Newsflash: we’re out of cereal!

You’re not gonna believe this… my pantry is empty of cereal.  None.  Nada.  Nothing.  We’re wiped out.  I had to cook breakfast this morning!

It’s not that there haven’t been any cereal deals lately; I’ve just cut back on the number of grocery trips I make because I just haven’t felt like going to the store more than once a week!  However, we are not only out of cereal, but an awful lot of other stuff, so I’m going to have to get back in the grocery shopping mood soon. :)

We’re not only out of cereal, but oatmeal, too, and we didn’t have buttermilk for pancakes.  (I refuse to make pancakes without at least half real buttermilk.)  So what did we eat?  I made Wild Rice Pudding with Cranberries, a recipe from a bed and breakfast we stayed at in Wisconsin several years ago.  Here’s the recipe:

3 cups wild rice, cooked (broken grain works especially well)
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries (a little more is o.k.)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (or about 1/2 of a whole nutmeg, grated)
3 cups heavy cream
cinnamon & sugar mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Mix the first seven ingredients thoroughly. Then stir in the heavy cream. Pour the entire mixture into a large, flat casserole (or individual ceramic bowls). Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon & sugar mix. Bake for one hour. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving. Serves six very hearty appetites or a dozen for dessert (also, reducing everything in proportion works for a smaller batch).  It is important that the wild rice be fully cooked and tender before mixing into this dish.  Recipe from the Anton Walsh Bed and Breakfast.

I third this recipe for our breakfast (and throw in an extra egg).  Broken grain wild rice is very hard to find outside of the northern part of states like Michigan and Wisconsin, and I mail-order it in bulk for much cheaper than you can buy it locally, though it’s still pretty expensive, especially with shipping. I’ve ordered it from this site before, if you’re interested.

So, I’m hoping for a good cereal sale this week, even though my family would prefer to eat Wild Rice Pudding every morning!