Nature's Path Envirokidz Lightly Frosted Amazon Flakes

Welcome to day one of Vegan MoFo VII! This is my fourth Vegan MoFo, but in some ways I still feel like a newbie. If you've never been to my blog before, it's all about pre-packaged Vegan foods. Once in awhile I'll talk about trips I take (like my forthcoming Vida Vegan Con post) or spotlight prominent Vegans in The Laziest Vegans Top Ten. But anyway, that's what I'm all about... now let's talk about some Vegan cereal!

If you look at any one of my cereal blog posts, a common complaint of mine is the lack of fun Vegan cereals. Yeah, I know there is every kind of whole grain, super healthy, vitamin fortified cereal out there, but I just want some damn Vegan Lucky Charms. With that said, one of my favorite brands is Nature's Path. Everything is organic and a majority of their products are Vegan. And they even have a cereal line aimed at kids like me called Envirokidz. So you could say the Envirokidz Lightly Frosted Amazon Flakes jumped out at me when I saw them.

There's not a whole lot to them honestly! Very simple ingredients: corn meal, evaporated cane juice and sea salt. I thought they had great flavor and sweetness. And if for some strange reason they aren't sweet enough for you, I'd add some strawberries or blueberries. In closing, I think kids and adults would enjoy Amazon Flakes since they are sweet but not cloyingly so.

What kind of Vegan cereal would you like to see?

Barbara's Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley Cereal

I'm always on the lookout for food that reminds me of my childhood. I was an 80's baby, so you know I was brought up on some awesome cereal. Yeah, most of it was sugary and unhealthy, but whatever. When you look at a lot of natural cereals now days, honestly, they're just boring and lame. So that brings us to Barbara's Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley. It looks fun and yummy on the box, but is it really?  

The first spoonful had me thinking Trix, but not watered down natural Trix, like full flavored fruity Trix. Kids will love this stuff! It even has the cute fruit flavored shapes for banana, orange and grape (reminds me of Runts.) It's the kind of cereal that you can't wait to finish so you can drink the leftover milk (almond, of course.) If only it came with a toy in the box, my 80's time-warp would be complete. In conclusion, the next time you're looking for a fun, kid-friendly cereal that adults can enjoy too, Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley is the one!

Engine 2 Rip's Big Bowl Banana Walnut Cereal

I'm not very knowledgeable about the Engine 2 Diet, but I'd be living under a rock if I said I didn't know about it. From blurbs on Twitter to books and DVD's for sale at Whole Foods, it's seems to be very popular. I'm definitely all for anything that gets people to go Vegan. So when I saw three varieties of Engine 2 cereal for sale, I wasn't entirely surprised. There seems to be an entire line of Engine 2 foods available exclusively to Whole Foods (including crackers, hummus, and almond milk). The three cereal choices are Original, Triple Berry Walnut and Banana Walnut. I always found bananas in cereals to be interesting, so I opted for Banana Walnut.

There are so many things going on in this cereal that I really don't know where to start! You've got oats, shredded wheat biscuits, millet, sprouted lentils, sprouted soybeans, flaxseeds, bananas and walnuts. It's probably fair to say that this is one of the healthiest cereals I've ever had, very nutritionally solid. Taste-wise, I thought it was very hearty and had a nice toasty flavor that kept me coming back for more. There is an ever slight sweetness from the bananas. I would have liked more bananas, but you could always cut up your own or add some other kind of fruit. The texture is all over the place. If you like Muesli, then this is your kind of cereal.

One caveat: I noticed that the cereal tends to get soggy pretty quickly, so make sure you eat it right away after adding your almond (or whatever) milk. Ultimately, I enjoyed the Banana Walnut and now I'm excited to try the Triple Berry Walnut. If you are looking for a super healthy cereal with no added sugar, I think you just found it!

Nature's Path Organic Coconut Chia Granola

I remember the first time I saw Nature's Path Hemp Plus Granola cereal, my mind was blown. A.) How do you eat hemp? and B.) How do you make it taste good? Ultimately I discovered that it's an awesome cereal and really put Nature's Gate on the map for me. So you can say my eyes widened a bit when I saw this new Coconut Chia Granola the other day. Actual flakes of coconut in the cereal? Too cool! You know I gotta try that.

From the first spoonful, I was in love. It's like you're eating a rich coconut cookie. Amazing crunch and sweetness. Not low fat by any means, but it's good fat. A great source of Omega-3's and whole grains. And of course, it's Non-GMO and Organic. In fact, it's worth noting that Nature's Path is the only certified Non-GMO cereal brand on the market right now. So it's an all-around healthy and nutritious cereal that you can feel comfortable eating.

The best part of course is that it says VEGAN on the box. You make my job so easy, Nature's Path! I love it. So go out and get a box of Coconut Chai Granola and tell me what you think!

