I've gone soft...

...and chewy too. I'm talking for my cold cereal, of course. What else?

This seems to happen to me often. I'll buy a box of my favorite cold cereal; bring it home and go to town on it over the next few days (actually, more often than not I buy my favorite "sweet" cereal and eat it as a very trashy, albeit nostalgic and satisfying dessert!); and then promptly get tired of it with 1/3 still left in the box.

On a night I've got nothing better, sugary cereal fills in as my
dessert - and brings back great nostalgia too!

Then my beloved cereal sits in my cupboard for the next month or *gasp* even longer. And when I discover I am again craving some Lucky Charms or Cap'n Crunch and Crunch Berries on a night I have no homemade ice cream or cookies or leftover pie or cake...it's STALE. Stale, chewy, soft and disappointing.

BUT - I learned this trick from my mom when we were growing up eating Kix, Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Chex and Crispix (with a box o' Lucky Charms as a REAL treat!):

• Pour your leftover, stale cereal in a jelly roll sheet pan (with raised sides).
• Put it in a 250° oven for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Every few minutes, take a couple pieces of cereal out, let them cool and try them to see if they're crisp yet.
• Keep doing this until the cereal is no longer stale.

It won't take long - really as soon as the cereal is heated through it should be good. Et voilà! Your cereal is as good as new!

It even worked on those "marshmallows"!