Cereals

Preparation

1. Bland

   Step 1

   Oh my goodness, everything under the sun can be stirred into or sprinkled onto hot or cold cereals to make them more interesting. Just for starters:

   Step 2

   Make hot cereal using chocolate milk instead of regular milk.

   Step 3

   Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a dash of ginger, or a few cloves (tied in a cheesecloth so you can remove them) to hot water before adding the cereal.

   Step 4

   Stir a cup of canned chopped fruit (per 4 servings) into hot cereal halfway through the cooking process. Add nuts, prunes, dates, raisins, currants, or other dried fruits to hot or cold cereals.

   Step 5

   Plump dried fruits in hot water and let stand for 3 minutes for the fruit to rehydrate. Let cool before adding to cold cereal.

   Step 6

   Put 1 tablespoon jam in a bowl, add a bit of milk, mush them together, and add to the cereal, hot or cold.

   Step 7

   Put chocolate bits in oatmeal. (Think about chocolate chip–oatmeal cookies.)

   Step 8

   Are you really experimental? The following recipe is a great camping breakfast for that morning when you can’t face another bowl of oatmeal.

   Step 9

   Eat cold cereal with eggnog or instant malted milk.

   Step 10

   Sweeten cereals with brown sugar or maple syrup or fruit sundae syrup. Add ice cream, maraschino cherries, marshmallows, and/or vanilla extract.

   Step 11

   Go really nuts. Serve a tossed salad with a bland dressing (such as a creamy French) and pour breakfast cereal (Kix, Cheerios, Chex) over it, like croutons.

2. Loose

   Step 12

   For hot cereal, add more cereal. For cold cereal, what in the world can you mean by this?

3. Lumpy

   Step 13

   Push hot lumpy cereal through a strainer. This will probably make it loose. (Then, see “Loose,” above.) Next time, start with cold water and stir constantly, if you think it is worth the effort.

4. Soggy

   Step 14

   Somebody left the cold cereal open on the muggiest day of the year and your cereal is limp and soggy. Pour it onto a baking sheet and bake it for 2 or 3 minutes at 350°F. When it cools, it should have recrisped itself. For a quick fix, zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, let sit for a minute, and enjoy.