nutritious junk

I think cereal is a great thing. I don’t do frozen dinners when I’m in a time crunch. No, when I’m in a time crunch, five minutes on high is an extra five minutes I would rather use eating and enjoying my food as opposed to getting it down as fast as possible. Plus, most frozen entrees are reminiscent of airplane food (although this concept is becoming extinct, most airlines don feel their passengers due to budget cuts). So this is where cereal comes in.

What can I say, I am officially a "breakfast" person. Lately, breakfast has evolved into my favorite meal so hence my many trials in the cereal and breakfast aisle.  My roomate actually picked out this new mini wheats for her love of mini wheats and blueberries. I thought I would warm up to these too beacause I love all of the above AND i love muffins!

While away on hiatus, I discovered a new "O" to love. As a kid, I was a big fan of plain old cheerios. I still have a dear place for them in my heart (i have them nearly every other morning these days..). But I got the chance to try Oatbran O's, an organic and all natural cereal that gives you for a 3/4 cup serving, 100 calories, 0g fat, 23 g carbs, 3 g fiber, and 3 g fiber. Not bad, but the one downside to this cereal vs the beloved cherrios is the 13 g of sugar it has vs cheerios measily 1 g.

Pomegrante was oh so in a few years ago, touted as the new "it" superfood.  It seems like superfoods like acai and goji berries stole its thunder. But alas, Barbara's Bakery (the folks that make my beloved peanut butter puffins!) came out with a new organic line called "Ultima".  They claim "Organic Pomegranate Cereal is bursting with the whole grains and antioxidants your body's been craving. Every tangy, sweet bite provides you with a great source of Vitamin C and D and the whole grains that contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, and essential acids your body needs.

I know theres been a slew of cereal reviews. agian, i am simply craving them and i see nothing wrong in that (especially when most i buy are rather nutritious!).  Guess what, this cereal, Kashi Vive in graham cracker vanilla, is geared to be a "wellness" cereal.  Kashi boasts "we created Kashi Vive™ with lots of fiber, probiotic bacteria and specially chosen ingredients to help you care for your digestive system".

Again you may visit http://thiswaifcooks.blogspot.com/ for a picture of this. Well I am so excited that cereal companies a coming out with new cereals, as it appears, daily. I love cereal, not sure if its a vice or not because it can be healthy but its like my comfort food. I didn't grow up eating mac n'cheese  (with a Beligan dad and Israeli mom, standard american classics weren't often in our kitchen) so cereal really is what comforts me. Plus its great for a meal or snack, its portable, etc..

I am a big All-Bran fan, I actaully have about a cup daily mixed with some yogurt and fruit. Very fiberific and delicious indeed. So when i saw this new Strawberry medly box, i jumped for joy!  the cereal has crunchy bran flakes and squares with granola clusters and real strawberries (albeit, dehydrated).  Each 1 cup sering is 170 calories, 1.5 g fat, 44 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 5 g protien, and 10 g sugar.  To be honest, i was a little disappointed with the nutritional info.

Its funny, in believe chex mix is more popular than the chex cereal itself. Chex, like its general mills brother, cheerios, likes to branch out into some new flavors (like the new chocolate chex, havent tried it yet but its on my "to try" list). So i gave the honey nut a shot. Nutritionally, its virtually the same as the other varities, 3/4 cup serving is 120 calories, .5 g fat, 9 g sugar, 2 g protien, and 26 g carbs. Not super healthy but not as sugar laden as other stuff out there. I like that the first ingredient is whole grain rice, i dont like that its followed by, yep, sugar.

I've said this time and time again, i have low expectations for products aimed at some sort of weight management program. Most of the time, the food is short on taste and usually the nutrition isn't all that impressive either (all those weight watcher desserts contain HFCS's...).  Plus, its pretty embarassing having anything"DIET" printed on your food.

Granola bars are cool, but i've never warmed up to being a big granola eater (a little too oat-y and dry for my taste, i prefer cereals). But i am always up to try new ones. Alas my granola obsessed friend and I were strolling around whole foods, when we were more than happy to accept all the free samples offered to us. And she was uber excited when one of those item was bear naked's heavenly chocolate granola. nutrtionally this is how this granola stacks up: each sering is 1/4 cup (meager, eh?) with 190 cals (sorry i couldnt get the rest of the nutrtional info cause the bear naked site has a problem with their nutrtional info display for this. And looking at the ingredients, its got a fair amount of syrups and sugar, hmmm....ok not the greatest health option, but does it at least taste ok. saldy no. at first it was kinda weird, like coconut granola (there is coconut in it by the way). but what really got me was the AFTER taste which i never get from granola. It was awful, my friend and i reached for a mint right away. I thought since i dont usually fancy granola, my opinion could be biased. but let me assure you, the friend that tried it with me lives for granola, and she didnt like this at all either. bear naked's other flavors may be better, but this chocolate is anything but heavenly, it just leaves a horrible aftertaste, youd think it was diet coke.