French Toast Crunch cereal review

 The french? Pretty cool. Toast? Love the stuff. Crunch? It's a must. French Toast Crunch is an american favourite and seems to be a childhood staple. I have never been a child in America so for me it wasn't, yet my expectations were still high. You know there's a problem when you've had the cereal version of something before the actual thing. Yes, thats right. I've never had french toast. But who cares when you've got this ! I will confess though that I have tried this before in my favourite of places- The Cereal Killer Cafe! That was ages ago though and I've forgotten. So, in a recent trip to the US I picked up a box, along with many other cereal goods.

 If there was a prize for cutest cereal this would win hands down, wouldn't it? Oh my gosh is this cute , I want to look at it all day. Opening the box I was met with the heavenly scent of maple and cinnamon. It was a smell that reminded me of a new love that I had discovered on my trip- pancakes! It smelt like it was going to taste of pancakes and this had me excited. I try a couple of pieces dry , ignoring the bit of guilt I felt for eating something so darn adorable. The flavour was strong and I knew it could only get better with milk, so in it went.

 It's a rare occasion when something is better than you remember but this was. The first time I had it I thought it was good but this time- OH MY GOSH is it good! It tasted just how it smelt, with the combination of syrup and cinnamon making the perfect pair. As mentioned, I've never had french toast but I'm sure its resemblance would be admirable. As for texture , the crunch was perfect and held strong throughout. As you get further down it gets a slightly slimy outside, but in a super nice way that you find with other cereals.

So I ate it pretty quickly and was left with what I would like to trademark "Maple Milk". This wasn't the sort of cereal I thought would leave good cereal milk but DAMN. The flavour transported right into it. It was as if the cereal flavour was all like "Beam me up , Scotty." and the milk was like "Sure thing man."

I can see why this cereal was so popular and I'm very happy the good people's demands have been met with its return. Now if they could just go ahead and make pancake crunch then that would be cool.

Overall

Texture:4/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Sog Factor: 4/5
Cereal milk: 4.5/5

Last comments: Look at it. It's even got the crust on the outside. It's beautiful.

Kelkin Hazelnut and chocolate rice cake bar review

 You know what I love? Those dark chocolate covered round rice cake things. The combination of dark chocolate and popcorn-ish taste is just so good , which I think is pretty weird. This leads me to my discovery of this new rice bar. Im counting this as a cereal bar by the way , in case your wondering why it's on a breakfast blog- which you probably weren't. I thought it looked super nice,although quite different from my usual rice snack choice. As you can see from the wrapper, the chocolate is in between two rice cakes and is more of a paste than a hard chocolate top.

 Opening the wrapper the bar looked a little dry but the sweet smell of chocolate hazelnut held my hopes high.

As for taste it was actually really good. It doesn't look it but the paste is quite thick and contrasts well against the crunchy rice cake. If you've ever had those chocolate hazelnut "first class" biscuits from Bahlsen's Leibniz, the filling tasted exactly the same. And if you have ever had those chocolate hazelnut "first class" biscuits from Bahlsen's Leibniz, you'll know it's delicious. I usually dip my cereal bar in a cup of tea because I like to explore my options so I broke a bit off for dunking purposes. It didn't make much difference in terms of taste , just made the bar a bit mushier. I mean its rice cake so I probably should have guessed that would happen. Anyway, this is a very nice bar and makes for quite a healthy snack. I forgot to mention it's gluten free as well ! How grand.

Overall

Texture: 4/5
Taste: 4/5
Sog factor: 2/5
Dunk difference: 1/5

Last comments: I said it looked dry and then never told you if it was. My bad, it wasn't.

Cereal Sightings: Christmas Rice Krispies!

It's Christmas time ! I'm not even kidding, I saw these in shops the day after Halloween. But I'm not complaining - I love both holidays!

With the new retro , festive design I knew I had to buy a box. There are also new christmas designs for Cornflakes , where a cheerful Santa's face adorns the box and Coco Pops, where our monkey friend has stolen his hat.

I found my box in Morrison's on offer for £2, and struggled not to buy all three.Yes, I'm a sucker for all this stuff , but I'm also sure I'm not the only one!

Any cereal sightings will also be posted on my twitter, which can be found here
https://twitter.com/thegrainlady  #represent

Crunch Creations: Rocky Road Cereal

Welcome! To the new segment of this blog titled "Crunch Creations" . This is where I will be posting cereal creations intended to imitate a flavour or food and letting you know if its worth it. The ingredients will be posted at the bottom of the page, so you if you'd like you can recreate the experience at home.How exciting.

I'm starting off with something easy- Rocky Road! To make this in cereal form I used the following:
Coco pops,mini marshmallows and digestive biscuits. Many enjoy the odd raisin in their rocky road - but I shall not partake in any eating of the wrinkly grape! However if you do like them , then I'm sure they would accompany the flavour well.

As mentioned this was a pretty safe bet , but not as good as I thought it would be. To get a realistic taste of rocky road you really have to concentrate on eating it, otherwise the flavours over power each  other too easily. However when you do focus, it comes together perfectly and replicates the flavour very well.Even when the biscuit goes soggy it doesn't matter as it blends with the milk for what can only be described as liquid biscuit.The marshmallow brings a sweet chewiness after the crunch which is identical to that of actual rocky road, making this a bowl to defiantly try at home.

More flavours will be coming soon, if you have any ideas you'd like me to try then please let me know!


Overall

Ingredients:
Coco pops
Mini marshmallows
Digestive biscuit
Raisins (optional)
Milk

Taste- 4/5
Texture-3/5
Sog factor-2/5
Cereal milk-4/5

Last comments- Coco popy road? It's not my best, I'll admit.

