My biggest complaint about cereal is that it’s boring to eat, and I have to eat a LOT of it (like 2 cups) to enjoy eating it. It just goes down too fast. So I decided to take my topping approach I use with oats and apply it to cereal.
I also tried a new cereal – Kashi Good Friends Cinna-Raisin Crunch that I found super on sale a while back. I usually buy less-calorie dense cereals like Kashi Heart To Heart and Puffins (because I eat 1.5-2 cups at a time) but I’m willing to invest more calories per cup if it come with fiber and protein like this one and GoLean Crunch, which I just discovered this year.
So today’s base was 1.5 cups of Good Friends with 1/2 a cup of 2% milk, heated in the microwave to take the chill out on this cold morning.
Toppings:
2 tbsp wheatberries
1/2 medium banana
Spoonful pumpkin butter
1 tbsp flax
Spoonful Smucker’s Natural PB
This bowl was VERY fun to eat!! I ate it slowly and savored to the toppings. It did fill me up, but in a different way than oats do. I hope it wasn’t too much insoluble fiber for the 1.5 cup serving 😳 Actually, 15 minutes later I’m not feeling as full, so we’ll see how long this bowl carries me. Nutritionally with fiber, milk, banana, PB, etc., it’s about the same as my normal oatmeals and clocks in at around 500 calories. So it better hold me over till noon!
I made a cup of coffee too, although I didn’t put enough water so it was a scant cup. I did get a headache yesterday afternoon from my coffee-free breakfast and I need my strength today!
Off to class, then to Sears to do a quick price check on new ranges, then home all day waiting for GE.
Charlie Hills says
Putting big ol’ strawberries on a big ol’ bowl of Honeycomb used to be one of my favorites. But you’re right: it does seem to take a LOT of cereal to feel satisfied. Ever measured out exactly “one serving”? Looks like a single spoonful to me.
ashley (sweet & natural) says
I used to eat cereal every day for breakfast, but now I don’t know how I did it. It doesn’t have staying power for me either!
zestycook says
Kath – when I eat cereal I have to eat so much I might as well had a half of loaf of homemade bread 🙂
zesty
polly says
hi Kath! I loooooove cereal. I might have to try the melty almond butter on cold cereal for fun. You are the breakfast QUEEN. 🙂 Have a fun day. xoxo
VeggieGirl says
HOLY YUM!!
Betsy in Pittsburgh says
Lately I’ve been mixing Grape Nuts with Kashi’s GoLean (a little over a cup total). I pour on the milk and then let it sit for at least 15 minutes so it gets all creamy and slightly soggy. Yum! I also have a banana on the side and a big cup of water. Seems to do the trick to hold me over.
Mara says
I love GoLean crunch, but I do find it’s not as satisfying as oats. Sometimes I put some IN my oats!
SmA033 says
Good luck waiting on the GE guy. Our microwave broke a couple of weeks ago & having to wait in the WIDE time range they give (8-5, what is that??!) can be almonst mind numbing.
Kath, i asked you a while back how you cook your steel cut oats & you said you had given up on them. Well, i’ve been doing some research and i came up w/my own recipe. I had this morning and it is AWESOME! It’s like having a big bowl of wheatberries. I read that the trick is to soak them overnight in either milk or water, and then the next morning bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and let it cook for 5-10 min, depending on your preference. I added dried fruit and nuts to mine, it was AMAZING! Let’s see if it holds me over….
Anna says
Kath, have you tried the Peace cereals? I’ve been eating their Honey & Flax flavored. It’s a higher calorie cereal, but it has a lot of omega 3. I just eat it dry. I love the Kashi cereals too. The Heart to Heart tastes kind of good mixed in with the Honey & Flax Peace granola.
Heather McD (heather eats almond butter) says
Your b’fast looks yummy! Cereal usually doesn’t hold me over either, but I bet all the mix-ins will help. Great idea. Good luck with GE.
Rhodey says
good luck with ge! happy wednesday!
Sarah says
you should try kashi go lean (regular-not crunch) it has 13 g protein, 10 g fiber and only 140 calories per 1 cup serving. I think it tastes good too!
Megan says
I am like you. Cereal never fills me up as much as oats! You sure made a tasty bowl though!
tanya says
I love cereal, but it’s the variety that I love. I must have eaten like 100 different cereals this year already! I usually don’t add more stuff to it.
Tina O. says
I was thinking of you and your poor stove problem-I was going to say, maybe it would almost be cheaper to get a new one!
Last night my pipes backed up and I have raw sewage in my basement. I’m sure that doesn’t make you feel any better, but I thought I would share! I won’t even go into all the other issues we are having-it’s not really a good week so far. Good luck with the stove shopping!
