Cereality

"The latest fast food concept is so absurdly simple, self-indulgent and reflective of one's inner child that, well, how can it fail?"
~Jerry Shriver~
USA TODAY

OH MY GAWD! I am so absolutely blown away by this idea, that I'm just sitting here in AWE! I LOVE CEREAL!

Growing up, my sisters and I ONLY had cereal to eat each morning, because MOM was a single mother working double-time to raise three fiesty girls. It was easy and affordable on our budget, and she didn't have to worry about us burning the apartment down while she was at work. Twice a month, on the weekends, MOM would get up and cook us either pancakes or eggs and bacon. And occasionally we were treated with oatmeal, both instant and old-fashioned. But it was the cereal that sustained us during our youth.

When I was pregnant with my oldest son, I lived on Cheerios and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Everyday. For 9 months.

After my youngest son was born, I finally got to be a stay-at-home-mommy. When I saw all the other mommies making their kiddos hot meals each day for breakfast, I began to feel really guilty. My boys had a cupboard full of over half a dozen types of cereal to choose from, and almost never got a hot breakfast. (It was a dark period of discovering my life-long depression and they were lucky to have gotten cereal.)

Then one day, I saw a report on the differences between kids who were given hot meals of eggs, oatmeal, pancakes and the such versus kids who were given cereal each morning. It was shocking to find that the kids on the cereal diets were not only healthier but did better in school because unlike the hot breakfasts, their cereals were fortified with vitamins and minerals that many kids just weren't getting as part of their RDA.

Vindication! I never felt guilty again about feeding my kids lots of cereal.

When I was pregnant with Lil' Miss, I went on a cereal binge like NO OTHER! My pantry had over 20 different types of cereal and I ate several bowls everyday. It was not unusual for me to take cereal to work with me, and just buy the milk there, if I ate it with milk at all. My boys were in heaven when they came to visit because they were sure to find at least one of their favorite cereals at my house. Cereal was my comfort food and the variety was endless.

One thing that my sisters and I used to do when we were at the end of a cereal box, was mix two different kinds of cereal to make a full bowl. This always seemed weird to me, but I was never disgusted by the endless combinations we could make.

Cereality encourages this fun exploration of combinations. With toppings for your cereal ranging from frutis and nuts to Pop-Rocks and Whopper's Malted Milk Balls. Oh, the sugar rush you'll have from one of those! LOL! They offer fresh-baked cereal bars, smoothies, parfaits and snack mixes. And they even have this really cool milk-tight bowl, that looks like a Chinese take out box.

Yeah, $2.95 may seem a bit much to pay for a 32-ounce bowl of cereal but in comparison to the price of a cup of coffee at Starbuck's and how much more you get with the cereal, it seems such a bargain. Plus you get to try cereals in a smaller portion that you might not want to buy as the whole box.

These college students sure are lucky!