I’m a cereal kinda gal. Pouring cereal into my Winnie the Pooh bowl and a generous glug of almond milk is so routinely that sometimes that is all I want for a meal. Since elementary school, I’ve gone through phases where I eat my favourite cereal of the moment everyday until I find the next favourite. At the moment, it’s super clumpy granola, but I have once loved a variety of sugar-laden kids cereals. Let me take you on a tour of my childhood favourites.

My earliest cereal love was Corn Pops. I was first to ‘call’ the mini box of Corn Pops in the camping packages of kiddie cereals while my brother was boring and always went for the Rice Krispies. On our family road trips, I would be delighted if the motel carried Corn Pops in their breakfast room but often found the typical Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops instead. I remember Corn Pop balls to be abnormally large and difficult to eat; my five-year-old mouth had to exaggeratedly chew to crunch down on each ball of cereal, but that was the best part. When I revisited Corn Pops a few years ago, I thought the cereal had shrunk! But it’s more likely my mouth cavity just grew.

As a kid, I went to math and English tutoring. Well, it was more like self-teaching out of a paper package than being tutored. Without a doubt, more time was spent sitting at a large table in a separate room with my friends chatting and nibbling on honey nut Cherrios than actually solving math problems or writing paragraphs. One of the friends consistently brought Cheerios to every week which got me hooked. You would think eating the same flavour of Cheerios would get boring, but Mama Leung would have to get the jumbo boxes in order to keep up with my Cheerio intake. Honey nut Cheerios is pretty much all I recall from that tutoring experience.

I was also introduced to French Toast Crunch by a friend in Chinese school. The novel shape was too adorable to resist. We would share a ziploc bagful during recess and eat it ‘toast by toast’, all while being thoroughly intrigued by the detail of each toast; it had a ‘crust’! I wasn’t aware they discontinued the product and kept searching the stores for my beloved French Toast Crunch, only temporarily settling for Cinnamon Toast Crunch until I gave up on my hunt. Another novelty cereal that intrigued me was Cookie Crisp; who could refuse a bowl of miniature cookies for breakfast? Sugar and cute shapes is all you need to lure children into buying products.

The cereal addiction I don’t recall many details of is my love for Cap’n Crunch. There isn’t a specific event or experience attached to this cereal, but I do remember I would purposely stock up on it when we visited the states (it was cheaper there). Pretty sure I was simply hooked (haha punny!) onto the sugary taste. Was anyone else a Cap’n Crunch fan? While other kids have fond memories of Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms, I seem to be drawn to the less popular cereals.

Everyday after school, my brother and I would scour the kitchen for an afternoon snack. At one point, we would each go through four massive bowls of Nesquick. FOUR! Perhaps the blue ducky bowls we used is larger in my memory, like the Corn Pop balls, but I can hardly believe we could eat that much cereal. With each bowlful, the milk would get chocolatier and chocolatier. Drinking the cereal milk is the most exciting part though. Thankfully, this Black Forest Granola is a much healthier alternative to chocolatifying milk. Slurp it up with no rah-grets.

One day during my granola-making endeavors, I found myself short on old fashioned oats so I replaced it with some raw buckwheat groats. Out came a batch of granola with a delightful crunchy texture. Since this wonderful discovery, I’ve continued to put buckwheat into my granola.

What else is in this granola? Nuts are always part of my granola recipes so sliced almonds were used here. Chopped whole almonds would also work. The chocolate chips and dried cherries are tossed in at the end so they retain their shape and texture. I find that baking dried fruit turns them into tough pebbles, which just isn’t yummy. The cocoa powder gives the batch a deep dark chocolate flavour, but biting into chocolate chips for breakfast always makes a good start to any morning.

Now one of my go-to breakfasts is a bowl of original Cheerios mixed with some of my homemade granola. Chunky, clumpy granola is the way to go, and this recipe is just that!