Madison says
that does look like a very fun bowl – much more interesting than my bowls of cereal! i always just have cereal. and milk.
caroline F. says
Hey kath! Fun bowl this morning! Have you tried the Ezekial sprouted cereals? (comparable to grapnuts in appearance) They are great hot or cold and hold me over longer than most ! Good luck with the stovetop :/
-Caroline
Allison K says
Ugh, Sorry to hear about your Stove Top! Good luck waiting for the repair person..that is the worst!
seelee live (for the love of peanut butter) says
oh my gosh Kath! this could be the first time eating something other than oats for breakfast!!!! AHHHH! it loks great though-i was wondering if cereal tasted yummy warmed up-guess i have my answer now!!!
anna says
i LOVE cereal 2 years ago when I was on a diet
I ate 1 cup of cereal every single day of the year even on my birthday or x-mas. I don’t know how i did it but i had like 10 different boxes healthy and unhealthy. i ate cinnamon toast crunch and lost weight 🙂 haha
Today my favorite is 3/4 cup Kashi HTH with 1/4 frozen banana slices and cinnamon.
You need to teach your stomach to eat only 1 cup and after 1 or 2 months it will fill you up hey i did it and know i only have 3/4 or 1 cup max (bad spelling oops)
Mel says
At first glance, it didn’t look like cereal, it looked like your oats. I suppose that’s a good thing right?
Have fun shopping and hopefully the GE won’t keep you waiting too long!
Kay W. says
Hi Kath,
Tried a new (to me) oatmeal combo this morning…I always make mine with half-cup oats and half cup light soy milk, 1/4c. water. Anyway, then I added a T. of homemade apple butter that my daughter-in-law had given me, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon/nutmeg, and topped that with half of a Fiber One Oats & Apple Streusel granola bar. Oh my goodness! This was an amazing bowl of hot oats and the smell…made my morning!!!! I had gotten so hung up on putting canned pumpkin and half of a banana, so thought I’d just shake things up a bit and this really hit the spot. If you’ve never tried that bar by Fiber One, you gotta get some…they’re wonderful and only 130 cal.
Have a good day despite the waiting for the repairman 🙁
Esmeralda says
Kashi was my go-to cereal every morning before I moved to the UK. Kashi is very hard to find in my corner of England and when I do chance upon a box, it is teeny-tiny.
I used to mix my Kashi cereals to satisfy my taste and my hunger: a bit of GoLean, a bit of GoLean Crunch, and a bit of Autumn Wheat. I never measured the amount of cereal I ate but I know it was between 1 1/2 to 2 cups. Any less than that and I would be famished by lunch.
I have a sister who can not eat a lot of high-fiber foods because of a GI condition. One time she stopped by to eat breakfast with me. I had my usual Kashi mix and she had a nice low fiber bagel with cream cheese. She took glanced over at my cereal and said, “That hurts my colon just looking at it.” Gotta love Kashi for all that fiber!
lizzie says
Kath-
I love grape nuts heated up in the microwave with milk. It is soo yummy, like warn, semi-crunchy oatmeal. When I was pregnat with my secong child, I craved cereal all the time. I think I have eaten every single kind out there! I judt love the combo of milk and cereal. Love the crunch.
Mom says
Tina,
The house I grew up in had major sewage backup on occasion. (The most dramatic was a Christmas Eve when we had eighty people at a party.) I know it well!
Good luck.
Sara says
Yummo! I’ve already eaten breakfast but your delicious looking oatmeal/cereal mix makes me want more! It looks soooo good. 🙂
Kelly L. says
Kath- I know you freeze your soups in ziplock bags so I was curious how you defrost them and reheat them. What do you do?
Oh She Glows says
That’s too funny I just did the AB on the spoon trick with cereal last night 😀
http://ohsheglows.com/2008/12/02/home-is-where-the-nurture-is/
Its lovely isnt it??
Angela
caitlin says
RIP stove top! 🙁
Julia (Santa Barbara Dreaming) says
Your b-fast looks yummy. I know what you mean about cereal not filling you up. I don’t like milk, and so I eat my cereal dry, which makes it even less filling! haha.
I’m sorry about your stove; I hope you can still cook delicious meals until it gets fixed!
Lynna says
someone may have already mentioned this, but grape nuts work really well as either a cold cereal, a hot cereal, or even a granola. They are a little more calorie dense than oatmeal but have really good flavor + fiber.
Runeatrepeat says
Kay – Those Fiber One bars have HFCS, so I don’t think they’re for people that are trying to stay away from that, plus they’re super processed.
I love Kashi Good Friends, but I too eat a lot of cereal. It had always been my number 1 binge food, but when I try to cut it out completely I only binge worse 🙁 I am trying to find a healthy relationship with my once fave food – cereal.
runjess says
Poor you, I hate it when service people give such a long window of time to show up. Hopefully it will be fixed today.
I eat cereal most mornings and try to make it more interesting my mixing together 2-3 different kinds.
