Rice Creepies Photo: Holidash

Our sister blog Holidash found these spooky Rice Creepies treats based on Rice Krispies treats. Check out Kendra Smoot's tasty Halloween sweets and submit your own before Oct. 31!

[Via Holidash]

As a kid Rice Krispies was one of my favorite cereals largely due to its onomatopoeic spokescharacters: Snap, Crackle and Pop. As for flavor, I never though it was all that great, but I was always fascinated by this musical cereal. It was a treat to pour the milk over the little bits of crisped rice and sit back and enjoy the show.

Apparently Kellogg's thought that kids in the '80s needed a little more stimulation than the percussive trio provided and released a promotional record with catchy tunes covering musical styles ranging from gospel to New Wave. This bizarre excercise in branding starts out with a rollicking gospel number that includes the lyrics, "Waking up, waking up, you and me waking up to that Snap, crackle, pop. We've got the whole wide world waking up waking up." There's also a country tune that features a twangy voiced guy singing, "You see it's downright fun to pour the milk on top to put snap, crackle, pop into your morning."

It's worth going to WFMU's Beware the Blog, to check out the wacky tunes. The last tune is a pitch-perfect New Wave rocker. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at breakfast cereal.

[via BoingBoing]

These days in the cereal world, it's quite popular to take old favorites and spin them just a little bit, whether that means adding a variety of fruit or some extra flavor combinations. I've tried a number of these new variations, but they always left something to be desired. They were good, but they never reinvigorated my childhood cereal love ... until now.

I must have been living under a rock, because it took me over a year to spot Vanilla Flavour Rice Krispies, which debuted just over a year ago in Canada. They're just like the old classic with an extra hint of vanilla -- familiarity with a slight flair. I can't get enough of these damned things, and have gone through a box in a week. I don't know if they're available in the States yet (all my searches lead back to Canadian sites), but do keep an eye out. If you like the Snap, Crackle, and Pop, you'll probably dig these.

And it seems that I'm not the only one charmed by them. Recipes are already starting to pop up for the old-school cereal, like RK squares with the vanilla variety, and a Krispies crust.

In 2006, Treehugger.com wrote about the introduction of a line of organic cereals by Kellogg's. The article talked about concerns surrounding "organic" being taken over by a mega-corporation, but decided that ultimately organic of any sort was a good thing.

At the same time, a Rice Krispies-loving consumer (me) discovered Organic Rice Krispies on the shelf at her local supermarket. To say I was excited might be an understatement. I love the Snap, Crackle, and Pop, but I do not love high fructose corn syrup and pesticides - neither of which were found in the organic version. Sure, it was more expensive and sure, they didn't make it in the large box that I preferred due to my frequent cereal consumption, but I was willing to splurge.

Alas, one day, Organic Rice Krispies was no longer on the shelves. I assumed it had to do with lack of consumer interest at my particular store. Today, after much time had passed, I decided to find out where I could buy them by emailling Kellogg's. I will credit them for their speedy response, but it did not make me happy: "This product is no longer marketed by our company, since consumer demand simply does not warrant its continued production. At this time, there are no plans to reintroduce this product."

I didn't specifically ask about any of the other cereals in their organic line, but I assume the worst. Does anyone else miss them?

After nearly a century Snap!, Crackle! and Pop! are getting some company in the breakfast bowl. Kellogg's has just released Rice Krispies with Real Strawberries. The company has yet to announce what noise, if any, the strawberries will add to the percussive trio.

All kidding aside, it's a good thing that they're using real strawberries. Lord knows kids need to start eating better. Of course Rice Krispies are probably one of the more healthful kids cereals out there. The company press release says that the fruity version of the cereal was born out research that shows kids are seeking more flavor, while Moms want their kids to have more fruit. I'm all for kids eating fruit, but back in the days before the era of so-called meal solutions my mother would just buy some strawberries and slice 'em up.

I have pie dough in the fridge, pies in the oven, a defrosted turkey and partially prepped veggies in various places around the kitchen. With all the holiday meal prep that we've been doing (I know I'm not the only one), something delicious, but simple, sounds really good right about now. Those pies aren't going to be fair game until tomorrow night. Thankfully, Allie, from Something So Clever posted some really tasty sounding Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Rice Krispies. The addition of peanut butter to the standard rice krispie recipe makes them a little bit more interesting. Adults will like them because the peanut butter adds a new salty-sweet dimension to the flavor and kids will like them because they almost all like rice krispie treats. Speaking of kids, these are so easy to make that if you have any kids around at the holidays, you can assign them the job of making a batch to keep them out of your hair as you work on the main meal.