On May 1st 1941 General Mills introduced Cheerios® as the first ready-to-eat-cereal. It was originally called Cheerioats®. I consider Cheerios® as a food for people of all ages. From toddlers learning to pick them up between two fingers and putting them in their mouths (a great way to develop fine motor skills) to school aged kids and adults eating Cheerios® as an important part of a nutritionally balanced breakfast.
In addition to being an important component of the traditional breakfast meal, Cheerios® can also be used in a variety of other super cool recipes and activities. My three favourites are the following: making delicious and nutritious snack mixes, creating colourful jewellery and crushing Cheerios® to make scrumptious crunchy chicken fingers.
A Champion’s Cheerio Mix
Ingredients
• ½ cup Multigrain Cheerios® cereal
• ½ cup Apple Cinnamon Cheerios® cereal
• ½ cup raisins or another dried fruit, diced
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup small pretzel twists
• ½ cup cheese-flavored fish crackers
How to make it?
1. Stir together all of the ingredients in large bowl
2. Pour the snack mix into a re-sealable plastic bag.
3. Keep the bag closed to seal in freshness.
Tips:
• To dice dried fruit effortlessly – cut with scissors.
• I keep a ½ cup measuring cup in the bag for easy serving measurement.
Charming Cheerios® Necklaces
These make some beautiful, brightly coloured necklaces. You may even be tempted to make a matching bracelet!
Ingredients:
• 1/3 cup Cheerios® cereal
• 2 rolls ring-shaped gummy candy
• 2 packages tube-shaped candies (like Lifesavers®)
• 2 cups coloured or white marshmallows
• 4 pieces red shoestring licorice — each about 36-inches
Directions: For each necklace, string cereal, candies and marshmallows onto licorice. When licorice is three-fourths full, tie ends together to make a necklace.
Tip:
• Use the pointy end of chopstick to poke holes in the marshmallows
Makes 4 necklaces
Crunchy Chicken Fingers
Ingredients:
• 3 cups Cheerios® cereal, finely crushed
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup water or milk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
Directions
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 13×9x2 inches pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Stir together crushed cereal, salt and pepper in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Stir together water, honey and mustard in another medium bowl until blended.
4. Dip chicken into honey-mustard mixture, shake off excess; coat with cereal mixture.
5. Place chicken in pan. Bake 10 – 15 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in centre. Serve with favorite dipping sauce.
Tip:
• My kids like when I drizzle honey over the chicken fingers before serving.
Thanks to the Cheerios® website (www.Cheerios.ca) for inspiring these recipes.
Playing checkers with Cheerios® can be so much fun to do,
Charting Cheerios® for good behaviour is a good idea too!
There are so many things these circular cereals can be,
Like crunchy in cookies and helping count to thirty three,
At the end of the day their usage is beyond measure,
Go ahead and try them - they are definitely a treasure!
Shelley Sefton is a chef, recipe developer & creator of “Yummy in my Tummy” - classes for kids that offers them the opportunity to experience exciting adventures in the kitchen – combining education, art, food and most important of all FUN! Contact: (905) 597-0672 or sdsefton@rogers.com.
©Shelley Sefton 2010