Quaker Granola Bites Cinnamon

I'm not exactly sure how long Quaker Granola Bits has been around, but I am pretty sure it is a fairly new product that comes in a box with six pouches that contain 90 calories worth of granola "balls", as I would like to call them. The come in three flavors: cinnamon, chocolate, and peanut butter. Now I have a fixation for all of this flavors but the cinnamon one was on sale, so in this recession, we need to go for the cheap stuff.

Although I love Quaker's flavored and plain oatmeals, and tasty breakfast bars; lately I have been unsatisfied by many of their products. Their chewy bars pretty much suck due to their crumbliness and lack of sugar and flavor.

Turns out these bites are freakishly delicious. The cinnamon and sugar flavor is amazing and honestly tastes natural. Obviously, each package of twelve bites is filled with foreign chemicals, it's pretty impressive that it doesn't taste like it at all. Each bite is the about 50% bigger than a Cocoa Puff with the same texture as a Cocoa Puff. They aren't as hard as granola and they sort of taste like cookies.

But I don't know how you can stop at one pack. Only 12 pieces? I need about 3 packs to satisfy my munchies. Once again, this product is overpriced.

Vanilla Clodhoppers with Cocoa Bites

• delicious vanilla clusters that have a moist, yet crunchy texture to them
• flavorful
• leaves a sour-sweet aftertaste that is oddly tasty
• chocolate pieces taste as good as cocoa puffs
• pretty filling
• only thirty five calories
• low in fat
• low in fiber cause only one gram
• low in protein, with only 2 grams
• comes in a flimsy bag so hard to put in purse
• don't eat this in the summer cause the yogurt-vanilla coating melts off
• must have beverage near you, preferably coffee
• kids will love them
• served in schools
• from the Brookside Food Company Inc

Post Raisin Bran

As a little girl I loved fruits and vegetables. My mother ate plenty of them when I was growing in her tummy and she also made sure she fed me them until I was able to feed myself. How wonderful for my mom right? I enjoyed to eat those foods so she didn't have to force them on me like other mothers, or come up with funny ways to stick them in.

Well it wasn't that easy for her. To tell the truth, she just made it harder for herself. When I was a little girl, I loved fruits and vegetables FRESH and only FRESH. NOT cooked. I hated them fully cooked, steamed, in soups, out of soups, even slightly warmed up. They were disgusting to me. The only cooked fruit or veggie I ate were potatoes. For some reason the other stuff made me want to vomit. Same with raisins. They weren't fresh so I didn't eat them.

This persisted until one time I had to eat my cousin's steamed broccoli because I didn't want to be rude. I liked it and my liking for cooked veggies grew from there.

As for raisins, I discovered I liked them when they served them for lunch at school. Even then I liked trying things so I tried them and liked them. The next time they served them I was Student of the Month. When you are Student of the Month they give you an award and feed you a Wendy's meal for lunch at my elementary school. That's what they used to do at least. I remember asking my teacher if I could have the raisins. She laughed and said, "You would rather eat raisins than a fast food meal?!" No, I did not give up Wendy's, but it was interesting that it crossed my mind.

So up till that moment I hated Raisin Bran. I couldn't imagine why anyone would like it. But then it grew on me. So this time around I was at Target and I saw that they put the Post Raisin Bran on sale. I needed some cereal anyway so I picked up a box. I had never tried Post's Raisin Bran, but I didn't figure there would be much of a difference.



In the end there wasn't. The flakes were bigger than I was used to. The raisin's were also chewier. It wasn't as sweet as Kellogg's though. I felt like it could have used more sugar until I got a raisin piece in my mouth and changed my mind. The sugar on the raisins didn't seem to sweeten the cereal. By the way, that sugar is used to prevent the raisins from clumping because grapes are high in fructose.

The wheat bran didn't sog as fast as Kellogg's either, but it still slogged a little fast for me. I did try a plain bran cereal once that seemed like it would never sog. I kinda wish they put that bran in this cereal. If they did it would have been perfect. The bran did taste good though, leaving a nice grainy aftertaste as well.

This cereal is very healthy for you. Made with 100% Sunmaid California Raisins, it has a great source of fiber and protein to make it a filling breakfast, snack, or dessert. It provides about 32% of your daily fiber needs.

Nutrition Facts:
1 cup
Calories: 190
Fat: 1g
Carbs: 46g
Fiber: 8g
Protein: 5g

Sweet Home Farm Maple Pecan Granola

Granola was created in the late 1800s by a man named John Harvey Kellogg. At his time granola was only rolled oats baked to a crisp. It wasn't until the hippie movement that they added fruits and nuts to make the granola that we all so much enjoy today.

Back then there were two brands of granola, and the basically made the same exact thing anyway. Today, for us, we just have a myriad of options that it makes it a difficult task to choose a simple cereal. Some granola are crispier than others, some are sweeter. Some have nuts, others have fruit. Some have fortified vitamins and minerals, others are lower in calorie. There is honestly something for everyone.

On my last trip to Winco I noticed that they put the Sweet Home Farm Granola on sale. I've tried this brand months, maybe years, before and remembered being very satisfied with it. I didn't continue eating it though because a container of it was close to $5.

But on this trip I noticed the price was lowered to $2.78. My first thought was to check the expiration date to find that it wasn't going to expire until next year. They came in French Vanilla, Honey Nut, Maple Pecan, and a low fat version of granola with raisins.