Biz says
I usually would have Fiber One cereal and then mix in 1/2 cup Lucky Charms – so good!
Heather says
I’m so sorry to hear about your stove- but it looks like you’re handling it like a champ! That cereal looks like a great oatmeal substitute.
Jen says
What a great idea!!!! I tried the Good Friends a long time ago and remember it being good!
Kath says
SmA033 ,
I still think the portion would be too small!
Anna + caroline F.,
Haven’t tried Peace or the Ezekiel line, but EarthFare has them. Cereals are so expensive that I’m kinda glad I’m addicted to oats.
Sarah ,
I used to eat Go Lean a lot – and I have a box of it in the garage (a tri-pack of H2H + GoLean + Crunch from Costco). It’ll be appearing sometime this year. I wish it had more crunch though.
Tina O.,
We just bought a new one! Details at lunch 🙂
And poor you with sewage!
Kay W. ,
Yeah, I gotta agree with Runeatrepeat about the processing on the Fiber One bars. I’ve had them before, but they tasted pretty sweet/fake to me. Haven’t had that kind though.
Kelly L,
I defrost enough to be able to get the contents out (so as not to heat the bag) and then heat in a bowl.
Oh She Glows,
Mmmm!
kath
Stephanie says
My husband and I have about 5-7 minutes in which to prepare and eat our breakfast, so cereal is usually a staple. It’s so boring and unfun, but its always GO GO GO for us.
Something like this, though would be super easy to prepare, and would really add some pizzazz to breakfast … plus, keep me fuller longer! I’m definitely going to give this a try. Thank you!!!
Laura says
I like Good Friends cereals just for the cheesy happy people on the box. It’s so sappy it fills my heart with joy! But yeah I too do not get full from cereal.
halie says
The cereal certainly looks yummy! I hope it holds you over!
Get that stove fixed!
Tina says
Such a bummer about the stove! I hope it all works out!
Jennifer says
oh please about HFCS ::rolls eyes::
those FiberOne bars are SO good… having them occasionally as part of a balanced diet is fine!
Teddy says
cereal never fills me up either.. i never understood ppl who ate it for dinner!
bobbi says
mmm yummy cereal! I am with you Kath I think its boring too, but you made it look great!
Appleandmoses says
I’ve been lurking around your blog for sometime now and thought it was time to say “hi”. Your blog is so informative and fun. I look forward to reading all your updates each morning (and afternoon and evening ha!) I love that you write about what it really takes to lose weight and more importantly what it takes to be healthy while juggling a busy life. It is a battle and journey. I have to just accept the it will take a lot of work. Seeing your portion sizes, reading about how hard you work out and seeing your food choices has really helped me.
A few questions though:
1. I am good all day and then in the evening I feel so tired and just blow all my calories plus some. How do you handle the cravings and the stress? I
2. Do you still measure/weigh your food? If no, how long did it take for you to learn to eyeball it?
3. Can you name your favorite volume foods? (obviously, oatmeal, veggies, fruit, any others?)I am a volume eater too and I am trying to work on eating good volume vs junk volume.
Many thanks!
ananymous says
Hi Kath!
I have been reading your blog for a while and just LOVE it I have gotten so many great ideas!
I just thought I would chime in because I often have the same problem with cereal, it is inhaled and then I am hungry again pretty soon. But I came upon the BEST solution, 1 word, YOGURT!
I mix my cereal with a cup of it any kind (heart to heart, r. bran, whatever) it takes longer to eat and is much more filling!!
Juan says
I really enjoy your posts. I eat oatmeal sometimes twice per day, before the gym first thing in the morning and right after with a good source of protein. Keep up the good work and good nutrition.
Juan
Cat says
Aww no oats! I have a hard time staying full with cereal as well, but I find that putting it in a bowl with some greek yogurt and nuts or fruit really helps in keeping me full. Kind of like one of Sammie’s “messes” 🙂
Jen says
That’s exactly how I like to eat my granola in the morning … warmed up with a bunch of toppings.
Warming it up is a new thing for me and I’ve found that it keeps me fuller for longer. Hope it had the same staying power for you!!
Jennifer says
I have yogurt with my cereal too! Yeah, glad to see I’m not the only one!
Hil says
Kashi cereals were my favorite until I found Nature’s Path, which I like even better. Both are great when I want cold cereal, which isn’t often. Very clever to add toppings…I never thought of doing that.
AppleandMoses–Two other great volume foods are plain yogurt and vegetable soup. Both are very nutritious and filling for the calories. Night time hunger is a very common problem when you are trying to lose weight. It’s possible that adding a little more food during the day will help stave off hunger in the evening. If you aren’t really hungry but are just eating out of habit, things like herbal tea or a late night piece of fruit can be good ways to give your mouth something to do without taking in unnecessary calories. Good luck!
