instantly delicious.

here’s a story.

yesterday morning, i ate waffles. then i posted a facebook status update:

and then it started. and it didn’t stop.

this is the glorious sight i awoke to:

i cannot tell you how much i love snow.

especially immediately after a big storm. it’s beautiful.

and it calls for a warm breakfast.

three sisters not only make cold cereal.. they are in the hot cereal biz, too! this is comparable to instant oatmeal, actually.

guess what? before today, i had never eaten instant oatmeal. is that strange? i actually never ate a bowl of oatmeal, period, before august of 2008. when three sisters offered to send me their instant oatmeal to review (see my disclosure here), i was quite curious as to how i would feel about instant oatmeal.

this morning, i decided to go with the cinnamon & apples flavor.

who doesn’t like quick & tasty natural goodness?! plus, it is loaded with whole grains, flax seed and real fruit.

bonus point: 25% less packaging than other brands of instant oatmeal.

let’s check out the stats & ingredients.

because i can’t compare these stats to other instant oatmeals, i will go ahead and weigh in on my thoughts regarding these stats versus the stats of old fashioned rolled oats (AKA my breakfast 5 out of 7 mornings of the week).

• calories: 150 this is the same as a serving of rolled oats. nothing crazy here. this also tells me i need to add something else to the meal or i will be hungry 5 minutes after eating.
• fat: 2.5g definitely okay with me.. plus, no saturated fat.
• sodium: 90mg that’s what i like to see.
• carb: 30g a little on the high side, but i know it is flavored oatmeal instead of plain, so i am not surprised by this number.
• sugar: 9g a little higher than i aim for at breakfast, i try to stay below 7 grams of sugar. unless i am eating cereal, then all aims are thrown out the window
• protein: 5g a typical amount for oatmeal, my regular old fashioned oats have the same amount. again, like with the calories, this tells me i need to add some oomph to the meal if i want any sort of satiety.

the ingredients: whole grain rolled oats, sugar, soy, dried apple pieces, brown rice, cranberries, flaxseed, natural flavor, barley, quinoa, rye, wheat, salt, guar gum, citric acid.

pros of the ingredients:

• nothing fake here! i don’t understand companies who put artificial ingredients in their food, when it can obviously be done without all that garbage. i love that three sisters keeps it all natural.
• the real fruit: apples & cranberries for the win.
• the addition of grains & healthy fats: quinoa, barley, flaxseed, rye.. yes! the box says one serving has 29 grams of whole grain.

cons of the ingredients:

• second ingredient listed, after rolled oats, is sugar. this is something i try to avoid. (did you know ingredients are listed from the most amount to least amount used? so sugar being #2 is not that stellar.)

luckily, there is only one con!

i opened the box of three sisters cinnamon & apples hot cereal, (which is sold exclusively whole foods, by the way) and found five individual pouches.

possibly the coolest part about the pouch?

it doubles as a measuring cup! that, my friends, is genius.

i poured the pouch contents into a bowl.

added the water using the handy measuring pouch.

put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and watched the dogs wonder about the snow.

and just like that, it was done!

loved the chunks of apple that rehydrated.

it is no surprise that i added more cinnamon. addict.

not going to lie, the portion size made me a little bit sad. i reminded myself that it was only 150 calories worth of food.

i soon discovered the bits of flaxseed and cranberries.

my thoughts on the taste and texture?

in love!

the texture was smooth but not too creamy. there was a definite mix of various textures in the bowl. another thing i enjoyed was the chew factor of the oats. i think the addition of quinoa and barley caused such a nice, chewy texture.

the taste was spot on. i thought it was going to be a little too sweet (i don’t usually sweeten my oatmeal) but it really had just a hint of sweetness. i am glad i added more cinnamon, though, because that made the cinnamon flavor just right. but, more than likely, my tolerance for cinnamon is much higher than the average gal.

all in all, i really liked the three sisters cinnamon & apples hot cereal. thanks to julie at three sisters for giving me the chance to try it out! i will be trying the other flavors soon and will be sure to let you all know how they compare to the cinnamon & apples flavor.

do you want to try some for yourself?

i have two coupons for two winners!

to enter:

• leave a comment telling me your thoughts on instant oatmeal. did you grow up eating it or have you never tried it? love it? hate it? let me know!

i will announce the coupon winners on monday night (11/22/10)

although three sisters provided the coupons for this giveaway, they are not sponsors, endorsers or affiliated with the giveaway itself.

i will be back later with a post about yesterday’s meals & moves.

xo. janetha g.