Nature's Path Organic Corn Flakes

It seems the older I get, the more conservative I get...with my cereal. Don't get me wrong, If someone finally came up with a crazy Vegan marshmallow cereal (a la Lucky Charms) I'd be the first in line. But for the most part, I've been avoiding super sweet cereals. Enter Nature's Path Organic Fruit Juice Sweetened Corn Flakes. A great basic cereal that is lightly sweetened and has uncomplicated ingredients. Corn meal and/or yellow corn flour, grape and/or pear juice concentrate, sea salt. That's it. All while being Organic and Gluten Free.  

The cereal by itself does have a slight sweetness, but nothing that's going to blow you away and make you say "this was sweetened by a pear!" I tried the cereal by itself with unsweetened almond milk and it was tatsy. If you like a bit more sweetness, try some banana or strawberries to liven things up. Either way, it's a great way to start your morning!

Kashi Organic Simply Maize Cereal

Lately I've noticed Whole Foods getting exclusives on some products. Of course, the big one last year was the Candle Cafe Frozen Dinners. I guess this is good as long as you have a Whole Foods in your area, but it sucks if you live in Western Nebraska or some other Whole Foods forsaken place. Luckily I don't, and today I noticed a new Kashi cereal that seems to be a Whole Foods exclusive. It's called Kashi Simply Maize.

I usually dig any kind of corn cereal and this was no exception. What you get are slightly puffed up Organic corn flakes with a hint of molasses. And I do mean a hint; I added strawberries to sweeten it up a bit. The texture is pretty rustic, which may be a turn off to some. Every once in a while you get a piece of the corn kernel because it was minimally processed. It's pretty awesome that there are only four ingredients: Organic Whole Grain Corn, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Salt and Organic Molasses. So if you are looking for something heartier than corn flakes, give Simply Maize a shot. Oh, and it's also a pretty good dry snack for when you're typing a blog post.

Whole Foods 365 Organic Peanut Butter Balls Cereal

On my last trip to Whole Foods, I noticed some of their 365 brand cereals were labeled Vegan right on the front of the box. That really makes my job easy so I decided to grab the most appealing cereal (to me anyway). I lobbed the Peanut Butter Balls box right into my cart.

I guess you could describe them as peanut butter Kix. I thought they were great! A nice peanut buttery taste and not too sweet. It says on the box that they are organic and made with real peanut butter, which is a nice touch. Compared to the other pb cereals out there, I'd say Peanut Butter Balls holds its own. It doesn't really bring anything mind blowing to the table, but being the 365 brand, it's fairly cheap. So if you are a peanut butter connoisseur, a lover of organic and natural ingredients and a cost conscious shopper, this is the cereal for you!

Nature's Path Organic Sunrise Cereals

These two new cereals from Nature's Path recently caught my eye and I thought I would see what they're all about. Both cereals are organic, gluten-free and have a wide spectrum of ingredients. Corn, rice flax, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth. If you read my blog regularly, you probably noticed that I'm not a big breakfast person. But if I wake up in the middle of the night and need something to eat, is there anything better than a bowl of cereal?

First up is the Crunchy Maple Sunrise. I hope you like maple cause that's what you're gonna get. Strong maple flavor throughout the mixture of flakes, puffed rice and corn balls. It's a fun cereal to eat because of all the different textures. Like some crazy combo of Kix, Rice Crispies and Corn Flakes!

The Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise is the same texture wise as the Crunchy Maple but obviously it's vanilla. I'm gonna say this was my favorite of the two because the vanilla flavor was a little bit more low key. For the record, I used my favorite non-dairy beverage, Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze. I would suggest using something unsweetened so as not to muddle the flavors. So if you like your cereal with bold flavors and lots of different shapes, I think you'll enjoy Nature's Path Organic Sunrise Cereals!

Cereal Love

Everyone likes cereal! There are so many Vegan and organic options out there, from cereal with real fruit, sweet cereals, chocolaty cereals, whole wheat cereals, gluten free cereals...the list goes on. Below are some of my faves, let me know which ones you like!

Kashi has a wide variety of natural and organic cereals. Strawberry Fields is without a doubt my favorite. I can eat this stuff dry. Cinnamon Harvest is a great shredded wheat cereal and Heart to Heart Blueberry is delicious!

Around the time I went Vegetarian I started to eat less sugary cereals. Puffins and Gorilla Munch (aka Monkey Munch) were two of my favorites. Puffins has a wonderful peanut butter flavor and Gorilla Munch is lightly sweetened. Not only did they taste good, they were still fun to to eat. Annie's Fruity Bunnies follows that trend.

As some of you know, I've been baking in Vegan bakes sales recently. The one thing I make every time is organic rice crispy treats using Nature's Path Whole Grain Brown Rice - it's worked well so far! My other Nature's Path favorite is the Hemp Plus Granola. The peanut version is great too, extra peanuts!

And last but not least, the milk! The Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Breeze is by far the greatest thing I've ever had with cereal. If you've never had it before please give it a shot because it's creamy and delicious. I think you'll love it.