingredients: bananas, eggs, and cinnamon. About a year ago, I made some as part of a meal prep marathon, and had them as a dessert instead of breakfast.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t had those in a while either. Maybe next time I end up with a buttload of bananas, I’ll make them into pancakes sometime.
Over to you, readers. What’s your favorite cereal, and what’s your favorite recipe that uses it? How about flapjacks or pancakes? Drop ’em all like they’re hot below, and let’s talk!
