10 grain Muffins

The recipe is for 10 grain muffins but I don't have a muffin pan yet. So I improvised and substituted. I used whole wheat flour instead of unbleached flour and two small eggs instead of one XL egg.

I baked the whole batter in a square cake pan and cut the cooled 'cake' into 'fingers.' These 10 grain muffin-cake-fingers freeze and thaw (in a toaster oven) beautifully. The twins love them and some days it makes up their entire breakfast because they refuse to eat anything else.

5-grain puffs from Beechnut

This 5-grain puffs cereal from Beechnut looked promising - something beyond muesli. They didn't turn to mush once they sat in the bowl of milk which is usually a good thing. But the twins gagged on it.

However when I tried it as a snack they had great fun playing with the puffs. They both figured out very quickly that they could blow on them and make them move. In the process some of the puffs got stuck to their lips and fingers and got eaten AND they were entertained for half an hour. I stopped after half an hour because I didn't want the novelty to wear off. One more activity for cranky or rainy days.

8 grains and yogurt baby cereal from Gerber

With live yogurt cultures and 8 grains this is a great baby cereal from Gerber. But, it has no texture, so I mix it with baby muesli and the twins are on their way to a good breakfast.

Gorilla munch from Envirokidz

After starting with cheerios and moving onto Kashi honey sunshine, I decided it was time for something new. The gorilla munch cereal from Envirokidz looked like it could double as finger food. Plus the round cereal balls moving around would probably keep them entertained for some time (and help with their tracking/grasping/pincer skills or so I hoped.)

Those cereal balls are hard - they were probably made to withstand long soaks in the milk bowl and still hold their crunch. Made with just 3 ingredients (organic corn meal, organic cane juice and sea salt) and no additives or preservatives they are definitely coming back as soon as the twins grow molars.

Carbs are necessary

Everyday the kids get Bob's Red Mill 100% whole grain 10 grain hot cereal twice a day. I cook one cup of it in the morning and use it for lunch and dinner. It has wheat, rye, triticale (hybrid of wheat and rye,) oats &bran, corn, barley, soybeans, brown rice, millet and flaxseed. Why triticale when there is already wheat and rye in there I don't know.

The cereal has a very grainy texture and when my twins were under a year old I would run the cereal in a food processor before cooking it. This would create some powder and I had to stand there while it was cooking and stir constantly to prevent lumps. Now I just stir it once in a while. Adding a little bit more water than the instructions call for keeps it at a cereal consistency even at dinner time.I still cook for 15 to 20 minutes instead of the recommended 10 minutes.