I obviously chose the Maple Pecan, as you can see in the title of this post, because I have a secret crush on pecans. They add some of the most delicious flavoring to foods.

First off, this granola is great in the fact that it is 100% natural: free of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors.
Ingredients
Whole Rolled Oats, Milled Cane Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Canola and/or Safflower and/or Sunflower Oil), Rice Flour, Maple Syrup, Cornstarch, Pecans, Honey, Natural Flavor, Salt, Barley Malt Syrup.
All ingredients were produced in the USA and made without GMOs. GMOs are genetically modified organisms, which are organisms who had their DNA altered by some sort of genetic engineering. This stuff is bad for your health as well as your ecosystem.

RANDOM FUN FACT: The member of the hickory family, the Pecan tree grows over 100ft tall and bears nuts for more than 300 years. the pecan is the state nut of Alabama, the state tree of Texas and the only nut native to North America. WOW! I knew pecans were amazing.

So now to the grub. This granola smells divine, kind of like pecan pie. Taking a look inside you don't see loads of pecans but they are in there, and there are enough to flavor your cereal with delicious pecan goodness.



The taste is marvelous. I chose to pack it for an on-the- go snack, which I think granola is perfect for as well as nuts. Why? Because it doesn't mash in your bag like regular cereal and other stuff like cookies. It also doesn't take up much room. It was great by it self and very crunchy! The density of this granola is perfect, unlike the light crispy texture of the other granola I have tried. I also LOVE to eat it with almond milk. The longer it sits in the milk the better it tastes. It never gets fully soggy and slimy! I can take my time eating it as I please.

It's pretty healthy too. It is a high energy snack and does pack on some extra calories for the size, but it is well worth it.

Nutrition Information:
2/3 Cup
Calories: 250
Fat: 8g
Carbs: 40g
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 5g

This product is definitely something a cereal/granola lover should try. As I said it comes in other flavors so you can pick what kind you are in to.
I give this product a 10/10

Captain Crunch Peanut Butter

Many say it is heavenly. Some are addicted to it. Others say they live off of it. It's kid friendly, adult friendly, and it can be found in my kitchen and probably yours.

Can you guess the riddle?

CAP'N CRUNCH PEANUT BUTTER!

Of all of the Cap'n Crunch products this is obviously the most popular. Stores cannot keep it on their shelves. It also is mostly found in gigantic boxes because people love it so much. It's been around since 1967.

An abundance of people love this cereal, but thousands also dis it. They claim it is the most unhealthy cereal you can find on the store shelves. Despite the fact that this cereal is fortified with 7 essential vitamins and minerals, and the website goes on and on about how important a healthy breakfast is.

It's obviously not the best choice of cereals but I think it's going a little far to say that it is the worst cerel you can buy. It's not too high in calories and it's actually a good choice when you crave something sweet. I just wouldn't call it a nutritious breakfast if you know what I mean. It's something I would eat as a snack or dessert.

Nutritional Information:
3/4 cup
Calories: 110
Fat: 2.5g
Carbs: 21g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 2g

If you haven't ever taken a sniff of this stuff, it sort of smells like peanut butter cookies. Not exactly like peanut butter cookies off course, but it is the best simile I can think of.

The texture is highly crunchy. The product may be untruthful about the extent of it's health benefits, but not the crunch. Infact, it's so crunchy that if you don't chew it properly you may rip your mouth. The good thing about it though is that it takes a long time before it gets too soggy and slimy. Even if the outside is soggy the middle seems to retain its crunch. This way you have a bit more time to enjoy your food.

The taste is favorable. I don't think I like it as much as many others do. I adore peanut butter as much as the next guy but I would prefer Cocoa Puffs to these. I just may have a huge chocolate addiction as well. What I can't get over is the artificial taste of this cereal. The peanut taste is also a bit light for me.

I honestly just prefer to eat this stuff plain. They taste like deliciously sweet chips to me.

In the end I give it a 6/10.

I know I should be ashamed of saying that for some of you, but I'm going to openly say that I prefer a lot of other cereal to this.

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.

Kirkland Organic Instant Oatmeal Packs

There are those of us who have grown up eating oatmeal and those of us who avoided it as much as possible throughout their lives. I think the reason that many people avoid oatmeal is that they have not tried it the "proper way", as I call it. I personally have tried oatmeal with plain water and felt like vomiting throughout the whole bowl. I just could not finish it. The "proper way" to make oatmeal is to add a little bit of honey, milk, and vanilla extract while you are cooking it which is what I did to these oatmeal packs.

I actually got them from my neighbors who decided after a few packs that they did not like the taste of oatmeal. They didn't want to waste the food (bless them; most people waste a lot of food these days) so they gave them to my family.

Each individual pack is sealed to freshness and has 190 calories, a more decent serving size than the miniature Quaker. It was already presweetened for me so I added some almond milk and boiled it stove top.

The varieties include:
Maple and Brown Sugar
Mixed Berry
Apple Cinnamon
Flaxeed

All four flavors tasted delicious. My favorite would have to be the Maple and Brown Sugar. The Mixed Berry had a medicinal taste when I first put it in my mouth but after a while I have grown to really like it. The apple cinnamon has room for improvement but is delicious nevertheless. And the flaxeed honestly tasted like plain oatmeal. The flaxeeds were grinded up so you only see them in speckles. This is actually the proper way to eat flaxeed because all the health benefits of flaxeed are located within the seed, so swallowing it whole won't do.

Overall I give these packs a 7/10