Nuts About Nuts About Granola

As much as my little foodie heart would hate to admit it, I love children’s cereal. No not acceptable children’s cereal, I mean the good bad stuff that I grew up on in the 70’s and 80’s. Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, Cocoa Pebbles…and God save the person who gets between me and a box of Count Chocula. Yup that’s right, cartoon character on the box, sugary, evil cereals. Jay likes to talk about how he could only choose from Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies. My response, your mom had 2 kids to get out the door, my mom had 6. I think at some point she was just happy that we had something to eat. Her threat when we did not want the dinner she made “The only thing you can have to eat for the rest of the night then is cereal.” Hmmmmm liver and onions or Trix: decisions, decisions.

Recently I have been making a conscious effort to eat fewer processed foods. One of the many commandments of eating this way is never eat a cereal that turns the milk a different color. Wow, there goes my whole list. I have tried some Kashi cereals and they are ok but they just didn’t give me that sweetness I was looking for. As always Jay came to the rescue.

During a “Foodies Night In” event Jay won a prize from the sponsors NutsAboutGranola. With the gift certificate he received he went online and placed his order. We got Jungle Fever, Off Road Edition and Lover’s Combo. Each was well balanced and had the sweetness I was looking for without being overwhelming Each had something different to offer.

Jungle Fever – At first I was hesitant as this had coconut in it and I am not a big fan of coconut. Taking a deep breath and reminding myself that this was about foodie exploration I topped it with some vanilla almond milk and dug in. I was very pleasantly surprised, the coconut though present was not overpowering. The mixture of the oats with the macadamia nuts and lemon infused flavor gave an overall feeling of tropical fruit and flavors. I really liked this and one serving kept me satisfied for a while.

Off Road Edition – Again covering it with vanilla almond milk this also had a great fruity flavor and that natural sweetness you only get from dried fruit. Though OK with the milk it was actually better to eat it right out of the bag as the website suggests. I will say that the dried fruit had a tendency to be very chewy but since granola is suppose to be eaten in smaller portions that really did not bother me.

Lover’s Combo – Peanut Butter Granola and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Seriously, need I say more…ok…I will. The great thing about this is that there is just enough of the chocolate so you can still taste the granola, which is quite good. This was wonderful with the almond milk but even better with a banana mashed right into it.

Though each was great, and I look forward to trying more, the Lover’s Combo was by far my favorite. It is the one that brought me back to that naughty feeling I had with my childhood favorites. I may just have to break up with Count Chocula, I hope he can get over it.

Mangia,

Margot