Check out my progress on Cereal Snacker
Take one look at my pantry, and you’ll discover that I have a serious dependency on cereal; at any given time, I’ll have anywhere from two to six (OK, sometimes up to eight) boxes of cereal. Ironically, I rarely eat cereal for breakfast–I most often use cereal as a component in snack mixes or as a topping for yogurt and smoothies. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
As I am sure you have noticed from my daily eats posts, I prefer Kashi GoLean above any other cereal, but I do occasionally venture beyond the borders of the GoLean box. Like many food bloggers, I have a passion for Puffins and Heart to Heart, but today I present you with a few lesser known varieties.
365 Organic Peanut Butter Pows
Ever since I had my first taste of Peanut Butter Puffins, I have been quite fond of peanut butter cereals. As you may be aware, there are several varieties in this cereal “genre:” Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, Peanut Butter Bumpers, etc. A few months ago, I went to the store looking to satisfy my craving for peanut butter goodness, I noted that Whole Foods produces their own brand of PB cereal–with a very friendly price-tag of about $2. Quite the contrast from the $4.69 it costs to get a little PB Puffins action. Into the basket it went.
A one-cup serving contains 110 kcalories, 2 grams of fat, and 2 grams of protein. The sugar count is reasonable at 8 grams, and the fiber content is a little lacking with just 1 gram. This cereal is also fortified with a few vitamins and minerals. providing 25% RDA for vitamin A, C, and D, plus 45% RDA for iron–quite the boon for often anemic vegans and vegetarians.
Serving suggestions:
coating for banana fingers
Choco-PB Parfait
shake topper (with vegan chocolate chips)
Cascadian Farms Honey Os
Probably the most frequently consumed cereal of my childhood was Honey Nut Cheerios–so sweet, so portable, so tasty. Fortunately, I recently discovered this organic version at my on-campus grocery store, likely for some absurdly inflated price. Hence, I have no idea what this would cost in a regular grocery store. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a wise purchase.
A one-cup serving provides 120 kcalories, 2 grams of fat, and 3 grams of protein. There are also 2 grams of fiber (from organic whole grain oats) and 8 grams of sugar (from organic sugar–not the dreaded HFCS). I especially appreciated the addition of calcium (10% RDA) and iron (25%) in this cereal.
Serving suggestions:
Apple Pie Parfait
Banana Cream Parfait
topped with dried fruit & rice milk
Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal
A 2/3 cup serving provides 80 kcalories. 0.5 gram of fat, and 3 grams of protein. The cereal gets its subtle sweetness from 5 grams of sugar, and there are an impressive 9 grams of fiber. Just like the aforementioned cereals, there are also modest amounts of various vitamins and minerals included.
Serving suggestions:
Strawberry-Banana Parfait
Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Parfait
I’ve been hesitant to jump on the “probiotic cereal bandwagon,” mostly because I have some reservations about eating dried yogurt. Nonetheless, Vive’s apparent similarity to my beloved GoLean (with those tasty twigs!) finally convinced me to give it a try.
A 1-1/4 cup serving provides 170 kcalories, 2.5 grams of fat, and 4 grams of protein. The intense sweetness of this cereal is explained by 10 grams of sugar (from evaporated cane juice), but there are a whopping 12 grams of fiber to balance it out.
Serving suggestions:
perfect smoothie topper
mixed with regular ol' GoLean & hemp milk
As someone always seeking to expand her cereal repertoire, I must know: What are some of your favorite cereals?
Enjoy your Sunday!
Filed under: Feature Post, Product Review
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
I wish I had more suggestions for you, but I’m pretty boring when it comes to cereal (but appreciated your reviews big time!) The thing is, I eat cereal EVERY day, but it’s usually bite size Shredded Wheat, Uncle Sam’s, or Pumpkin Flax granola. My favorite, easy go-to snack is a bag of shredded wheat, natural almonds and either raisins or prunes. Easy, healthy, satisfying.
My hang-up is that I don’t like sugary sweet things, so it’s hard to get into a lot of cereals, even Kashi sometimes (although I like the Go-Lean Honey Almond Flax. I swear I could sit down and just eat the whole dang box dry…) Even the Heart To Heart is too sweet at times. However, I did make a version of Rice Crispy treats with the Heart to Heart that went over BIG time.
My favorite cereal these days is cooked brown rice bathed in light coconut milk with a chopped frozen banana and topped with crunchy nut butter. Really simple but so good!
Love all your cereal parfaits, and I must try those PB Pows. So much cheaper than Puffins!
Have a good weekend.
P.S. – Did you get your chia seeds yet?
