Thursday, July 30, 2015

Breakfast musings.... bread & milk

Go into any grocery store in the USA and you will find a dizzying array of "cold cereal" choices.  Breakfast - made easy!  And many of them we find to be quite appealing, i.e. our beloved Cherrios, Fruit Loops, and even Shredded Wheat!  Ah.... no cooking, very little cleanup, kids and hubby are happy!  So, what's the downside if there is one (or more?)  Well, first of all, they are expensive.  Very expensive.  At our local Walmart, an 18 ounce box of Cherrios is $3.52 today.  27 ounces of Fruit Loops is $3.98.  15 ounces of Shredded Wheat is $2.48, and you can feel so virtuous eating this "healthy" choice, right?  Sorry.  It's not healthy. Read on below.


According to the Weston A. Price Foundation's website:

" Cold breakfast cereals are produced by a process called extrusion. Grains are mixed with water, processed into a slurry and placed in a machine called an extruder. The grains are forced out of a tiny hole at high temperature and pressure, which shapes them into little o’s or flakes or shreds. Individual grains passed through the extruder expand to produce puffed wheat, oats and rice. These products are then subjected to sprays that give a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal from the ravages of milk and to give it crunch.
In his book Fighting the Food Giants, biochemist Paul Stitt describes the extrusion process, which treats the grains with very high heat and pressure, and notes that the processing destroys much of their nutrients. It denatures the fatty acids; it even destroys the synthetic vitamins that are added at the end of the process. The amino acid lysine, a crucial nutrient, is especially damaged by the extrusion process."

Well, now that I've shot down your delusions about breakfast cereal.... (sigh), what can we do?  I mean, look, most of us not only are moms or dads, but we work full-time too.  Who has time to cook breakfast every morning? I have an idea for you.  You may never have heard of this.  It's called "Bread and Milk."

 What in the world is "Bread and Milk?"  Ah... I thought you'd never ask. Here is how you make it: Get a bowl, a spoon, some of your favorite bread, some milk of your choice, honey, raisins or other sweetening or chopped up fresh fruit.  Break the bread into little pieces into your bowl.  Drizzle on a little honey, and top with cold milk.  That's it!  I use homemade bread because that's what I have, but any bread is good and if you want a little more crunch, then toast it first! 
I not only love this for breakfast, but sometimes have it in place of other meals.  It's always available, quick and comforting.  I know... the kids are going to miss their extruded, overheated, denatured grains, but when did we, as parents, start making our decisions based upon what the children want.  Look, they don't want to brush their teeth, and they probably would choose to eat candy and drink soda for 3 meals a day.  Nope.  Not gonna happen on my watch!

When I was a young girl, whenever I would get sick, like with a cold, or mumps, or measles or Rubella... (yep, I had all of those) my sweet Daddy would make me something called "milk toast."  He would toast a slice of bread, heat some milk with a little butter and pepper and salt in a saucepan and pour it over the toast on a plate.  That was very appealing to me and so sweet of him.  I miss my Daddy very much.  So, there's another variety of bread and milk.

I am certain that you, my Gentle Readers, can come up with lots of other similar ideas. 

13 comments:

  1. I had never thought of regular bread, but we are always happy, when there is leftover cornbread, to have cornbread and milk the next morning for breakfast.

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    1. That is a great idea! I often have leftover cornbread. Next time for sure!

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  2. Ther is a typo. You have "break the break" when you mean, "break the bread".

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  3. So true dear friends. I can't believe that cereal aisle at the supermarket. At home, we only know oatmeal as a cereal, and I wish, I had a little gadget like yours to make my own oats into oatmeal.

    Love the idea of the milk and toast. You know, growing up in a family with 8 children, animal crackers with cold milk were a great treat. I still do that combination once in a while.

    And for sick people, either adults or children, we make atole. Atole is made with corn masa and water, but you can also use milk. New moms still drink atole while recovering after giving birth. I even made atole with water for my dog when he gets sick.

    Great post!

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  4. Thank you Mely! I used to dip graham crackers in milk to eat them. I had forgotten about that. The grain flaker you refer to, I did not keep it when we moved into our new little house. I rarely used it, so it was donated. Atole sounds very nice. I would like a recipe, if you have one.?

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    1. We sometimes would pour milk over crumbled graham crackers for breakfast. You had to eat quickly as they turned to mush. As I got older, I did not do this anymore.

      We usually have hot cereal for breakfast if it's not not warm weather. My husband likes hot milk over grape nuts any time of the year. I make granola so I like that over yogurt and fruit for breakfast. We always have rice krispies around for making treats, but no one really eats it as a cereal. We have bran cereal for making muffins.

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  5. That reminds me of the dish you used to make for me when I was sick. Toasted bread with a soft boiled egg, salt and pepper. So good!

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  6. There are several recipes on the blog. Just check the recipe section under drinks.
    Regards,

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  7. As I was reading your post I was thinking of the milk toast we use to have as kids, had to smile when I kept reading. Don't hear of many people that grew up with milk toast. It has been a while since I have made it, you have made me hungry for it again :)

    I could never see how people can afford to buy cold cereals for breakfast, and so unhealthy for you. We eat a lot of oatmeal on week days and bacon, eggs, fried potatoes on the weekends.

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    1. That's wonderful, Cheryl. I am glad to know that not everyone thinks cold cereal is the only choice!

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