Kids Cuisine

Not all kids’ cereals are created equal. There are kids’ cereals that are healthy and wholesome and are designed to provide kids with the nutrients their growing bodies require. No sugar, no drama, no prize in the box. Just minimally processed grains that cry out for the sugar bowl. When I was growing up, these are the cereals that were purchased by my mom (and probably yours).

Then there are the kids’ cereals that kids love to eat and that are marketed toward kids but that are really not the greatest for kids, considering that kids are in the process of constructing the bodies they’ll be inhabiting for the rest of their lives out of the components in those cereals. Components like bright blue and green spheres and freeze-dried marshmallows. These cereals are usually shellacked with a sugar glaze and offer more chemically engineered ingredients than natural ones. These are the cereals the more nutritionally liberal parents of my (lucky!) friends (and probably yours) used to buy.The former cereals, austere whole grains with maybe some raisins for levity, make little attempt to reconcile themselves to children, knowing that the parents who buy them are the parents who will fill the cereal bowl and make sure the contents get eaten.

The latter group of cereals know that kids are often the ones who hold — or at least tug annoyingly at — the purse strings while Mom or Dad is grocery shopping. Enough begging coupled with the magic words, “It’s fortified, and it’s part of a healthy breakfast!” will usually end with neon-colored milk sloshing in the breakfast bowl the next morning.

At last, Nature’s Path has brought something different to the breakfast table in its new EnviroKidz Penguin Puffs cereal. The best of both worlds! A crunchy whole-grain blend of puffed kamut, quinoa, and corn along with crispy brown rice, Penguin Puffs are organic, non-GMO, low in sodium, fat and sugar, and a good source of fiber. All this, and they’re actually sweet enough to appeal to kids! That’s right, you heard me . . . this is a cereal that is good for kids and that will appeal to them. (I’m not exaggerating when I say that kids will probably ask for this one over and over again. It’s that good.) In our house, it was one of the first cereal boxes to be emptied. We ate it with milk for breakfast and dry as a snack.

If you are a fan of mixing cereals, you’ll want to try this as well. I found that the combination of textures in the different grains was really enjoyable. Adult cereal eaters will likely find Penguin Puffs as appealing as kids do. I did!

Look for Penguin Puffs and other good-for-you cereals online at Nature’s Path or in your favorite grocery or health food store.