Product Review: EnviroKids' Organic Koala Crisp cereal

I loved Rice Krispies and Cocoa Crunch cereals as a kid. As an adult, I have become concerned about the preservatives (and other undesirable ingredients, such as corn syrup) that randomly appear where they don't need to be ... such as in my cereal and wanted something that would be a good substitute.

A few years ago, I went through a phase where I did nearly all of my grocery shopping at either Whole Foods Market or Better Health Market. I was trying an elimination diet to see if gluten bothered me, so I was on a mission to find a cereal which didn't include it.

I bought a couple of other cereals with it. The buckwheat flakes weren't a notable success (although they did taste better when I put raisins in the bowl, too). The puffed rice needed serious sugar and milk to be edible. But EnviroKidz Koala Crisp Cereal by Nature's Path Foods was full of chocolaty goodness.
On the website, it's listed as being "Made with love and ...It's a little too good; actually, it's hard to eat just one serving. This fact led to my first major cereal mix in conjunction with the unsweetened puffed rice. (Try it with 2/3 Koala Crisp and 1/3 puffed rice and your choice of milk or milk substitute.)

Organic brown rice flour, organic evaporated cane juice, organic cocoa, natural chocolate flavor, sea salt, organic molasses.

Cereal Mixing Isn't Just for Kids

The Cascadian Farm Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Granola box looked oh, so innocent (how bad can it be, since it's organic?); however, I knew that unless I did something drastic, I was going to eat more than the measly 2/3-cup suggested serving.

Which led me to my favorite Weight Watchers diva: Lisa Lillen, a.k.a. "Hungry Girl." Lisa has written three cookbooks about her pursuit of satisfying, lower-point food. I learned from reading her first cookbook that cereal mixing is not just for pre-teens anymore. It's a way to eat a larger bowl of cereal for fewer Weight Watcher Points. I'd already done it once, with my all-time favorite EnviroKids Koala Crisp cereal (sweeter, chocolate-flavored rice puffs) and plain puffed brown rice. (The proportions were about half a bowl of each kind of cereal.)

I picked up the bite-sized, unsweetened wheat squares. (I think it was Post's, but it's hard for me to differentiate between different brands ... let's see, was that wheat, wheat or wheat?) Three-quarters of a cup of wheat squares went into the cereal bowl with 1/4-cup granola and Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze® Vanilla  non-dairy beverage (from the refrigerator case in the natural foods section). I usually get the unsweetened kind, but someone grabbed this one by accident. I won't complain since a) it was on sale and b) she was being nice by picking it up for me in the first place. Besides, it makes darned good café au laits and smoothies.

I mixed it together thoroughly and dug in. One cup of this mixture not only had the great flavor of the granola but it had a lot more bulk to it. I didn't need to eat again for nearly four hours! If I use unsweetened almond or soy milk another time, I'll probably add stevia to achieve a similar slightly-sweet taste.