When I was working at Camp in the USA a few years ago I always looked forward to Sunday breakfast we had such a yummy cinnamon cereal I wish I could remember what it was called.
Otherwise my 2 favourite cereals are Coco pops – but ONLY at christmas and very simple bran flakes with blueberries, banana and very cold milk.
All your choices look looooooooooovely, even though Ive not seen any sold over here
O I should have asked how did you make the bananas??
im pretty sure you are QUEEN of amazingly gorgeous snackage!!! am i right everyone? or am I right?!
ooo TJ’s high fiber cereal!! I haven’t had that in aageeeeeeeees!
I hear PB pows are tasty!!
Too bad I totally don’t crave cereal like I used to!! Duno why?
HAPPPPPPPPPPY REST OF YOUR LONG WEEKEND CHICKPEA!!
I love Kashi Vive!! I love those little white vanilla specks in them haha. I love this tribute to cereal.. I could probably eat it 24/7!
honestly, I never did like cereal. Now I see why. Plain cereal and milk is boring, but I LOVE the way you eat yours! in a lovely parfait like that, I think I might just become another cereal snacker!
I am crazy for cereal too! I hardly ever eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast either, its usually at night in a small cup as a snack or with yogurt. I like most every Kashi I’ve had (faves are Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax or Heart to Heart) but even though its not the healthiest choice, Honey Nut Cheerios are my all time favorite
I also get hooked on Quaker Oatmeal Squares (which I refer to as “crack” squares). Love the post, thanks for the reviews!
Great post! I’m not a big cereal eater because it doesn’t fill me up but here are some of my favs: Kashi Go Lean Crunch (both flavors), Trader Joe’s O’s, and Peanut Butter Bumpers
oh man! I got those twigs from trader joes but i haven’t tried them!
favorite cereal? hmm thats hard!
Thanks for the reviews! That’s a lot of cereal! I’m actually on my way to go buy some cereal right now so this was really helpful
Some of my favorites right now are Kashi U, Go Lean Crunch w/ Honey Almond Flax, and Quaker Oat Squares.
How do you make those banana fingers? They look delicious!!!
my favorite cereal is definitely Golean, but I don’t buy it often because I could finish it the entire package in one day!!!
I have always fiber one around because I need fiber for my IBS and I like its flavor/cruchiness over Tj’s high fiber cereal.
I like all your cereal combo ideas!
I’ve tried the Kashi Vive and liked it a lot, but I thought the PB Pows were pretty underwhelming. They just didn’t have the same PB flavor like Puffins do!
I have sooo much cereal too, and I never eat it alone or just with milk. It’s always used as a mix-in for my greek yogurt messes. So I’m totally with you there! My favorite cereals:
Honey Kix– it’s great as a volumizer because it only has 120 calories per 1 1/4 cup serving.
Annie’s Cocoa and Vanilla Bunnies– delicious! LOVE these.
PB puffins–yummy, and I love the size of each piece
Kashi Vive–I like the probiotic-ness, and it’s pretty tasty too!
I love love love cereal, it is awesome! Simply something wonderful to crunch on and snack on. Hahaha, Saturday morning with a bowl of cereal and cartoons is awesome. LOL!!!
i love mixing cereals all together, the more the better! but since i have NO self control at all – i dont really keep that many boxes in the house…which is why its even more of a treat going home to my parents’ house. its like cereal heaven. turning me into a cereal snacker
yeah yeah yeah i love ALL the ways you eat your cereals. I love making mine into parfaits and topping it on oats or yogurt too!!!! I have a ton of favorite cereals. Recently, it’s been Barbara’s Bakery multi-grain shredded wheat. It’s SOOOOO GOOD!!!! I also love cinnamon and PB puffins…and often the good ol’ blueberry special K and honey bunches of oats hits the spot! OH OH OH…and when i fel like i need some fiber…i buy fiber one.
Great use of cereals!!! I rarely eat cereal as a meal myself. Like you, I use it as a topper for other things!!!
LOVE THESE PARFAIT CONCOCTIONS!
LOVE cereal
Those cascadian farms sound great but they are still ridiculously priced in the grosh store! My fave are pb pandas right now, but ALL time is cinnamon toast crunch.
Huge cereal fan here. Noticed the mention of the “dreaded HFCS” so I thought I’d drop a note.
Both HFCS and table sugar contain the same simple sugars (glucose and fructose), they both have the same number of calories, and your body metabolizes them the same way.
Here’s a link to an Opposing Views article that debunks a lot of the myths about HFCS. http://bit.ly/MDWOk
Thank you for your consideration. I can’t wait to try some of your cereal suggestions.
Mark on behalf of the Corn Refiner’s Association
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