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.