Healthy Cereals

Our family does not eat cereal very much for several reasons.  One is the cost.  The price is so much more expensive than oatmeal, which my husband and daughters in particular, really love.  Then awhile back I read about a study where they fed rats cereal, rat food and the third group was fed the box that the cereal came in.  The rats that ate the cereal died first.  The rats eating the cardboard box the cereal came in lived longer! That was eye opening.  We never did eat all the sugary and colored cereals, but even some of the plain cereals are not that great for you.

The one cereal I have occasionally enjoyed when in a no cook or speedy situation is Nature's Path.  They are a good company from what I've read and are based in Blaine, WA, which is just up the highway from my parents.

The Cornucopia Institute released its survey of cereal brands and companies, paying attention to details such as organic certification, use of GMO foods and use of hexane and petrochemicals.  You can see the scorecard HERE.  I was happy to see Nature's Path received their highest score!  Since a lot of families use cereal, I thought you might like having this information.

The Way It Should Be

There was a time when neighbors were neighborly and people helped each other out. I miss that! I try to be as friendly and helpful as possible to my neighbors but most of them keep to themselves, like we are all in our own little boxes and we only emerge to get in our car (another box) and leave! Maybe I feel this way because I live in a fairly large city. Maybe it's the sirens, police helicopters and the occasion drug deal or gunshot that make me feel this way!

This week, in the midst of some stresses and sick kiddos, we had a wonderful experience. My friend Trudy from church called and asked if I wanted to come pick some more tangerines and oranges from her trees in her yard. Yeah! So, my daughter J, who was yet to be hit with the dread virus, went with me and "helped". We picked tangerines, oranges, grapefruit and Meyer Lemons. That is a grapefruit, so you can see how big the lemons are!

I've never really gotten excited about grapefruit. Genetically you are either born with a like for sour or not. It's not a matter of wanting sweet, it's a matter of not wanting the "pucker power." But this grapefruit smells so wonderful, I'm going to try it for breakfast tomorrow.

When I have a garden, I wnat to call up people and say, "Hey, ya need some tomatoes, come on over!" :o)

Thank you Lord for the blessing of fellowship and for the gift of good home grown, organice citrus fruits for our smoothies!