Dinner Tonight

How to Have Cereal for Dinner (& Still Call Yourself an "Adult")

There are times, even in adulthood, when you just want cereal for dinner. I'll estimate you talk yourself out of said cereal 80% of the time (i.e. "Eggs are much more sensible.") The other 20% is broken in half: 10% having cereal for dinner, but shaming yourself about eating it, and 10% having cereal for dinner and enjoying it.

That's terrible! You should love cereal 100% of the time.

If your cereal conundrum lies in the fact you aren't making the cereal, here's the recipe for you: Genevieve Ko's Homemade Coco Puffs.

The process is as easy as stirring some stuff together and baking everything. There's chocolate involved, but whole grains, too. So, as long as you douse the cereal in very cold milk, you really can't lose.

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Cereal for dinner every night of the week! Kidding, kind of... but definitely tonight.

First, head to the grocery store to pick up these four ingredients:

  • 3 cups unsweetened puffed whole-grain cereal
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 2 tablespoons solid virgin coconut oil
  • Bananas (or your fruit of choice)

We're assuming you already have 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 cup runny mild honey, 1/4 teaspoon salt, cold milk, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. If not, add these to your list, too!

Eat by the handful, but save enough for the bowl! Photo by James Ransom

About 40 minutes before dinner, heat your oven to 300° F and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Get out a saucepan and put it on medium-low heat. Add the coconut oil, cocoa powder, honey, and salt, and whisk until smooth. Take it off the heat and whisk in the vanilla.

Gently (gently!) fold in the cereal and coconut flakes and stir until evenly coated, doing your best to to not break up the coconut flakes. Spread the mixture onto the prepared pan in an even layer, pushing it all the way to the edges.

Bake until the puffs are darker brown (remember, they're brown to begin with, so don't wander too far away), about 25 minutes. Cool completely on the sheet on a wire rack. Break the puffs into smaller clumps, if you like.

A minute before you're ready to eat, slice some banana, get out your milk, and pour that cereal into a bowl—you know how to do this. Eat.

See the full recipe here.

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1 Comment

Nancy January 17, 2017
Nice idea.
But it also requires a shopping trip & cooking.
How about some ways to use existing cereal for dinner and still feel like an adult?
Two that quickly spring to mind are
1) using some cereal to make a parfait or banana split (yes, ice cream for dinner or dessert).
2) using a cereal with whole grains and/or nuts as a coating for fish fillets to bake or fry.
Other ideas?