Oh She Glows says
Julia- Have you ever tried Almond Milk? I don’t drink other types of milk but Almond milk is sooo delicious!!!
I buy Almond Dream Vanilla flavored- its only 60 cals per cup!!! It has a wonderful nutty taste too.
Angela
www.ohsheglows.com
Nellie says
mmm that is the BEST looking bowl of cereal. I have the same problem with cereal, I could probably eat the entire box and still not be full. I’ll have to try this combo!
Shelby says
Puffins rock my world! =)
Samantha says
I am new to your blog and just want to thank you for all your hard work. Your site is wonderful!
I am not sure you worked out before this breakfast, but was wondering if you always aim for the same calorie intake for breakfast whether you did an AM workout or not? How about lunch/snacks/dinner? Do you vary your calories depending on the day or do you always aim for around the same amount for lunch/snacks/dinner (i.e. 500 for lunch)? I am trying to be more of a volume eater and am having a hard time estimating calories without weighing everything, etc.
Sorry for the long winded post! Thanks, Kath!
Tina says
Kath, how do you keep up with the questions!?!?! Totally kidding! 🙂
Christin S says
Appleandmoses,
I just wanted to chime in, because evening hunger is a struggle for me as well! a few tricks i’ve learned that help me:
1) drink a glass of water (that helps your stomache feel full)
2) take an evening stroll, or if it’s cold out do lunges, crunches, etc while watching TV to keep your mind occupied. I keep my exercise ball and a pair of 5lb weights near the TV.
3) keep a few healthy snacks around such as apple slices with peanut butter, or string cheese and some crackers, that way if you cannot curb the craving completely at least you will have a healthy, and relatively low calorie filling option available.
Hope that helps, it helped me a great deal! 🙂
Kristie says
I had cereal this morning too and although I love it, I totally get what you mean by it being boring to eat so I ALWAYS have to mix it up with stuff. That stuff usually includes banana and yogurt along with milk. Other than with Weetabix though, I’ve never tried heating other cereals before, or rather heating the milk. I will HAVE to because right now the weather demands warm morning eats.
Appleandmoses says
Love all the tips for my night time eating/grazing.
Keep them coming. Thanks!
Kath says
Appleandmoses ,
Thanks for your comment 🙂
1) I don’t snack all evening because I make the decision not to. I know that sounds simple – and I hope not rude – but you just have to WANT to be healthy enough to stay out of the snacks. When I put my mind to it, it’s no big deal. It’s when I convince myself I need the snacks that’s it’s hard, and sometimes I just allow myself to pig out a little and wait for the motivation to return. Also, I snack more when dinner isn’t very satisfying – make sure you’re eating a well-rounded meal! Hil’s advice was great too.
2) I don’t measure my food anymore, although I will for some things like ground beef for burgers or a huge piece of bread. It took me a long time to by able to eyeball and I am STILL not that good at it. A rule I follow: always assume that less is more.
3) The best volume foods are whole foods. Fresh fruit, veggies, grains, dairy.
ananymous ,
I agree – cereal and yogurt are great!! But we have tons of cheap milk and not a lot of expensive yogurt, so I went with milk.
Juan ,
Thanks for stopping by!
Samantha ,
I find that I am hungry for the same amount of calories on days when I do and don’t workout. So when I skip workouts, I just “maintain” that day and eat my usual 1700-1900 ish and then get back into the squiggly line when I workout again. Check the FAQ page for more on that.
Tina ,
No. Idea.!
K
Cassidy says
I have the same problem with ccereal. I only eat it when I know it one be long till lunch or as a nighttime snack. However one cereal that does “stick” for me is unfrosted miniwheats I eat 1 c with a c of milk and a banana.
I just discovered KAshi GO lean. I LOVE yogurt and fixings for breakfast. Granola was to high cal & fat and crunched up rice cakes were to low cal & fat. Go LEan is perfect staying power!
Brianne says
I almost never eat cereal, I am more of a fritatta person at breakfast lately (I pre-make them). However, I’d like to second the above recommendation for the Ezekiel cereals…
cinnamon raisin = YUM!
Kaye says
Hey Kath!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and I LOVE it! I have to check it everyday! Anyhow, I wanted to tell you that I usually have a cold breakfast… I’ve never been that into oatmeal regularly. But I thought you might like another suggestion you can use in a pinch! I love having a big scoop of cottage cheese, chopped apple, banana, berries and cereal/oatmeal cranberry cookie/granola, whatever I have on hand. It’s super filling!
K
therunningveggie says
I tried heating the milk before putting it in my cereal this morning and it was incredibly disappointing! Did your cereal not get soggy? It looks delicious though, as always.
Kath says
therunningveggie ,
Mine didn’t get soggy, but I used a very thick cereal – Kashi Good Friends. I only heated it to take out the chill, not so that it was hot.
K