This morning, after my sweet man and boys had left for work and school I tidied up the kitchen and made myself a bowl of what I call Bear Mush.
Growing up in a family of 6, which included 4 home schooled kids, all living on a tight budget, my mom made a decision early on that she would not be serving cold cereal as a regular breakfast item. Why? Because the cereal plus the milk plus kids who are home all day and constantly on the prowl for an easy snack equals an expensive grocery bill.
Hot cereal on the other hand, now that is frugal to the core. Makes a good breakfast, sticks to your ribs, is not an easy snack food and can be bought in bulk for next to nothing.
So hot cereal was our breakfast most mornings and my favorite was Bear Mush. What is Bear Mush you ask? Well some places it is known by it’s other brand names, Cream-of-Wheat and Malt-o-Meal and some places it is called Farina – at least on the generic boxes. I actually don’t know what exactly it is, except that it must be made from some grains and involve wheat of some kind?
When the weather turns cool it is the first thing I want in the morning. A silky smooth portion made rich by the generous addition of butter, sugar and a bit of brown sugar and maybe a dash of cinnamon on top (that I have put into some cute shakers I bought on our trip to Memphis this summer.)
Served with a hot cup of coffee, it is my favorite cold morning breakfast and I love to eat it as I sit at my kitchen table in silence, watching the day begin outside my window.
So now I am wondering, when the weather cools down, what do you crave? Bear Mush?
Yes. I love my cream of wheat , too.I like it with cinnamon sugar. It really does keep you going till lunch time. I don’t have any in the house now but I will pick some up tomorrow. A much better and more satisfying breakfast than packaged cereals. Thank you for reminding me!.
aww bear mush i love that stuff. definately going to have to pick some up today. thanks for the reminder!
Ahhh man, now I gotta go get some Cream of Wheat 🙂 This post makes me hungry…comfort in a bowl, right there.
We always had chocolate Malt-o-Meal growing up. Yuuummmmy! I think I’ll have to buy some next time I’m at the store.
My son just asked for Cream of Wheat yesterday.I used to love the chocolate type…do you know what I mean?I like oatmeal too. Especially apple especially apple cinnamon. Yum!
Oh my!!! I love Malt-o-Meal… but the kicker was when you said “it sticks to your ribs” My Dad still says that to this day… and it puts a smile on my face.thanks for the smile… enjoy!!!!!!Kim
It seems like about this time every year I try to talk myself into liking oatmeal but I think it’s something about the texture that turns me off. I wish I could make myself like bear mush. For no other reason than the name is so cool!
Yummy! Yes – it is definately time for warm cereals. When I was up in Eureka, I went out to War Eagle Mill and bought some big sacks of the rolled oats and I think the 7-grain cereal… can’t wait to heat those babies up. They have a lot of different varieties of milled grains, and just looking online makes me want to order them all! I like to cook apples in mine – works really well in the crockpot (but a mess to clean up!)
We always had Malt-o-meal, and there is a difference between that and cream of wheat. We always cooled it off with milk, then added butter and honey. My kids and hubby think it’s gross, but what do they know?
Hi, I love cream of wheat also, but am too lazy to fix it for myself!I love your blog, it’s on my blogs fav list. And that great emergence seminar sounds really great.Have a lovely fall day!starrydeborah
i love some malt-o-meal- been eating it since i was a wee thing. i crave a cracklin fire and a good book…
We were more an instant oatmeal bunch… I only eat chili when it’s cold! With cornbread muffins! See y’all tonight. 🙂
Hard to beat a good bowl of bear mush. Mom made some a week ago or so. We’ve also had grits this week, and she has oatmeal almost every day. Hot cereal! Instant aotmeal, instant grits — never! … I think I even saw Judea shortcut it the other day by sticking a bowl of wheat chex in the microwave! You don’t get the savings that way, but you get hot cereal!