Cap'n Crunch's Sprinkled Donut Crunch cereal review!

 I'm all for food that looks like other food. Whether it's French Toast Crunch, dinosaur chicken nuggets or a cake that looks like a burger- I love it! Right now you'll probably either be nodding your head in agreement or wondering if I am in fact 8 years old.But lets put any differences aside and marvel at the fact that this cereal exists.This is the sort of thing we would never get in the UK and I knew I had to try it.

Opening the bag, I was punched in the face by the sweet smell of ...? I have no idea, my nose has never experienced this smell but it was very strong and smelt good.Maybe this is how doughnuts smell in America.Maybe I've never taken the time to smell a doughnut properly.Or maybe I should just stop over analysing it.

As you can see , it lives up to it's name.While the hoop shape is common for cereals, the sprinkles were a great touch and I thought it was impressive that they used proper ones instead of a fake decoration.Above is the recommended 28g serving but a few extra doughnuts can't hurt.

I tried a single piece dry, eating it how one would eat a doughnut as I felt it only fair.I was actually very surprised at how much flavour one piece had and eagerly added the milk. I scooped the hoops, making sure I got some extra "sprinkly" ones and was met with a very sweet,vanilla flavour.I have to admit I found it a bit overwhelming.It had a very unique taste and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.However as I contemplated this , I kept eating, proving it to be quite more-ish. One thing that is impressive is the crunch! I can see how the captain got his nickname, despite the controversy over his actual ranking.The cereal stayed crunchy throughout and the flavour actually got better after having a little soaking! I think this is because the sweetness got a bit diluted and the bowl became a bit more bearable, or bowl- arable shall we say.You are left with something similar to what I imagine original Cap'n Crunch taste's like , but I couldn't say for sure as I've never tried them.

The colour of the sprinkles make their way into the milk, resulting in a greenish, blue colour that reminds me of those toffee ice creams you could get from the ice cream van after school. Unfortunately that's not how it tasted , but I was too mesmerised by the colours to care.

In all honesty, it's probably going to take me a while to get through the box, but I enjoyed the novelty of eating more than 12 doughnuts at once without feeling a mixture of triumph,proudness and regret.
If you have any food you like that looks like other food, please let me know in the comments!


Overall

Taste-2/5
Texture-4/5
Sog Factor-4.5/5
Cereal milk-1/5

Last Comments- I would eat way more stuff if they were shaped like dinosaurs.

New Weetabix Protein crunch chocolate cereal review!

Weetabix are a cereal brand that stay true to my heart. Not to be mistaken for a cereal band, such as Korn-flakes. Ok, I'm kidding , but I do love Weetabix in all of its forms- in particular "Crunchy Bran" and "Weeto's". Protein is becoming increasingly popular, and for adults that want to have chocolate for breakfast but also need the energy- this is perfect.

 Looking at the shape, I wasn't sure if I was about to eat cereal or crisps! I think you know which ones I'm talking about. Rhymes with "Sheet Munchies" which coincidently is another name for when people eat beds. They were also smaller than I imagined- which is good as they looked quite difficult to eat. For those wondering there is 20g of protein per 100g. Above is a 30g serving which gives you 6g. I don't know if that's good or not- my apologies.

They looked like they have the same sort of texture as Weeto's, So that's what I was thinking they would taste like.I went in with the milk.A few of the tubes together and there is a pleasant chocolate flavour. It's not amazing I have to say. To best explain it, I would say that it does taste like Weeto's-just not as good. The great thing is though is that there is no weird powder aftertaste that you can get with some protein products. Also when they say "crunch" they aren't kidding.I would even go as far to say they need a second to soak if you don't want to scratch your mouth. Maybe you do want to scratch your mouth and have been searching forever for a tiny cat that would be perfect for such needs.I don't know and I won't judge.

The further I got, the less of chocolate it started to taste and it started to get quite bland.I wondered if the chocolate had found its way into the milk. It hadn't.

Despite this , I did enjoy this cereal somewhat and I feel it is a great compromise for cereal lovers who need the extra boost in the morning.

Overall

Taste - 2/5
Texture - 3.5/5
Sog factor - 5/5
Cereal milk - 2/5

Last Comments- I woke up with a six-pack by the way.

Belvita Soft Bakes Choc Chips review!

When I hear the phrase "soft baked" I think of a warm, gooey cookie straight from the oven.I tried to get this image out of my head, as I knew they were unfair expectations to set for a breakfast biscuit!

Although I am quite fond of a Belvita, particularly the honey and nut flavour , so I was interested to see how these would taste, as they also have chocolate chips.

If I can help it, 80% of the things I eat would contain chocolate chips

Below is the shiny wrapper you get it in.Yes, you only get one! It made me realize how big the "V" is in the logo. It looks like a big tick , which is a sentence that needs to be enunciated well when being said out loud.

It defiantly looked soft baked, which is good because I don't enjoy being lied to by biscuits.Breaking a bit off further confirmed this and I took a bite. The first thing that hits you is a very oaty flavour, just like the normal oat flavoured Belvita's;then you get a chocolate chip, which is rich and dark.Just like my men.
The texture is an odd one. It is nice and soft , but has weird crispy bits inside , kinda like the ones found in a Cadbury's boost bar.

Honestly, I didn't love them and I was a little disappointed they didn't taste like a cookie , but that's probably my problem more than Belvita's. It's also worth mentioning I'm not a big fan of oat biscuits, so if you do enjoy a bit of crunchy porridge, then they might be worth a try!

Overall

Texture-2/5
Taste-2/5

Last comments- What does Jackie Chan eat for breakfast...? Belvi-TA!