Hina's Fave Breakfast Cereals

Cereal is one of life's great comfort foods. It's a "Saturday morning cartoons" breakfast. It's the happy snack with prizes in the box. It's the late night, movie watching, popcorn alternative. It's the best milk-flavoring device ever! (Chocolate cereal goes into the bowl, plain white milk goes over the cereal, eat all the cereal, and PRESTO! Chocolate milk! Just like magic. And you know you only ate the fruity cereals so that you had that fruity pink milk left over to slurp up.) I love that there are so many different varieties of cereal available out there!

As I grew older, I moved away from the super sweet kiddie cereals laden with marshmallows and frosted with sugar. Instead, I focused on super sweet adult cereals laden with nuts and berries and frosted with sugar.

My absolute favorite cereal of all time is Trader Joe's Super Nutty Toffee Clusters. It's loaded with Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, and delicious toffee flavored granola clusters. This is the most delicious, most uber-fabulous cereal in existence. .....However, a serving size is ONLY 3/4 cup and contains 250 calories and 9 grams of fat. And that's before adding any milk!

Quaker also has a great cereal called Cranberry Macadamia Nut cereal. This fruity-crunchy-nutty combo is one of my favorite movie time snacks. It's the perfect mix of sweet, rich and crunchy. Unfortunately, 1 cup is 245 calories with 5.9 grams of fat. *sigh* The best tasting cereals are the most calorie rich.

Now, I must confess that while cereal is a lovely start to your day, many cereals are loaded with sugar and fat. So I have some back ups which I munch on periodically.

Cheerios
Plain old original flavor Cheerios. At only 100 calories per cup, this is a winner. .....But I like to tweak things to suit my sweet tooth. My favorite way to eat it: Add 2 tbsp. roasted, unsalted sliced almonds (90 calories), 1 tbsp. Blue Agave Sweetener (much like honey, but it's low-glycemic, so no blood sugar spike - 60 calories), and 1/2 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (20 calories). Total 270 calories. I suppose you could just buy Honey Nut Cheerios, which has lower calories at only 110 calories per 3/4 cup (about 147 calories for 1 cup), but adding nuts and sweetener of my own is extra yummy!

Trader Joe's Organic Morning Lite
Sooo yummy! High fiber, low fat, low sodium. "A Delicious Crunchy Blend of Organic Whole Grains & Honey." 1 cup = 130 calories. This is a great start to the morning. It's sweet and crunchy, it resists soggies fairly well, and if you mix in a 1/2 cup of Fiber One Original, you only add 60 calories, plus you get 14 grams of fiber! I like mixing the two together because I get my fiber for the day, and the Organic Morning Lite tastes great and makes the Fiber One bearable.

Kellogg's Special K Chocolatey Delight
A 3/4 cup serving is 120 calories. This mixture of crunchy rice and wheat flakes has chunks of chocolate. It's a good sweet breakfast, or a nice low cal dessert.

Soooo....... everybody share. What's your favorite cereal?

Foodie View: Hina Cooks! Super Easy Vegetarian Stir Fry

Is it incredibly vain to write a review of your own food? I fully admit, I'm bragging right now. I made a totally awesome stir fry dinner, and I am so proud of me!

It was a quick meal, an easy to make meal, a healthy meal, a vegetarian meal, a satisfying meal, and a super yummy meal! The veggies add lots of flavor and texture, not to mention color. The soy based ingredients (tempeh, baked tofu, noodles, some of the veggies) add lots of protein and help make it a very filling dish. And although I like a good steak now and then, the calories are just so high! So I've been trying to get some tasty, healthy, and above all satisfying vegetarian dishes into my family's diet.

I got several ingredients from 99 Ranch Market (but you can visit any Asian grocery store), and the rest came from Trader Joe's. I must say, I am an avid Trader Joe's shopper. If you haven't checked out this awesome grocery store, definitely visit your nearest location. They have a great variety of products and very affordable prices.

If you've read my blog before, you know I'm a busy mom, and I'm working on eating healthy and losing weight. My baby is 17 months old, and he demands a lot of attention. He also makes a lot of mess. I don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, while Mr. Baby gets into who knows what. So I appreciate "easy" dishes which don't take a lot of time, or focus, to prepare. I'm happy to say I've succeeded with this dish. So check out my Super Easy Vegetarian Stir Fry recipe!

Ingredients:
2 packages House Tofu Shirataki Noodles - Fettucini Shape (it's also available in Angel Hair shape)
3 oz. Furama Plain Baked Tofu (TJ's also has baked tofu, I just use Furama because it's easily portioned into 3 oz. squares)
4 oz. LightLife Organic Flax Tempeh (about half a package)
1 package Trader Joe's Beef-Less Strips
1/2 medium onion, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups Trader Joe's frozen Stir Fry Vegetables (contains: Chinese pea pods, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, green soybeans, water chestnuts, carrots, and mushrooms)
2 tbsp olive oil
6-8 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Mushroom Flavored Stir Fry Sauce
Optional: black pepper, to taste

In a large wok or skillet, lightly sautee garlic and onion in olive oil. Slice tofu and tempeh into strips or bite size cubes. Add tofu, tempeh, and Beef-Less Strips and stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and stir fry for 5 - 8 minutes, or until completely cooked through. Drain Shirataki noodles and rinse thoroughly with hot water. Add noodles, sauce, and black pepper. Toss and mix well, stir fry for 4-7 minutes, or until well mixed and heated through. Serve immediately.

Makes 3 - 4 large servings. Each serving is only 362 (for 4 servings) - 482 (for 3 servings) calories. The entire wok full of food is only 1446 calories! A healthy, low cal dinner, on the table in less than 20 minutes. I feel pretty good about feeding this to my family. Pretty awesome!

If you've got any quick and easy recipes (with the emphasis on "quick" and "easy"), please share!