Cascadian Farm and Kashi Organics

Over the past several months my (would-be) wife and I have discovered the goodness of Organic foods ... and other goods, but mainly foods.

This news story from Layton, UT was an absolutely heartbreaking testament to why we DO NOT need synthetic pesticides and toxins around us ~ not to kill rats, and CERTAINLY not in or on our food. After the many documentaries we have watched, we have re-vamped our kitchen to reflect how we feel about only allowing the most basic, close-to-the-earth products into our home and bodies. We are FAR FROM our home 100% reflecting this desire, I'll be the first to admit, however we are conscious of it and are always moving closer to that goal.

This morning I was lucky enough to have naturally woken at 5:00am, giving me ample time to stretch, breathe deeply and think. I then enjoyed the small remainder of my Cascadian Farm Raisin Bran, and a new cereal I had not tried before ... Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, which has 47g of Whole Grain (48g are recommended daily), I was surprised to learn!

When I was growing up, I never liked Raisin Bran, because it was one cereal that ALWAYS tended toward sogginess WELL before I could finish a bowl (did I ever think to pour less?). When I first saw this product on the shelves, I must admit I fell good and hard for it! Luckily I couldn't well afford a $5 box of sugar very often, so I only had it a couple of times. Years later, though, when I realized I COULD very well afford $5 boxes of pure, natural, organic goodness, I jumped at Cascadian Farm Raisin Bran with gusto ... I still eat it on a regular basis, and somehow don't have the soggy cereal problem at all these days.

What I absolutely want to share in today's blog, however, is the redemption of Kashi in my mind. My mother and step-father have been buying Kashi products for years now, and sometimes they've been alright, but I've never been amazed. On the other hand, everything from Cascadian Farm amazes me, it ALL tastes better than any other cereal I've tried ~ yes, even better than my two past favorites, Cheerios and Lucky Charms! Plus, Cascadian Farm cereals have Box Tops for Education the same as does General Mills, which just excites me. My younger siblings save the Tops, and I just think it's great they can participate with their classmates even though they don't eat Cocoa Puffs or Disney’s® Princess Fairytale Flakes. (Side note: have YOU ever eaten Disney’s® Princess Fairytale Flakes? They are NASTY!)

So, the redemption of Kashi, whose food products I've heard compared to tree bark? Today, I learned where cinnamon comes from, by reading the Kashi box as I slowly savoured every biscuit of this Cinnamon Harvest cereal ... it's the bark of a certain type of Laurel tree, and people harvest it by peeling off the bark when it's softest, between the months of May and October. When the peelings dry, they curl into cinnamon sticks! I first cooked with a cinnamon stick a couple of months ago when I tried a recipe for coconut rice, and I'm hooked ... these sticks are now a mandatory pantry item, and, now I know where they come from!

Beautiful. And the cereal? I was about to say it was so delicious it was as far from "tree bark" as you could get ... but, given how cinnamon is harvested, I suppose Kashi Cinnamon Harvest tastes like tree bark after all!