please mr. postman…

… keep bringing me free breakfasts! More freebies I found on slickdeals.net:

  

Not just Kashi GoLean Crunch, Kashi GoLean Crunch Honey Almond Flax. Which is sort of a mouthful for first thing in the morning. Kudos to Kashi for a proper sized sample- it’s a full serving!

It looks like:

 

I ate it with: 

Thoughts? It tasted almost exactly like Kashi GoLean Crunch. The last time I had a full box of which I ate in… 3 days? Meaning… it is good.

It was slightly drier than I remember… I may just chalk this up to the fact that it was a sample box and had been through the mail and so on.

Also for free, a big old bran pack.

I can only assume “feel lighter and more energetic” is a hilarious euphemism for intestinal action.

The contents:

Am now feeling pressure to plant the marigolds.

In the meantime, I decided to take these cereal samples in a different direction. Eating a bowl of cereal with milk every day is for normal boring people.

Besides, I hadn’t baked since Saturday in ages.

Thus,

Do You Want Some Muffins With That Fiber? Muffins (adapted from this recipe)

Grains:
1 sample-sized box of All Bran Complete (1 cup, I think? By weight it’s 1.13 ounces)
1/2 cup oats

Whirr together in food processor or blender until the consistency of coarse flour (I have to thank Cooks Illustrated for this- their bran muffins use ground up bran flakes!)

Combine with the rest of the dry ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 T brown sugar

Then add wet ingredients:

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 T molasses
2 T apple juice concentrate

While my food processor was out, I thought I’d give the grater attachment a spin (get it? Get it? Spin?!). I threw in

1/2 a carrot
1/2 an apple (Jonagolds from Costco are SO delicious!)

Fold those into batter until just combined. Its appearance only a mother could love:

Pour into greased tin (mine made 10 pretty big muffins).

Top with 2 T (1/2 oz.) pecans, chopped not too small

Bake at 375 18-20 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes (important!), then let finish drying on a cooling rack. I’m keeping mine in the fridge- there are so many liquid ingredients, and I don’t want any of these guys lost to mold!

 

Anyway, tastewise, yummy yummy! Not mega sweet, but moist and loverly! The moisture level and hint of veggie wholesomeness is reminiscent of, dare I say it, carrot cake! Particularly with the pecans on top, which got all toasty and awesome, as pecans are wont to do.

And I mean… I already eat a lot of fiber so I’m not expecting anything TOO dramatic to happen in my system, but I would guess that this recipe is good for keeping your system peppy!

I included the last of the samples in today’s lunch, along with something I’ve been meaning to try forevvvvvvvvver and was finally (vaguely) on sale.

  

Those became:

 

So. Good.

The Chobani is awesome- perfect tangy/sweet balance (in my opinion, some of the other flavors are too sugar-fied, but this has the nice tartness from the pomegranate!)

And the bran buds are the PERFECT topper. Yes, they look like hamster food, but their branny wholesomeness and welcome crunch were perfect with the yogurt. I can’t do yogurt and granola- too sweet. This was perfect. Plus, um, in that teeny tiny combo? 10 grams of fiber and 14 grams of protein. Ridic.

I could seriously eat that for lunch every day for the rest of my life. With soup in the winter, with salad in the summer. Like:

Not only colorful and pretty; yummy! Mixed greens, pickled baby eggplants, and lupini bean hummus. This combo is seriously PERFECT- the hummus on its own can be annoyingly bitter, the eggpants on their own can be annoyingly sweet and sour. Together, they are unstoppable. SUCH a tasty lunch! Got all my flavors in :D