Quaker Heart Medleys

In 2009 my grandfather from my mother's side came to visit America for the first time from Turkey. It was exciting for him because he had actually never left his country before that. One of the things that was new to him was oatmeal for breakfast. My grandfather was a farmer his whole life, so when he first took a look at it he laughed and said that's what he served his cows. He liked it though. You'd think that fact would put me off oatmeal. It didn't.

So I like trying new things. Cereal is one of them. There are so many hot cereal products alone out there that it is overwhelmingly hard to make the choice of which one you want; or even which one you should get. So I just stick to the ones that are on sale so I don't have to choose. This time it was Quaker's Heart Medleys' that were on sale.

I purchased all the varieties, due to the fact that the boxes were a dollar each. I noticed that I saved about $2.50 per box by doing that. They were on sale for that cheap because the expiration date was one or two months away and they needed to get rid of them.

So they only come in two flavors: (1) Banana Walnut (2) Apple Cranberry Almond
They are relatively new on the shelves and they claim to have real fruit, nuts, and 4 whole grains per package.

Banana Walnut

So the banana walnut variety was the one I was most excited to try due to the fact that I love banana walnut bread. It is by far one of the best baked goods out there if made correctly. Therefore, I made this kind first.

I opened the package and there were nice visible chunks of walnut pieces and freeze dried bananas. My only complaint is that the portion is too small. So I had to use three packs with half a couple of milk. Overall it tasted like bread pudding and I fell in love. It's very sweet so if that's not your thing then I say don't buy these.

So the smell was divine while I cooked it. It had just the banana bread smell I was looking for. It tasted just as good as well. There were chunks of banana and walnut in my mouth in every spoonful I took.

Taking a look at the ingredients, it's all pretty natural stuff:
INGREDIENTS: MULTI GRAIN BLEND (WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED RYE,WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED BARLEY), SUGAR, FREEZE DRIED BANANAS, WALNUTS WITH BHT ADDED TO PROTECT FLAVOR, WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED WHEAT,BANANA FLAKE POWDER, BROWN SUGAR, OAT FLOUR, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR.

In addition, each pack had only 140 calories, 2.5g of fat, 27g carbs, 3g fiber, and 3g protein.

Apple Cranberry Almond

Apple Cranberry Almond is what I tried next. Once again if you look in the packets raw you see freeze dried apples, almond slivers, but barely any cranberries in most of the packets. I did the same recipe as I did with the banana walnut previously.

It did smell wonderful as it was cooking; sort of like apple pie. It also tasted wonderful; but not as good as banana walnut nor was it as sweet. But like I said I have a thing for banana walnut so others may disagree.

The ingredients are also natural:
INGREDIENTS: MULTI GRAIN BLEND (WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED RYE,WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED BARLEY), SUGAR, WHOLE GRAIN ROLLEDWHEAT, ALMONDS, DEHYDRATED APPLES (TREATED WITH SODIUM SULFITE TO PROMOTE COLORRETENTION), SWEETENED CRANBERRIES (CRANBERRIES, SUGAR, CITRIC ACID, ELDERBERRYJUICE CONCENTRATE, CHERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE), OAT FLOUR, SALT, CINNAMON,NATURAL FLAVOR.

Each package has 130 calories, 2.5g fat, 27g carb, 3g fiber, and 3g protein.
I give these products a whopping 8/10.
They should be cheaper so I could buy them more often.
It's one of the best oatmeal packs on the market.

Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scone

Nutritional Profile:

Calories: 490
Fat: 18g
Carbs: 73g
Fiber: 2g
Protien: 8g

It was a wonderful day outside and I decided to take a walk with my mother. We were strolling past a local Starbucks and popped in for some coffee and a baked good.
We decided to share the pastry. I let my mom make the decision of which one to choose. She said her eye immediately caught the Cranberry Orange Scone.

That was the day I realized I loved scones. To tell you the truth, I've never tried a scone before that day. It was so delicious, especially next to some hot coffee. The flavor balance was perfect and it had just the right amount of sweetness.

The only complaint I have is that the top of the scone seemed to separate from the bottom. But all I can say is that it was going to mash in my tummy anyways.